CPA for Law Firms and Solo Attorneys
Trust accounting, partner compensation, and tax planning for Pennsylvania practices.
Shetland Financial works with solo attorneys and small firms across the Lehigh Valley and Bucks County. We are a fee-only CPA firm and registered investment advisor, so your firm books, your personal return, and your retirement planning are handled together rather than by three separate providers. You work directly with Kevin Dodgson, CPA, CFA, CFP®.
Trust accounting is the part that carries real risk. Client funds held in an IOLTA account are governed by the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct, and the exposure from getting it wrong is disciplinary, not just financial. Individual client ledgers have to reconcile to the account, the account has to reconcile to the bank, and earned fees have to move out promptly and deliberately. We set up a three-way reconciliation you can actually maintain, and we review it regularly rather than discovering a problem at year end.
Cash or accrual is a bigger decision than it sounds. Most small firms are on cash basis, which means the tax year in which you collect determines the tax year in which you pay. For a firm with lumpy receipts, and particularly for contingency work where a single matter can land in December or January, that timing is worth managing deliberately rather than by accident.
Partner compensation, draws, and guaranteed payments. How partners are paid affects self-employment tax, retirement plan contribution room, and what each partner owes in quarterly estimates. Firms often carry a compensation structure inherited from whoever set the partnership up, without anyone having tested whether it still fits.
Retirement saving after a strong year. Law firm income is uneven. A good year is an opportunity to shelter income, but only if the plan is in place and the contribution is sized before the deadline passes. Because we manage the investments as well as file the return, the contribution decision and the investment decision happen in the same conversation.
Everyday items worth getting right. Bar dues and admissions, CLE, malpractice coverage, case advances and how they are treated for a contingency practice, and business use of a vehicle for court appearances across three counties. Case cost advances in particular are frequently mishandled, and the treatment differs depending on whether repayment is contingent on recovery.
We also handle Pennsylvania local Earned Income Tax and Local Services Tax filings, which matter for firms with staff living across different municipalities in Lehigh, Northampton, and Bucks counties.
And what happens after a strong year. Law firm income is uneven, and a good year is only useful if the proceeds go somewhere sensible. Our wealth management page covers how we invest it, coordinated with the return rather than separately from it. We are a fee-only fiduciary, so no products are being sold alongside the advice.
What you get
Trust accounting you can defend. Three-way IOLTA reconciliation set up properly and reviewed on a schedule, not reconstructed under pressure.
Timing managed, not discovered. Collections, contingency recoveries, and retirement contributions planned around the tax year rather than after it.
Fee-only, flat-fee, no commissions. Transparent pricing, no products, and no third party paying us for your business.