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Client money, reconciled without the dread.

Trust accounting is where a clerical slip becomes a professional problem. OpenLPM treats client money as what it is: a separate, rule-bound ledger — with a reconciliation habit built into the month rather than reconstructed at the end of it.

Double-entry by designTrust & office accountsDeposits · disbursements · transfersMonthly reconciliation
What it does

The three movements, handled properly

Client money in, client money out

Receipts into trust, disbursements out of trust, fee transfers as separate documented entries — each with a reference and a date.

Reconcile monthly, not forensically

Import the bank statement, match the items, and let the differences be listed as items to resolve rather than mysteries to solve.

See it before it becomes a problem

Balance per matter, blocked overdraws, and alerts on movements that deserve a second look.

What it means for you

What it means at month-end

  • Fewer surprises — because the balance has been visible all month, not just at the end.
  • An auditor’s or regulator’s questions answered from the system, with the entries and the dates to hand.
  • Fee transfers are provable. The move from client money to firm income is a documented event, not an assumption.
  • Client money and firm money never blur, which protects both the client and the partners’ practising certificates.

Bring a recent bank statement and we will show you what reconciliation looks like on your own numbers.

Client money received — ref 0042deposit into trust · 09 Sep
+50,000.00
Disbursement — search feesout of trust · receipt filed
−7,500.00
Fee transfer — invoice 0044double entry · balance checked
223,500.00
Attempted overdraw refused at the point of entrynot discovered later
In practice

The monthly rhythm

Boring on purpose. Boring is the goal.

Record as it happens

Receipts, disbursements and transfers are entered when they occur, with the reference that makes them traceable.

Import the statement

The bank’s version of events arrives and is matched against the ledger.

Resolve the differences

Unmatched items become a listed task with an owner — not an unexplained variance.

Close the month

Balances per matter, per client and per account, with the reconciliation recorded for whoever asks later.

Questions lawyers ask

Questions about client money

Yes — separately, with transfers between them recorded as documented events rather than adjustments.

It is refused at the point of entry. Discovering it during reconciliation is the outcome we are trying to prevent.

Yes. Statements are imported and matched; anything left over becomes a visible item with an owner.

Reconcile one month, together

Bring a statement and a ledger extract. We will show you the reconciliation on your own figures, including what it flags.

Practice Notes

One email a month, for people who run firms.

How other firms handle the parts nobody enjoys — trust reconciliation, chasing debt, keeping procedure written down. No product announcements unless something genuinely changes for you.

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