Virtual Event
SRA Accounts Rules: The Essentials
Get Tickets
Free – £145.00
Virtual Event
SRA Accounts Rules: The Essentials
Get Tickets
Free – £145.00
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For non-subscribers and all other plan subscribers, access can be purchased separately.
#1. When dealing with residual balances that are £500 or less that are to be paid to a charity, your firm posts a journal from the business side of the client’s ledger and credits a nominal ledger in the name of the charity. You then transfer the residual balance from the client account to the business account.
Once a month, the payment to the charity is made from the charity nominal ledger. Is this permissible under the SRA Accounts Rules?
#2. Your firm is instructed by the landlord of a new development of commercial properties to prepare the lease agreements. You’re also instructed to receive, and hold in client account, the rental deposits that are paid by the tenants. These will be held until the lease comes to an end and any conditions, e.g. dilapidations, are met.
Is this a breach of the SRA Accounts Rules?
#3. You have paid a disbursement from the business account and now have sufficient money held in the client account towards it.
Are you required to send the client a bill or other written notification of costs prior to transferring the money from the client account to the business account?
#4. You instruct a medical reporting agency to obtain copy-medico legal documents on behalf of a client that has been involved in a road traffic accident.
Is this cost a disbursement for VAT purposes or a recharge?
#5. I no longer need to consider time frames when transferring costs (fees and disbursements) to the business account?
#6. Is it permissible to pass on the costs of conducting client due diligence as a disbursement under the AML under the money laundering regulations on to my client?
#7. Is it permissible to issue the client with a bill of costs for an unpaid, not yet incurred, disbursement?
#8. Your firm acted for a client in the sale of commercial premises which is now completed. Your firm are in the process of accounting to him for the net proceeds of sale. Independently of this retainer, the client’s daughter has instructed another solicitor in your firm to act for her in buying a flat.
The father has asked the firm to retain enough money to cover his daughter’s legal fees and to send the balance to him.
Is this providing banking facilities?
#9. You have instructed an interpreter in order for your client to be able to communicate with you or to enable your client to understand Court proceedings. The cost of the interpreter is being passed on to the client. When billed, the cost is:
#10. Your firm prepare a lot of wills and fixed fee interviews as one-off transactions for clients. However, instead of opening an individual client ledger for each client, you have a general ledger on which you record the details of each client and the costs received.
Is this a breach of the SRA Accounts Rules?
SRA Accounts Rules – The Essentials
Length: 3 Hours
Published September 24, 2022
Last Updated on May 20, 2023
Who is this training for?
This online workshop is for Solicitors, Lawyers, Accountants, Compliance Officers, COFA’s, Legal Accounts Professionals, Legal Cashiers and anyone that has any involvement in working in legal finance and compliance.
Purpose of this training?
The current SRA Accounts rules allow more flexibility in how law firms operate and manage risk but also require firms to make their own professional judgements and decisions in how they protect client money and assets entrusted to them.
This online workshop will explore the technical and practical application of the accounts rules and best practice to ensure compliance. It will address issues that have emerged from the warning notices guidance that has been subsequently released and will look at conundrums, scenarios and recent Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal decisions.
- Introduction
- Client Money and Client Bank Accounts
- Legal Aid Money
- Client Account Exemption
- Management of Money and Timeframes
- Residual balances
- Banking Facilities
- Systems and Controls
- Client Bank Reconciliations
- Joint Accounts/Client Own Accounts
- Breaches
- Third Party Managed Accounts (TPMA’s)
- The Role of the Accountant and the Report
- SRA Additional Guidance
- Summary of the Changes 2011 -v- 2019
Further Information
Practice notes and training sessions represent the Association of Legal Compliance & Accounts’ view of good practice in a particular area. They are not intended to be the only standard of good practice that firms can follow.
Practice notes and training sessions are not legal advice, and do not necessarily provide a defence to complaints of misconduct or poor service. While we have taken care to ensure that they are accurate, up to date and useful, we will not accept any legal liability in relation to them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Online
It’s really simple:
- Reduced cost
- Can be taken anywhere on any device – no travel time or cost
- Shorter and more efficient than face-to-face
- Live and interactive
- Recorded and can be replayed at your leisure
Online – the Cons?
At present, many training providers are offering online training services, under the guise of webinars – some live, some pre-recorded. The live mainly consisting of the trainer talking with little or no engagement with the delegate – this is a common perception as to what a webinar is. For some, this can feel very lonely and isolated. It requires strong, self-motivation and time management skills. The learner’s mood is exceptionally difficult for the trainer to read – a good trainer will read body language within the room. Also, if you have a technical issue, then accessing the online learning resources can become difficult. Where there is no accreditation, the quality of the course content can come into question.
Depending on your subscription and the length of the workshop, the pricing is as follows:
Our online workshops are delivered via Zoom. You can access the session via your computer, tablet or mobile device.
Details on how to join the online session will be provided the day before the training goes live.
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If your firm prevents you from using Zoom, please contact us.
There is no requirement to attend live but we advise that you do where you can as this will be the best experience for you. Don’t forget, you can pose questions live to the trainer and join in with the interaction when you attend live. Also, be mindful that you have access to the recording for 30 days, after which, it will no longer be available.
Not at all. We prefer it if candidates do as it makes the training more engaging but it is not mandatory to turn your camera or microphone on during the training session.
If you don’t have a microphone, you can still pose questions using the chat facility.
