A new trust accounting guide, Keeping Client Trust Accounts with QuickBooks Online Essentials (2012), is now posted at practicelaw. Mike Trittipo, the MSBA’s director of technology, has been drafting and editing the guides that walk through setting up trust accounting in in various software programs since 1998, when he started with Using QuickBooks 6.0 for Lawyers’ Trust Accounting. There are currently six guides available, three of which use a QuickBooks product. In addition to setting up your trust accounting in QuickBooks Online, the guide also provides a nice overview of the requirements and general principles of client trust accounting, and is worth a read even if you keep your accounts in a different program.

Something special about the trust accounting guides is that last year we decided to make them available to the public. The change was partly inspired by Minnesota Legal Ethics, which we also published last year, and also motivated by the overarching desire to better the legal profession. You can read more about the decision here.

So, if you want a copy of the guide:

Members can download the guide here.

Non-members go here and fill out the form to request a guide. You will receive an email with a link to download the guide.

The Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board has more general information about keeping trust accounts in  Appendix 1 to the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct (Maintenance of Books and Records).

What accounting software (if any) do you use for your trust accounting? Did you get help setting up your trust accounting or figure it out on your own?