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Solicitors' & Conveyancers' Accounts

Client account, the SRA Accounts Rules, the CLC Accounts Code and legal cashiering in practice.

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, 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.Read the full answer
How often must a law firm reconcile its client account?At least every five weeks under the SRA Accounts Rules, with the client bank statements, cashbook and client ledger total agreed and the reconciliation signed off by the COFA or a manager. A CLC-regulated practice works to the CLC Accounts Code instead: a reconciliation every calendar month, no more than five weeks after the last one and completed within seven days of the date it is prepared to. Either way, firms that reconcile monthly on a fixed date find the exceptions while they are still small.Read the full answer
How often must a licensed conveyancer reconcile the client account?Every calendar month under the CLC Accounts Code. Prepared to a date no more than five weeks after the last reconciliation, and completed within seven days of that date. The client bank balance, the client cash account and the total of the client ledger balances all have to agree, and the reconciliation has to be reviewed and signed off: by the Head of Finance and Administration in an ABS, or by an authorised person in other practices.Read the full answer
Should a law firm outsource its legal cashiering?Legal cashiering is specialist, deadline-driven work and mistakes can create compliance as well as operational problems. Outsourcing can give a firm experienced support without relying on one internal cashier.Read the full answer

Every SRA-regulated firm has to have a Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration, and they are personally responsible for taking all reasonable steps to keep the firm compliant with the SRA Accounts Rules including reporting material breaches to the SRA promptly. The role can be delegated in practice but not in responsibility: the cashiering can sit with someone else, the accountability stays with the COFA. A CLC-regulated practice has the equivalent role under a different name; the Head of Finance and Administration.

The Head of Finance and Administration is the CLC's equivalent of an SRA firm's COFA: the person accountable for client money being handled in line with the CLC Accounts Code. That means compliant accounting records, working internal controls, reconciliations done and signed off, and breaches of the Code documented and reported to the CLC. The role is a formal requirement in an ABS; in a CLC Recognised Body those responsibilities are assessed as part of the principal authorised persons' duties. Outsourcing the cashiering does not move the accountability.

A client account reconciliation compares the client bank account, client ledger balances and relevant accounting records so differences can be identified and investigated.

Legal cashiering covers the processing and control of financial transactions within a legal practice, including work involving office and client money.

Look for a provider that understands legal accounts, client money and the SRA Accounts Rules rather than relying only on general bookkeeping experience.

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