Clio Accounting is an accounting and bookkeeping tool built specifically for law firms. Clio Accounting connects your invoicing, payments, and accounting all in one place, allowing you to remain confident in your firm's compliance every step of the way. Not only is Clio Accounting built in consultation with accountants, but the simplified approach lets you get started right even if you may have a small firm with limited experience in the field of accounting. If you are a larger firm with specific accounting requirements, you can read through our Clio Accounting information to see if your firm may benefit from using it alongside your other Clio products.
With Clio Accounting you can
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Connect bank accounts for automatic bank feed syncing, so transactions match to your books in almost real time instead of manual entry.
Important: To sync the bank feed, your financial institution will need to support integration with Plaid. Contact your banking institution if you are not sure if your bank integrates with Plaid. - Get a firm-wide financial snapshot on the Dashboard, with accounts receivable, operating expenses, and profit and loss all in one view.
- Rely on invoices and payments syncing automatically from Clio Manage, so journal entries are created for you instead of entered by hand.
Sign in
While your firm needs a Clio Manage account to use Clio Accounting, not every user in Clio Accounting needs a Clio Manage account. How you sign in depends on if you have access to your firm's Clio Manage account.
- Sign in to Clio Manage.
- In the upper left of the Clio Manage header, click Clio Manage and then select Clio Accounting.
Note: You can also sign in to Clio Accounting directly using the same email address and password you use for Clio Manage.
- Go to Clio Accounting.
- Enter your email address and then click Next: Password.
- Enter your password and then click Sign In.
Complete the setup wizard
The first time someone with admin or accounts permissions signs in, Clio Accounting opens a welcome screen outlining what setup involves. Before continuing, make sure that your firm's address and currency is correct. Them click Get Started to begin the step through the pages. A bar at the top of each screen shows your progress through the pages.
- Set up your chart of accounts. Start from Clio's pre-built chart of accounts for legal professionals, or import your existing one from a CSV file if you are moving from another bookkeeping tool. See Clio Accounting: Set up Chart of Accounts for more information.
- Assign Clio Manage transactions. Choose which of your Clio Manage operating and trust accounts to bring into Clio Accounting. You need to select at least one operating account.
- Set an accounting start date. Choose the date your bookkeeping records begin in Clio Accounting. Clio uses this date to set your opening balances and to decide how far back to import your Clio Manage transactions.
- Add Canadian tax authorities. In Canada, you are also asked to assign a tax authority to each of your tax rates before continuing. Make sure to first create your tax rates and choose the appropriate tax authorities for each rate in Clio Manage to set these up, or edit them if you previously created tax rates.
Click Finish setup to complete setup. Clio Accounting then opens on the Dashboard, where a short tour and a list of recommended tasks help you pick up the remaining setup work, such as connecting a bank account and setting your trust account opening balances.
Invite new users
Managing access to Clio Accounting allows you to collaborate securely with your team or external bookkeepers on your firm's financial records. By assigning specific user roles, you can ensure that sensitive financial data is only accessible to authorized personnel while maintaining an accurate audit trail of all accounting activities. You will learn how to invite existing Clio Manage users or external accountants to your bookkeeping workspace.
- Go to Settings and click Invite user.
- Select Invite an existing Clio Manage user option.
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Click the down arrow next to the Full name field and choose a name from the list.
Note: Clio Manage users who don't have admin or accounts permissions can use Clio Accounting features after Clio Accounting setup is complete, but they won't be able to complete Clio Accounting setup.
- Choose the user type.
- Accountant/Bookkeeper: For individuals responsible for daily accounting tasks, reconciliations, and financial reporting.
- Standard: For firm members who need to view accounting data but may not perform specialized bookkeeping actions.
- Click Send invite.
- Go to Settings and click Invite user.
- Select Invite a user without Clio Manage access option.
- Fill the user details and choose the appropriate user type.
- Accountant/Bookkeeper: For individuals responsible for daily accounting tasks, reconciliations, and financial reporting.
- Standard: For firm members who need to view accounting data but may not perform specialized bookkeeping actions.
- Click Send invite.
Resend or revoke user invites
- Go to Settings.
- For the relevant user with a Invitation sent status, click the more icon (ellipses) in the Actions column.
- Select Resend invite.
- Go to Settings.
- For the relevant user with a Invitation sent status, click the more icon (ellipses) in the Actions column.
- Select Cancel invite, then click Cancel invite when the warning appears.
Deactivate or reactivate users
- Go to Settings.
- For the relevant user with an Active status, click the more icon (ellipses) in the Actions column.
- Select Deactivate.
- Click Deactivate user.
- Go to Settings.
- For the relevant user with an Disabled status, click the more icon (ellipses) in the Actions column.
- Select Reactivate.
- Review that the information is accurate, then click Send invite.
Log out
You can log out of Clio Accounting from the main navigation menu. Logging out will also log you out of Clio Manage and Clio Grow.
- In the left navigation menu, click Logout.