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.
Begin trust funds reconciliation in Clio
Beginning your trust funds account reconciliation in Clio Manage depends on whether this is your very first reconciliation in Clio or a subsequent reconciliation. Open the accordion tabs below to learn more about how to begin reconciling your trust accounts for the first time and how to reconcile your trust funds accounts if you have already completed your first reconciliation in Clio.
If you are reconciling trust funds accounts for the first time in Clio Manage, you will need a copy of your firm’s most recent bank account statement. You will need to enter the beginning and ending balance in the date range specified in your most recent bank account statement and previous reconciliation schedule.
- Go to Accounts.
- Select the trust account that you want to reconcile.
- Click Reconcile account.
- Enter the beginning and end dates and balances for both.
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Click Begin reconciliation.
- If your beginning balances in Clio match with your most recent bank account statement, you can begin reconciling the account. Learn more about how to reconcile the account in the section below on Match transactions to reconcile trust funds account.
- If the beginning balances do not match, you will need to first look for any potentially uncleared transactions from the previous month before you can begin reconciling the account. Learn more about how to review uncleared transactions in the section below on 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 to begin all subsequent reconciliations. Once this is done, you can start matching transactions to reconcile the account.
- Go to Accounts.
- 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 look for any potentially uncleared transactions from the previous month before you can begin reconciling the account. This window will automatically appear after you click Begin reconciliation and 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 potentially uncleared transactions from the previous month. Uncheck transactions that are not on the statement.
- 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’s 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.