SRA Accounts Rules

Course objectives

This course is designed to remind fee earners of the obligations imposed on them, and their firm, by the SRA when dealing with client money. The course is designed to help attendees to better work with the cashiers and other finance and administrative staff within their firm and to understand their obligations as the fee earner. By the end of the course, attendees will be able to appreciate what the important record keeping and procedural obligations required by the Rules are and how to better organise their own work.

Typical content

• Key principles when handling client money – which have now been given even more importance under the 2019 revised Rules
• Key record keeping and procedural requirements including the role of the COFA and the interaction with other SRA Standards and Regulations
• Dealing with receipts from clients, making payments on behalf of clienst and transferring funds from client to office bank accounts
• Current key issues such as residual balances on client accounts, providing banking services to clients (don’t!) and cyber-crime
• What is a breach and a serious breach of the SRA Accounts Rules and the likely consequences of a breach for the firm and the individuals involved?

Typical practical work and case studies

• Quiz – key issues when holding client money (what you should know already)
• Practical examples of current key issues such as the treatment of disbursements and electronic receipts from clients
• Case studies – issues from recent SRA reports and perhaps your firm’s own Accounts Rules audit

Duration and guideline fee

2 – 3 hours

£850 for the full 3 hour course with practical examples

Recommended maximum group size – 30