SRA Accounts Rules: A Practical Guide to Compliance

This course focuses on the main provisions of the SRA Accounts Rules, contained within the new SRA Handbook, governing how solicitors handle clients' money, and is primarily aimed at those working in private practice. Although assuming no prior knowledge, delegates attending this course will quickly build a sound understanding of the SRA Accounts Rules by looking at the most common compliance issues that occur in practice and the pitfalls to be avoided including problem areas such as the treatment of residual balances on client ledger accounts.

Delegates attending this course will benefit from Richard Lane's expert knowledge and experience in the following areas -

• Why do we need the SRA Accounts Rules?
• The Accounting Requirements
• SRA guidelines for accounting systems & procedures
• Definition of clients' and office money
• Examples of clients' money
• What is a client bank account?
• The proper treatment of costs & disbursements
• Withdrawals from client account
• Transferring costs and disbursements
• Method of withdrawals from client account
• Accounting for legal aid
• Clients' money interest rules
• Accountant's Reports & waivers
• Monitoring & enforcement by the SRA

This course is designed to meet the needs of Compliance Officers for Finance and Administration (COFA's), sole practitioners, partners, members, directors, managers, fee earners, compliance/risk officers, practice managers and finance staff working within a solicitors practice or Alternative Business Structure (ABS).