Law Firm Accounting Pricing
Clear pricing built around accuracy, compliance, and peace of mind.
How Much Does Law Firm Accounting Cost?
Monthly accounting services for solo and small law firms at Aligned CPA run $850 to $2,500 per month, plus a one-time setup fee between $2,000 and $15,000 depending on the condition of your books.
Where you land in the monthly range depends on four things: number of entities, monthly transaction and payroll volume, IOLTA trust accounting complexity, and how much advisory support you want built in. Use the calculator below for a same-day estimate, or schedule a 30-minute scoping call.
Why We Publish Our Prices
We put real numbers on this page so law firms can tell whether we're a fit before picking up the phone. We've focused on small law firm accounting since 2016, and our range reflects what it actually costs to run an integrated system — books, payroll, IOLTA reconciliation, and year-round tax strategy working together.
What the Calculator Covers
Use this calculator to estimate your monthly investment. It accounts for and produces a monthly range based on our current pricing model. It does not estimate the one-time setup fee. Setup depends on the condition of your books, trust accounting history, and any catch-up work needed — and is scoped during a brief discovery call.
The estimate is accurate within roughly for most engagements. A 30-minute scoping call refines it into a quote.
What Drives Your Monthly Pricing
Five things move your monthly fee inside the $850–$2,500 range:
Number of entities.
A single PLLC is simpler than a holding company plus an operating LLC plus a management entity with intercompany activity.
Monthly transaction volume.
Bookkeeping for 60 transactions a month is materially different work from 500.
IOLTA trust complexity.
One trust account with a handful of clients with minimal monthly activity is straightforward. Multiple trust accounts, higher matter volume, or more complex client-ledger work takes more time to reconcile correctly.
Advisory depth.
Core engagement includes ongoing communication and tax planning. Firms that want structured strategy meetings, custom reporting, and KPI dashboards add Strategic Advisory & CFO Support starting at $1,500/month.
A single-entity firm with clean QBO records, modest volume, three or fewer employees, and one IOLTA will land in the lower half of the range. If most of those describe you, expect to land in the bottom half — not the top.
What's Included at Each Level
Core Accounting System for Law Firms — $850 to $2,500 per month
Every monthly engagement includes:
Where firms typically land:
| Range | Profile |
|---|---|
| $850–$1,200/ mo | Solo practitioner, single entity, under ~75 transactions/month, 1 IOLTA, Clio already set up |
| $1,300–$1,800/mo | Small firm, 1–2 attorneys, 100–300 transactions/month, regular advisory conversations |
| $1,900–$2,500/mo | Multi-attorney firm, higher volume, multiple entities or trust complexity, deeper advisory cadence |
Add-ons (billed separately):
| Add-on | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Payroll | Starting at $85 per pay cycle |
| Owner's personal tax return | $1,000–$2,500+ annually depending on complexity |
| Strategic Advisory & CFO Support | Starting at $1,500/month |
One-time setup fee — $2,000 to $15,000. Covers onboarding, trust accounting cleanup, bookkeeping back-work, prior-year tax returns, and payroll setup or migration. Firms with clean books land near the low end; firms with 12+ months of unreconciled transactions or significant trust cleanup land much higher. Scoped specifically after the discovery call.
How Billing Works
Monthly recurring services
Setup fee
Payment methods accepted
Minimum engagement
Why Quotes Vary So Much Between Firms
Law firm accounting quotes can range from $300 a month to $5,000 a month for what sounds like the same scope. The variance is real, and it usually comes from one of two places.
Cheap quotes leave the integration work to you. A $300/month bookkeeper records transactions. A $100/month tax-only CPA files what you give them in April. Those are real services — but the gaps between them (IOLTA compliance, year-round tax strategy, owner-pay decisions, S-corp election timing) become your problem to manage. A bookkeeper who misclassifies revenue can create a tax bill that costs you many times what you saved on the monthly fee — and the cleanup is your time, not theirs.
Expensive quotes overscope you. On the other end, firms quoting $4,000–$6,000/month are usually bundling in fractional CFO work, M&A advisory, or wealth management — capacity that solo and small firms rarely use yet.
Our range sits in the middle on purpose. We run the integrated system law firms actually need — books, payroll, IOLTA reconciliation, year-round tax strategy — and add deeper advisory only when the firm has grown into wanting it.
Pricing Questions Lawyers Ask Us
Get a Quote for Your Firm
Two ways to find out what your firm's investment would be:
for a same-day estimate.
You'll leave with a specific quote range and an honest read on fit.