Guardian Ledger by TriBalance

Trust accounting that doesn't trust you to get it right.

Guardian Ledger turns your bank statement, trust journal, and client ledgers into a review-ready monthly reconciliation pack. It runs the three-way, surfaces exceptions with linked evidence, and keeps the final decision where it belongs: with the attorney.

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100%

Source provenance

3-way

Reconciliation

$79

Starting at /month

Guardian Ledger · Monthly control pack

✓Three-way reconciliationBank · Journal · Client Ledgers

✓Exception detectionEvidence-linked, severity-coded

✓Immutable audit logEvery decision, versioned and timestamped

✓Attorney approval gateYou review. You sign. Nothing final without you.

✓5-year retention & exportPDF, CSV — your records, portable

Software prepares the record. Attorney judgment stays explicit, versioned, and final.

Attorney signs every pack·3-way reconciliation engine·5-year secure retention·Fail closed on incomplete books

The reconciliation isn't optional.
Doing it alone doesn't have to be.

01 · The Problem

Three systems, no connection

QuickBooks for the journal. Spreadsheets for client ledgers. PDF statements from the bank. None of them talk to each other. You spend hours every month stitching it together by hand.

4-6 hours per month can disappear into a single manual three-way.

One mistake, real consequences

A negative client ledger. A bank fee on the IOLTA account. A missing supporting record. The state bar doesn't ask how busy you were.

Trust account violations are among the most common grounds for attorney discipline.

Generic software was not built for this

QuickBooks and Xero do not understand IOLTA. They do not prevent negative client balances. They do not track trust-to-operating transfers. You are manually enforcing rules that software should enforce for you.

Your bar number is on the line

Monthly three-way reconciliation is required. Supporting records must be retained for five years. Compliance reviews can happen at any time. We prepare the record. You remain the professional of record.

You upload. Guardian Ledger reconciles.
You review and sign.

02 · Process

Step 1

Intake

Upload your bank statement, trust account journal, and client ledgers. Completeness, period, and opening-balance checks run before the reconciliation begins. Missing or conflicting inputs create a hard stop.

Upload

Step 2

Normalize & classify

Source records become canonical transactions with full provenance. Deterministic rules handle routine classification. Anything unresolved is flagged for review, never silently posted.

Normalize

Step 3

Three-way reconcile

The engine computes adjusted bank balance, journal balance, and client ledger total. All three must agree exactly. No floating-point arithmetic. Every adjustment references a source item.

Reconcile

Step 4

Exception detection

Negative balances, bank fees on trust accounts, stale outstanding items, and unclassified transactions are surfaced with linked evidence and severity codes. The software describes conditions. You make the legal judgment.

Review

Step 5

Your review and approval

Review the complete pack: reconciliation summary, supporting schedules, exception list with evidence, unresolved questions, and an approval tied to the exact report version. You resolve legal judgments and sign.

Approve

Every month, one complete pack
ready for your review.

03 · Deliverable

01 · Recon

Reconciliation summary

Three-way balance: adjusted bank, journal, and client ledger totals. Every amount traces back to a source document.

02 · Exceptions

Exception register

Every variance, stale item, and unclassified transaction flagged with severity, evidence links, and review status.

03 · Schedules

Supporting schedules

Bank reconciliation detail, journal summary, per-matter ledger balances, outstanding items schedule.

04 · Export

Portable records

PDF and CSV export of every report, schedule, and supporting record. Your data, your format, your retention — not locked into our platform.

05 · Sign-off

Attorney certification

Explicit approval section tied to the exact report content. Any source change invalidates the prior approval.

06 · Record

Immutable record

Versioned, timestamped, hashed. Retained for five years. Exportable in standard formats. Your compliance record, not ours.

What this software does not do
is as important as what it does.

04 · Boundaries

TriBalance is trust accounting software. It is not legal advice. It is not an audit. It is not a compliance guarantee. It is a tool — and like any tool, the professional using it bears ultimate responsibility.

You remain the attorney of record. You make every legal judgment. You sign every report. The software reconciles the numbers and flags potential issues. You decide what they mean and what to do about them.

