CLP Legal Practice Guides: Accounts for Solicitors 2025-26

Unrivalled for clarity, authority and cost effectiveness, the CLP Legal Practice Guides explain in detail the principles of each area of legal practice. Each title is complemented by worked examples, checklists, model forms and relevant legislation. Published annually, these user-friendly guides are ideal points of reference for students studying the Legal Practice Course and for practitioners, whether newly qualified or as a means of keeping up with the latest developments.

Accounts for Solicitors: Accounts for Solicitors is a practical introduction to a subject that all practising solicitors need to understand. The text is divided into two parts: the first explains fundamental accounting concepts to allow students to read and interpret end of year accounts; the second deals with the accounts of solicitors and, in particular, the need to account for a client’s money.

Written in simple, non-technical language, Accounts for Solicitors provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to this complex subject with worked examples, self-test sections and key learning points at the end of each chapter to help illustrate and reinforce the unfamiliar, and often difficult, concepts involved.

Part II has been updated to include discussion of recent SRA penalties on firms in relation to anti-money laundering system failures and the SRA’s decision to defer minor amendments to the Accounts Rules while it reviews consumer protection arrangements more generally.

table of content

Introduction

Double Entry Bookkeeping

Final Accounts

Adjustments

Partnership Accounts

Introduction to Company Accounts

Company Accounts: Regulation and Format

Analysis of Accounts

Solicitors’ Accounts

The SRA Accounts Rules 2019

Entries for Recording Simple Client Transactions

Transfers

Value Added Tax

Splitting Cheques, Mixed Receipts and Dealing with Bills

Miscellaneous Matters

Accounting to the Client for Interest

Financial Statements

Accounting Problems for Solicitors

Third Party Managed Accounts

Compliance

Extracts from the SRA Accounts Rules 2019