LEAP bookkeeping, done to the standard an examiner tests against.
We keep the trust and office books of small law practices running on LEAP. Certified bookkeeper in the LEAP Partner Network, law firms only, and the person doing the work once held an external examiner licence with the Law Society of NSW.
LEAP keeps the record. It does not keep you compliant.
LEAP is the system most small NSW practices end up on, and its trust accounting is certified for use by law practices. It records trust receipts and payments, holds controlled money records, reconciles the trust account and produces the reports your examiner expects. What it will not do is notice that a receipt went to the wrong matter, that a trust ledger has quietly gone into deficit, or that your practice is short on its 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 LEAP 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. Controlled money held for a client with no record of the investment. 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.
There is a second gap particular to LEAP practices. Most run the office side in Xero or MYOB alongside LEAP, and that split is where quiet trouble starts: fees billed in LEAP that never reached the office ledger, trust-to-office transfers recorded on one side only, disbursements paid from office and never recovered from the matter. We look after both ends and keep them in agreement.
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 LEAP 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.
LEAP 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 LEAP every month, and the reconciliation retained as part of the records.
Controlled money and transfers
Controlled money accounts recorded and reported properly, and trust-to-office and matter-to-matter transfers supported by the authority and the invoice that justify them.
LEAP and your office ledger, in agreement
Billed fees, trust-to-office transfers and recoverable disbursements landing on both sides, so the profit figure you are looking at is the real one and the trust figures stand up on their own.
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.
LEAP setup, clean-up and training
A new LEAP file set up for your matter types, or an existing one brought back into order. Moving from another system, we transfer and verify the opening balances and prove them against the bank.
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.
LEAP bookkeeping FAQs.
Is LEAP suitable for a NSW law firm’s statutory trust account?+
Yes. LEAP’s trust accounting is certified for use by law practices and it will record trust and controlled money transactions, reconcile the account and issue the statements and reports 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 LEAP Partner Network certified bookkeeper mean?+
LEAP certifies bookkeepers who have been assessed on the use of LEAP and lists them in its partner network. 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 Clio 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.
We run LEAP for trust and Xero for the office account. Can you do both?+
Yes, and it is the most common arrangement we see. Trust and matter records stay in LEAP, the office books sit in Xero, QuickBooks Online or MYOB, and we make sure the two agree — billed fees, trust-to-office transfers and recoverable disbursements all landing on both sides.
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.
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.
What does LEAP 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. LEAP and the LEAP logo are trade marks of their owner, used here to identify SmartEgg’s partner certification.
Your first consultation is free.
Tell us how your LEAP 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.
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