SRA Handbook

Delivery of accountants' reports

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Rule 32: Delivery of accountants' reports

32.1

Subject to rule 32.1A, if you have, at any time during an accounting period, held or received client money, or operated a client's own account as signatory, you must:-

(a) obtain an accountant's report for that accounting period within six months of the end of the accounting period; and

(b) if the report has been qualified, deliver it to the SRA within six months of the end of the accounting period.

This duty extends to the directors of a company, or the members of an LLP, which is subject to this rule.

32.1A

Subject to rule 32.2, you are not required to obtain or deliver an accountant's report if all of the client money held or received during an accounting period is money held or received from the Legal Aid Agency or in the circumstances set out in rule 19.3.

32.2

The SRA may require the delivery of an accountant's report in circumstances other than those set out in rules 32.1 and in the circumstances set out in rule 32.1A if the SRA has reason to believe that it is in the public interest to do so.

Guidance notes

(i)

A qualified accountant's report is a report prepared in accordance with rule 32.1(a) which the reporting accountant has found necessary to qualify. The form of the report is dealt with in rule 44. The circumstances in which the accountant will be required to qualify his or her report are set out in the form at Appendix 5 to these rules.

(ii)

Examples of situations under rule 32.2 include:

(a)

when no report has been delivered but the SRA has reason to believe that a report should have been delivered;

(b)

when a report has been delivered but the SRA has reason to believe that it may be inaccurate;

(c)

when your conduct gives the SRA reason to believe that it would be appropriate to require earlier delivery of a report (for instance three months after the end of the accounting period);

(d)

when your conduct gives the SRA reason to believe that it would be appropriate to require delivery in all circumstances or more frequent delivery of reports (for instance every six months);

(e)

when the SRA has reason to believe that the regulatory risk justifies the imposition on a category of firm of a requirement to deliver reports earlier or at more frequent intervals;

(f)

when a condition on a solicitor's practising certificate requires earlier delivery of reports or the delivery of reports at more frequent intervals.

(iii)

For accountant's reports of limited scope see rule 8 (liquidators, trustees in bankruptcy, Court of Protection deputies and trustees of occupational pension schemes), rule 9 (joint accounts) and rule 10 (operation of a client's own account). For exemption from the obligation to deliver a report, see rule 5 (persons exempt from the rules).

(iv)

The requirement in rule 32 for a registered foreign lawyer to deliver an accountant's report applies only to a registered foreign lawyer practising in one of the ways set out in paragraph (vi)(C) of the definition of "you" in the Glossary.

(v)

When client money is held or received by an unincorporated practice, the principals in the practice will have held or received client money. A salaried partner whose name appears in the list of partners on a firm's letterhead, even if the name appears under a separate heading of "salaried partners" or "associate partners", is a principal.

(vi)

In the case of an incorporated practice, it is the company or LLP (i.e. the recognised body or licensed body) which will have held or received client money. The recognised body/licensed body and its directors (in the case of a company) or members (in the case of an LLP) will have the duty to obtain the accountant's report and to deliver any such report to the SRA if it is qualified, although the directors or members will not usually have held client money.

(vii)

Assistant solicitors, consultants and other employees do not normally hold client money. An assistant solicitor or consultant might be a signatory for a firm's client account, but this does not constitute holding or receiving client money. If a client or third party hands cash to an assistant solicitor, consultant or other employee, it is the sole principal or the partners (rather than the assistant solicitor, consultant or other employee) who are regarded as having received and held the money. In the case of an incorporated practice, whether a company or an LLP, it would be the recognised body or licensed body itself which would be regarded as having held or received the money.

(viii)

If, exceptionally, an assistant solicitor, consultant or other employee has a client account (as a trustee), or operates a client's own account as signatory, the assistant solicitor, consultant or other employee will have to deliver an accountant's report. The assistant solicitor, consultant or other employee can be included in the report of the practice, but will need to ensure that his or her name is added, and an explanation given.

(ix)

If a cheque or draft is made out to you, and in the course of practice you endorse it over to a client or employer, you have received (and paid) client money. You will have to deliver an accountant's report, even if no other client money has been held or received.

(x)

Rule 32 does not apply to a solicitor or registered European lawyer, employed as an in-house lawyer by a non-solicitor employer, who operates the account of the employer or a related body of the employer.

(xi)

When only a small number of transactions is undertaken or a small volume of client money is handled in an accounting period, a waiver of the obligation to obtain a report may sometimes be granted. Applications should be made to the SRA.

(xii)

If a firm owns all the shares in a recognised body or licensed body which is an executor, trustee or nominee company, the firm and the recognised body/licensed body may deliver a single accountant's report (see rule 28.1(b)).