Do you provide outsourced legal cashiering for CLC-regulated licensed conveyancers?

Yes — it is a division of its own. We work with CLC-regulated licensed conveyancers and property firms in England and Wales, exclusively in InTouch, keeping the client account posted, reconciled and evidenced in line with the CLC Accounts Code. We also know the SRA Accounts Rules, so we can do the same for an SRA-regulated firm doing conveyancing. Your managers remain responsible for compliance; outsourcing the cashiering does not move that.

These answers provide general information, not advice tailored to your circumstances. Rules can change and exceptions may apply — speak to the CASS team before making a tax, accounting or financial decision.

What we actually do

Day-to-day client and office account postings, completion monies in and out, transfers between client and office once the bill is raised, and the monthly reconciliation prepared and evidenced so it can be signed off.

You keep the client relationships and the decisions. We keep the ledgers straight and the paperwork in a form somebody could inspect.

Why InTouch only

Legal cashiering is not general bookkeeping with a different chart of accounts. It is a rulebook, a completion timetable and a system that knows about matters and ledgers.

We work in InTouch and nothing else, because a cashier who knows one system properly is worth more than one who knows four of them slightly.

CLC or SRA

A CLC-regulated practice works to the CLC Accounts Code: bank reconciliation statements produced within seven days of each calendar month end, comparing the bank and cash book balances, listing reconciling items and reconciling client bank accounts to the client account listing. Reconciling items are reviewed and cleared promptly. Review and sign-off arrangements are a firm control — commonly the Head of Finance and Administration in an ABS, or an authorised person elsewhere.

An SRA-regulated firm works to the SRA Accounts Rules: a reconciliation at least every five weeks, signed off by the COFA or a manager. We work to whichever applies to you, and we do not pretend the two are the same thing.

What outsourcing does not change

The accountability. Outsourcing the cashiering does not transfer responsibility to us: the practice and its managers retain their own responsibilities, alongside the HOFA in a CLC-regulated ABS or the COFA in an SRA-regulated firm. The CLC makes managers jointly and severally responsible for compliance.

What changes is who does the work and how visible it is. You get the postings, reconciliations and the evidence behind them, and the escalations that let the responsible people do their job. This service is cashiering, not assurance: it does not include an audit or a regulatory accountant's report, which has to come from an appropriately qualified reporting accountant.