Accounts for Solicitors (Practice & Procedure) Book

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunals annual report for 1999 revealed that 27% of the allegations against solicitors who appeared before it were concerned with breaches of the Solicitors Accounts Rules, making this area the second most common issue for the tribunal after criminal convictions. Allegations of utilising and misappropriating client money represented a further 18% of the allegations. This book offers a comprehensive guide to solicitors accounts; it starts with basic bookkeeping priciples and develops with an analysis of the provisions of the Solicitors Accounts Rules 1998. This leads to an explanation of specific areas, for example, VAT accounting for disbursements, stakeholding and retirement from practice. A brief review of the benefits (and risks) of computerisation and the importance of budgeting for cash flow and profit introduces the wider accounting function within practice. The book also reviews the form and content of financial statements and the effect that the introduction and retirement of partners, the issue of new equity capital and the buy back or redemption of shares can have on a balance sheet. This, together with an overview of the accounting implications of the sale and amalgamation of businesses, lays a foundation for an explanation of how to analyse the performance of a business and the relevance of the accounts in that process.Read More