Getting Ready for the SRA Accountant's Report
Written and reviewed by the Legal Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 28 July 2026.
The annual accountant's report is where a year of client-account handling gets checked against the SRA Accounts Rules. This service gets your firm ready for it, deals with anything that would otherwise qualify the report, and coordinates the report itself.
Fixed fee, agreed before we begin. We are straight about what we do here and what a qualified reporting accountant does, so you always know who is doing what.
What We Handle
Getting the firm ready: bringing the client account reconciliations up to date, identifying and clearing residual balances, and putting right any breach we find before the report is done rather than after. We also check whether you actually qualify for the small-balance or Legal Aid exemption, so you are not obtaining a report you do not need.
Where the report itself has to be signed, that is work for a qualified reporting accountant. We make sure it is arranged properly and hand over a firm whose records are in the state the report needs, so it comes back clean.
Where Firms Get Caught Out
The report has a six-month deadline from the end of the accounting period, and firms that leave preparation until the accountant is booked find the problems too late to fix cleanly. Residual balances and late reconciliations are the usual culprits, and they are exactly what turns an otherwise clean report into a qualified one that goes to the SRA.
There is also a change coming: the SRA's 2025 consultation on client money proposes that all firms holding client money make an annual declaration about their position. We keep clients ready for where that lands rather than reacting to it.
How It Runs
We review the client account and records, list what needs putting right, and work through it in good time before the deadline. Where you are exempt, we confirm it against your figures. Where a report is needed, we ready the firm and coordinate the reporting accountant. Identity checks come first.
This works best alongside ongoing client-account bookkeeping, because a firm kept reconciled all year barely needs getting ready at all.
What It Costs
A fixed fee agreed before work starts, sized to the state of the client account and how much needs putting right. A firm kept clean all year is at the lower end; a firm with a backlog to unpick costs more, and we tell you which you are first.
To see what your firm needs, tell us about your client account and year end and we will set out exactly how it would run and what it would cost.