IOLTA three-way reconciliation checker. Free, private

Does your trust account three-way reconcile?

Paste the month's trust journal and the bank statement balance. You get the adjusted bank balance, the journal balance and the client ledger total side by side, the likely cause of any difference, and every client who went negative, was paid from uncleared funds, or left firm money in trust.

Checks the arithmetic every trust accounting rule is built on. Your jurisdiction's rule and your bar decide what you must do. Not legal or accounting advice.

Trust journal (CSV: date, client, description, amount, cleared). Deposits positive, disbursements negative.

Bank statement ending balance ($)

Statement date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Flag outstanding checks older than (days)

Your client ledger balances (optional CSV: client, balance). Adds the true third leg of the reconciliation.

Paste your journal and enter the bank balance, then click Reconcile.

Result

Reconciliation	Amount

Findings

Client ledgers

Client	Ledger balance	Cleared balance

What it does, and what it leaves to you

Checks: adjusted bank balance vs trust journal vs client ledgers; a negative client ledger on any date; payments made before the deposit cleared; firm money left in trust; transactions with no client; duplicates; stale outstanding checks; slow deposits; dormant balances.
Explains differences: if one entry equals the difference, doubled entries, or transposed digits, it says so.
Not decided: what your jurisdiction requires, reporting duties, interest and unclaimed property rules, whether a fee is earned, recordkeeping periods, or anything about your operating account. Your bar's guidance decides these.

Common questions

What is a three-way reconciliation?

Every month you compare three numbers for your client trust (IOLTA) account: the bank balance adjusted for outstanding items, the trust journal balance, and the sum of every client ledger. All three must agree to the cent.

Can a client ledger go negative?

No. A negative balance means one client's money was used to pay for another. Most jurisdictions require you to fix it immediately and some require a report. This tool flags the date a ledger first dropped below zero, even if it was repaid later.

Why does it ask which items have cleared?

Paying out against a deposit that has not cleared the bank spends other clients' money. Marking items cleared or not also gives you the deposits in transit and outstanding checks for the bank side of the reconciliation.

When does money have to leave the trust account?

Earned fees must be moved to the operating account promptly, and unclaimed client balances usually must be refunded or reported. Rules differ by state and country, so check yours.

Is my client data uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is sent. Use initials or matter numbers instead of names if you prefer.