November 2014

We all know the client trust accounting rules inside/out.  No comingling.  Prompt withdraw of funds earned by the firm.  Report all activity to clients.  Investigate uncashed checks.  Do reconciliations.  Keep good records.  Make sure everything balances.  But as accountant-administrators, we tend to defer to the lawyers the task of ensuring trust accounts are “closed” and everything disbursed when the matter is completed.

An interesting story was told during last month’s Orion User Group Meeting.  An administrator reported being “grilled” by an examiner from the State Bar as to why certain client trust accounts had no activity (deposits or withdrawals) over the last six months.  Why were these funds still being held by the firm?  That got me thinking…

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