Exploring Solicitors Regulation Authority Accounts Rules
Reporting accountants may benefit from reviewing their approach to Solicitors Regulation Authority Accounts Rules assignments. Sally Hutchings, Technical Editor of Mercia’s SRA Accounts Rules manual, covers risk assessments, key tests and controls, efficiency and places you can find guidance and support.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) last introduced new Accounts Rules on 25 November 2019. Most of those who act as reporting accountants for solicitor clients have now completed at least one assignment for periods affected by this ‘new’ version of SRA Accounts Rules, and many are now coming around to the second year. Now that assignments straddling these updated rules and the preceding rules are a thing of the past, there may be benefits to revisiting your firm’s approach to SRA Accounts Rules assignments.
As the overriding principles of these rules are the same as their predecessor – to ensure client money is protected – reporting accountants are likely to encounter many of the same problems and potential breaches as before. However, because SRA Accounts Rules now omit a lot of the (previously) detailed and prescriptive requirements and allow client firms to design their own policies, the reporting accountant may face an additional initial consideration: what are my client’s policies and procedures, and are their systems and controls adequate to safeguard client money?
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