Trust funds account reconciliation is an essential part of working with trust funds. With trust reconciliation in Clio Manage, you can verify that your trust ledger in Clio matches your bank account statement, view a history of reconciliation reports for historical and audit purposes, and maintain compliance in your specific jurisdictions.
Reconcile a trust account
How you begin reconciling a trust account in Clio Manage depends on whether this is your first reconciliation or a subsequent one. Use the accordions below to learn how to complete your first reconciliation and how to reconcile trust accounts moving forward.
Before reconciling a trust account for the first time, ensure you have a copy of your firm's most recent bank statement. You will need the beginning and ending balances from this statement, as well as the reconciliation schedule, which typically aligns with the start and end of the previous month.
- Go to Accounts in Clio Manage.
- Select the trust account that you want to reconcile.
- Click Reconcile account to begin the reconciliation process.
- Enter the beginning balance, ending balance, and corresponding dates from your bank statement.
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Check the beginning balance:
- If the balance matches your bank statement, click Begin reconciliation and proceed. Learn more in Match transactions to reconcile trust funds account.
- If the balance does not match, check for uncleared transactions, such as unsettled cheques or cash deposits. If needed, deposit unsettled funds by selecting Deposit funds before continuing. Learn more in Review uncleared transactions.
After completing your first trust account reconciliation in Clio, you will only need to enter the ending balance and ending date from your most recent bank statement for all future reconciliations. Once this is done, you can start matching transactions to reconcile the account.
- Go to Accounts in Clio Manage.
- Select the trust account that you want to reconcile.
- Click Reconcile account.
- Enter the ending balance and ending date from your most recent bank statement.
- Click Begin reconciliation.
- See Match transactions to reconcile trust funds account to begin matching transactions.
Match transactions to reconcile trust funds accounts
If your beginning balances in Clio match with your most recent bank account statement, you can begin reconciling the account. When reconciling a trust funds account, you will need to match transactions recorded in Clio against the transactions on your bank account statement. As the transactions are matched, Clio displays the difference between the ledger and the bank account at the top of the screen. You can only finish the reconciliation when the difference is $0.
Tip: You can save and continue your reconciliation at any time or delete it entirely to start over. Click Save for later in the top right to save the reconciliation, or click the down arrow next to this button and select Delete to delete it. To continue the saved reconciliation, go to Accounts > Reconciliation and select the uncompleted reconciliation.
- Click Match on a line item if the transaction matches your bank account statement.
- Repeat step 1 for each listed transaction.
- Click Finish when the difference is $0.
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If the difference is not $0, cross-reference transactions from your bank account statement and the listed transactions. Then click New Payment to return funds to the client(s) or New Receipt to add funds for the appropriate client(s).
- In Australia, if your reconciliation does not show a difference of $0, you can adjust the balance to match your Clio Trust Account with your bank transactions.
- Record an adjustment for any trust transactions entered in a month other than the month they occurred, and select the original transaction date when recording an adjustment.
- When recording a negative adjustment (credit), enter a negative sign before the value. For the description, enter: Adjustment for [Month] entered on [Current Month].
- Click Finish when the difference is $0.
Note: If your reconciliation does not show a $0 difference, this may indicate discrepancies between your ledger and your bank account statement.
- When the ledger shows more transactions or a higher balance than the bank statement: This can happen if a trust deposit is recorded in Clio but has not yet cleared the bank. Banks typically take 7–10 business days to clear transactions.
- When the bank statement shows more transactions or a higher balance than the ledger: This is often due to human error, such as a missed entry or incorrect amount entered in Clio.
For assistance with trust account reconciliation, consult your bookkeeper or accountant
Review uncleared transactions
If your beginning balances in Clio do not match your most recent bank account statement, you will need to check for uncleared transactions from the previous month before you can begin reconciling the account. This window will automatically appear after you click Begin reconciliation if the balances do not match.
- Click Next to go through the information.
- Select Mark uncleared transactions to begin comparing your bank account statement to the previous reconciliation period.
- Look for uncleared transactions from the previous month. Uncheck transactions that are not on the statement.
- Click Deposit funds to review any unsettled cheques or cash deposits. If needed, deposit funds before proceeding.
- Once the balances match, click Finish to start matching transactions to reconcile your account. Learn more about how to do this in the section above on Match transactions to reconcile trust funds accounts.
View completed reconciliation reports
Once a trust funds account reconciliation is completed, you can view reconciliation reports for each time period. Each reconciliation report can be accessed within Clio for 10 years and includes the reconciliation summary, client ledger details, and transaction details.
Note: Completed reconciliations are locked to protect the integrity of your trust account. If you need to make a correction to a previously reconciled period, such as editing or deleting a transaction, click Void in the Reconciliations table.
- Go to Accounts > Reconciliations.
- Click View report next to the reconciliation.
- Go through the three tabs to view detailed reconciliation reports.