What the three reports are.
The first is the bank statement for the trust account, one month, every page. The second is the balance sheet for that same month, with the trust bank and the trust liability on one view. The third is the liability detail, one row for each matter that was open in that month.
If any of the three will not print, that fact comes first. A story about a clean month without the page is not a tie. We do not teach a click path we have not opened in your file.
Some trainings call this a three-way reconciliation. The name is less useful than the three pages on the table. When they match, and every matter row is at least zero, the file is ready for a fee conversation.
How a month fails in ordinary ways.
The bank shows a deposit the liability does not. The liability shows a matter the bank has already paid out. A spreadsheet on the side matches neither. Any one of those is enough to stop the fee.
A cleared check that never had a matter line is the same kind of miss. We leave the line visible until the paper says where it belongs.
Outstanding items belong on a list with dates. An item older than the firm's own habit gets a name, even if the name is unknown. Unknown is allowed. A silent plug is not.
What you can cover, and what you should not.
Cover client names and amounts on the first pass if you want. Leave account names visible. The account is the sentence.
Do not send the whole year. One month that worries you is a better start than twelve months that blur.
A partner and the person who can open the file are enough. If those are the same person, say so.
After the three agree.
Then we talk about the fee, the draw, and the return. Not before. The three reports are the floor. The decision about what the partners take is the work a Tax CFO is in the room to make.
Steven Palmieri is a Tax CFO, the Entrepreneur's CFO, and we keep the monthly read on a weekday you pick, by video, with the books shared.
The practice is in Dallas. The weekday does not change because the firm is in another state.
A short list to gather.
One statement. One balance sheet. One matter detail. The retainer item, if a deposit hit income the day it arrived. The interest lines, if any of them hit the firm.
If a count is unknown, write unknown. Four counts set the scope later. This page only asks for the three reports.
Firms that work under a state trust rule can read that rule on the state page. This page stays with the habit that is the same in every state.
Bring one month.
One month is enough to start.
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.