01No autonomous financial actionThe system never moves money, edits a bank account, initiates a transfer, or files a court form.
02Attorney approval is a real gateApproval is explicit, versioned, timestamped, and tied to exact report content.
03No silent uncertaintyEvery extracted field and proposed category carries provenance, confidence, and review status.
04Fail closedMissing statements, out-of-balance books, or unexplained ledger changes block completion.

Built on State Bar Trust Accounting Guidance

IOLTAInterest on Lawyers Trust Accounts — mandated client fund protection in every state

3-wayMonthly three-way reconciliation — bank, journal, and client ledgers must agree

NegNo negative client balances — built-in controls prevent commingling and overdrafts

5yrSupporting records retained for minimum five years per state bar requirements

Built for the attorney who signs,
not the spreadsheet they inherit.

05 · Proof

Every reconciliation begins with source records, not a black-box recommendation.

Evidence-linked input Bank, journal, and client-ledger records stay traceable through the pack.

No report becomes final because a model sounded confident.

Explicit attorney gate Approval is versioned, timestamped, and invalidated when source data changes.

No customer testimonials are presented before they are earned. The proof available today is structural: source provenance, deterministic reconciliation, an explicit attorney gate, and portable records.

Software that handles trust accounting
so you don't have to.

06 · Pricing

Solo

$79/month

One trust account. One attorney. The full reconciliation engine, exception detection, export, and retained record for a repeatable monthly control.

1 trust account
1 user
Three-way reconciliation
Exception detection with evidence links
Attorney approval gate
PDF + CSV export
5-year secure retention

Firm

$149/month

Up to 3 trust accounts and 3 users. Everything in Solo, plus multi-matter management, bulk export, and priority support.

Up to 3 trust accounts
Up to 3 users
Everything in Solo
Multi-matter management
Bulk CSV export
Priority email support
Team audit log view

Practice

$249/month

Up to 10 trust accounts and unlimited users. Everything in Firm, plus early access to released rule packs and dedicated support.

Up to 10 trust accounts
Unlimited users
Everything in Firm
State-specific rule packs (on release)
Early access to new features
Dedicated support

All plans include a 14-day free trial. No credit card required. Cancel anytime.
Questions? hello@tribalance.io

Questions before you move trust data.

07 · FAQ

Does this replace QuickBooks or my practice management software?

TriBalance handles trust account reconciliation — the three-way your state bar requires. Many firms keep QuickBooks for operating books and Clio/MyCase for practice management. TriBalance is the trust accounting layer that plugs into your existing stack. You should not maintain two conflicting versions of the same trust ledger.

Is this legal advice or a bar endorsement?

No. TriBalance is software. It is not a law firm, not an audit, and not a compliance guarantee. You remain the attorney of record. The software reconciles the numbers and flags potential issues; you judge and sign.

What do I upload each month?

Bank statement for the trust account, trust account journal, and client ledgers for the period. The intake step runs completeness, period, and opening-balance checks. Missing or conflicting inputs create a hard stop until fixed.

What if my books are a mess right now?

The software needs clean opening balances to produce reliable reconciliations. If your historical books are incomplete, you may need to engage a legal bookkeeper or CPA to establish clean starting balances before using TriBalance.

How does the attorney approval gate work?

Nothing is final until you explicitly approve the exact report version. Approval is timestamped, versioned, and tied to report content. If sources change after approval, the prior approval is invalid and the pack must re-run.

Who is this not for?

Firms that never hold client funds. Large enterprises that need multi-entity ERP hooks on day one. If you already run a full legal-specific accounting suite that handles three-way IOLTA reconciliation automatically and you love it, stay put. For everyone else, TriBalance is the trust accounting layer your current stack is missing.

What if my state has specific trust accounting rules?

The reconciliation engine applies general trust accounting principles. State-specific rule packs are planned for future release. Until then, you remain responsible for ensuring outputs meet your jurisdiction's specific requirements. Consult your state bar's trust accounting guidance or ethics counsel if uncertain.

A reproducible monthly record. Surfaced exceptions. The evidence you need to review and retain.

TriBalance turns raw trust-account records into a reviewable monthly control package. Upload. Review. Sign. Keep the record.

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