Clio bookkeeping, done to the standard an examiner tests against.
We keep the trust and office books of small law practices running on Clio. Certified partner, law firms only, and the person doing the work once held an external examiner licence with the Law Society of NSW.
Clio keeps the record. It does not keep you compliant.
Clio will hold your matters, your time, your invoices and your trust ledgers in one place, and its trust accounting is built for the rules that apply to Australian law practices. What it will not do is tell you a receipt has been entered against the wrong matter, notice that a trust ledger has quietly gone into deficit, or work out how much your practice has to lodge as a Statutory Deposit this quarter.
Software records. Somebody still has to be accountable for the records being right. That is the job we do.
What an examiner actually looks for
An external examination is not a search for arithmetic errors. It is a test of whether your trust records demonstrate compliance — whether every receipt was issued and recorded as required, whether transfers between matters are supported, whether the reconciliation was actually performed each month rather than reconstructed in a hurry in April, and whether the trust trial balance in Clio agrees with the bank.
The problems we are called in to fix are rarely sophisticated. A receipt entered to the office ledger instead of trust. A disbursement paid from trust before the invoice was rendered. A matter ledger in overdraft because a payment went out before the deposit cleared. Two months of reconciliations skipped over Christmas. Each is small on the day it happens, and each is exactly what gets written up months later.
Because the books are maintained month by month, these get caught the week they occur — while they are still a correction rather than a disclosure.
The NSW Statutory Deposit is not a set-and-forget figure.
If your practice holds general trust money in New South Wales, section 46 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW) requires part of it to be kept on deposit with the Law Society of NSW. This is not a Clio feature — it sits outside your practice management software entirely.
Recalculated every quarter
Unlike most other states, NSW requires the figure to be worked out again after each quarter ends, using the Law Society’s Statutory Deposit Calculator. Balances move; the deposit has to move with them.
Due the month after
The calculation and any top-up fall due in the month following quarter end. If trust balances have grown you are short; if they have fallen you may be entitled to have money released.
We run it, you don’t chase it
It is the single most common thing we find has never been done — or was done once when the practice opened and never revisited. We monitor it every quarter as part of the standard engagement.
Clio bookkeeping: what we actually do in your file.
A fixed monthly fee covering the trust side, the office side and the compliance dates in between — so there is no month where the question of who was supposed to do what goes unanswered.
Statutory trust account maintenance
Trust receipts and payments recorded to the correct matter, in the correct period, with the correct supporting document. The trust bank account reconciled to the trust trial balance in Clio every month, and the reconciliation retained as part of the records.
End of month process and reporting
The month closed properly: reconciliation statement, trust trial balance, matter ledger listing, and a review of any ledger in deficit or any balance sitting unmoved long enough to raise a question.
Quarterly Statutory Deposit monitoring
Calculated from your ledgers each quarter, with the amount, the due date and the lodgement confirmation reported back to you. No reminders needed from your end.
The trust year and your external examiner
The NSW trust year closes 31 March. We prepare the file the examiner asks for and deal with their queries directly. Having previously held the licence, I know what the request list looks like before it arrives.
Office account, BAS and payroll
The business side of the practice: office ledger in Xero, QuickBooks Online or MYOB, BAS and IAS lodged as your Registered BAS Agent, payroll, superannuation and STP.
Clio setup, clean-up and training
A new Clio file configured for your compliance region and matter types, or an existing one brought back into order. Moving from another system, we bring the balances across and prove them.
Not sure whether your Statutory Deposit was calculated this quarter? We will check it with you on a free call. If it turns out to be fine, we will tell you so. Request a free consultation or call 1800 557 863.
Law firms only — and that is the point.
Sole practitioners and small practices across New South Wales. Small enough that the books cannot be a side job for the office manager, and small enough that you deal with the person doing the work.
We do not take on general small business work. There is no cafe, no trades business, no online store in our client list competing for attention at the end of the month.
That narrowness is deliberate. Trust accounting is not ordinary bookkeeping with an extra bank account — it is a regulated recording obligation with its own rules about receipts, transfers, deficiencies, records retention and reporting. A bookkeeper who meets it a few times a year across a handful of clients will not be as sure-footed as one who does nothing else. It also means our calendar is built around the legal year: the 31 March trust year end, the quarterly Statutory Deposit dates, the BAS quarters.
It is also why we hold current certification with all three of the systems NSW firms actually run on. If your practice is on one of the others, the same team does that work.
Clio bookkeeping FAQs.
Is Clio suitable for a NSW law firm’s statutory trust account?+
Yes. Clio’s trust account management is built to meet the trust recording requirements that apply to Australian law practices, and your compliance region is set from your firm’s address so the trust ledgers and trial balance behave the way the Uniform Law expects. The software being capable and your records being compliant are two different things, though — the recording, reconciling and reporting discipline still has to be applied every month.
What does being a Clio Certified Partner actually mean?+
Clio assesses partners as proficient in the use of the Clio application before listing them. It means we are working in a system we have been tested on rather than learning it on your file. We hold equivalent certifications with LEAP and Smokeball, so whichever of the three your practice runs on, the same team does the work.
You held an external examiner licence — do you still?+
No, and that is worth being clear about. I previously held an external examiner licence with the Law Society of NSW; I do not hold it now, and SmartEgg does not conduct external examinations. Your examiner must be independent of your bookkeeper, so the two roles could not be combined even if I did. What the licence gives you is the perspective: I have examined trust records against the Uniform Law and I know what is looked at, in what order.
How often does the NSW Statutory Deposit have to be recalculated?+
Every quarter. NSW is unusual in this — most states set the figure far less often. The calculation is made after each quarter ends using the Law Society of NSW’s Statutory Deposit Calculator, and any top-up is due in the following month. We run it from your ledgers as part of the monthly engagement, so it does not depend on anyone remembering.
Our trust reconciliations are months behind. Will you take us on?+
Usually, yes. A reconciliation left undone is not simply a backlog to catch up on — the requirement was to reconcile each month, and the gap itself is a matter your examiner will note. We scope the catch-up first: how many months, what supporting documents survive, and what will have to be disclosed. That is quoted separately from ongoing work. The earlier in the trust year you call, the less there is to explain.
Can you work alongside our accountant?+
Yes, and it is the usual arrangement. We maintain the trust and office books, prepare BAS and IAS as your Registered BAS Agent, and hand your accountant clean figures at year end. We are not a tax agent and do not prepare income tax returns or financial statements.
We are moving to Clio from another system. Can you handle the migration?+
The critical part of any trust migration is that the opening matter balances and the trust trial balance in the new system agree with the old records and with the bank on the changeover date, and that the changeover is documented. We do not carry out the software conversion itself, but we transfer and verify the opening balances and keep the trail, so the transition does not become a finding.
What does Clio bookkeeping cost?+
It depends on transaction volume, the number of active trust matters and whether there is a clean-up to do first. We quote a fixed monthly fee after the first consultation so it is not a moving number, and any historical catch-up is quoted as a separate one-off amount. The consultation is free.
SmartEgg Legal Bookkeeping is a bookkeeping practice and a Registered BAS Agent (25251799). Nothing on this page is legal advice or an audit opinion. The obligations described are those applying to law practices in New South Wales under the Legal Profession Uniform Law and the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW); confirm current requirements with the Law Society of NSW. Clio and the Clio logo are trade marks of their owner, used here to identify SmartEgg’s partner certification.
Your first consultation is free.
Tell us how your Clio file is set up and where you think the gaps are. If we are not the right fit, we will say so on the call.
Request free consultation