Resources
Reporting Accountants' Reports
At a glance
- The Annual Reporting Accountant’s report must be submitted to the Law Society within five months of a firm’s accounting date.
- An extension of one month may be granted, if requested in writing, no later than 14 days before the filing deadline.
- Closing reporting accountants’ reports are to be filed within three months of the date a solicitor ceases practice, or within such time as agreed with the Law Society.
Forms and checklist
Form – accounting periods commencing from 1 July 2023
For all accounting periods commencing on or after 1 July 2023, please use the form Reporting Accountant’s Report 2023.
Form - accounting periods from 1 December 2014 to 30 June 2023.
For all accounting periods commencing on or after 1 December 2014 but before 30 June 2023, please use the form Reporting Accountant’s Report 2014.
Checklist
Before you submit the Reporting Accountants Report, please ensure you have completed the form correctly - read the checklist before submission.
Dates and extensions
Solicitors Accounts Regulations 2023
In accordance with regulation 26 (1) of the Solicitors Accounts Regulations 2023 (S.I 118 of 2023), solicitors are required to ensure that a reporting accountant's report is furnished to the Society no later than five months after the firm’s accounting date in each practice year (year-end date), or within such further period as the Law Society may in writing permit.
This would normally mean that your first report will be submitted before you complete 17 months in practice.
Firms are required to notify the Law Society of their date of commencement and the accounting date chosen in the commencement in practice form.
Accounting date
A firm’s accounting date is the last date of the practice's accounting period (the period of one year ending on the accounting date) in each practice year. The accounting date chosen must therefore be within one year of the firm’s date of commencement and a reporting accountant's report must be filed with the Law Society within five months of the chosen accounting date annually.
Extension of accounting date
Should a firm wish to choose an initial accounting date which would extend their accounting period to longer than a period of one year from their date of commencement, the firm must notify the Law Society in writing no later than one year after their date of commencement in practice and receive the written consent of the Law Society to file such an extended reporting accountant's report.
Extension of reporting deadline
The Solicitors Accounts Regulations 2023 allow for an application to be made in writing to the Law Society no later than 14 days before the filing deadline for an extension of no longer than one month. This will be granted where the Law Society is satisfied that it is appropriate in all the circumstances to do so.
Reporting Accountant and Compliance Partners
It is the firm’s obligation to ensure that the reporting accountants report is submitted by the reporting deadline.
However, the firm’s reporting accountant must submit the report to the Law Society with a covering letter attached. The firm’s compliance partner signs the report.
The compliance partner is a sole practitioner or solicitor who is a partner in a firm, which is a partnership of solicitors, and who is nominated from time to time by the firm and notified in writing to the Law Society as the partner responsible for completing and signing on behalf of all the partners the Form of Acknowledgement in the Reporting Accountant’s Report.
Difficulties filing your annual report
The Law Society’s position is that the protection of client moneys is of paramount importance.
However, the Law Society appreciates that there will be solicitors who are in difficulty in relation to the filing of their annual and closing reports. Any such solicitors are asked to contact the Law Society with their proposals for the filing of the report and each will be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
To facilitate the filing of annual and closing reports, the Law Society is willing to accept unsigned reports by email to financialregulation@lawsociety.ie, provided that they are accompanied by an undertaking from the reporting accountant to submit the signed report as soon as practicable.
All proposals put forward, either by solicitors or their reporting accountants, are considered, with the emphasis on getting as many annual and closing reports filed as possible.
Here to help
If you require clarification or assistance regarding the submission of your Reporting Accountants report, please email your query to RAR@lawsociety.ie.
Frequently Asked Questions - Annual reports
The 2023 regulations commenced on 1 July 2023 and apply to firms whose accounting period commenced on or after 1 July 2023.
You can access the new Regulations on the Irish Statute Book site. Sections 26-34 deal with Reporting Accountants' reports.
Any solicitor’s practice in Ireland that holds clients’ monies must submit an annual Reporting Accountant's report.
It is your obligation to ensure that the report is submitted by the reporting deadline. However, your Reporting Accountant must submit the report to the Law Society with a covering letter attached.
The firm’s compliance partner signs the report. The compliance partner is a sole practitioner or solicitor who is a partner in a firm which is a partnership of solicitors who is nominated from time to time by the firm and notified in writing to the Law Society as the partner responsible for completing and signing on behalf of all the partners the Form of Acknowledgement
Yes, but you must notify the Law Society within fourteen days of any change in the compliance partner in the course of a practice year.
Your Reporting Accountants report should be submitted to the Law Society not later than five months after the practice’s accounting date (year-end date).
The 2023 Regulations allow for an application to be made in writing no later than 14 days before the accounting date for an extension of no longer than one month. This will be granted where the Law Society is satisfied that it is appropriate in all of the circumstances to do so.
You will find the report under Forms and checklist above.
Please email the report to RAR@lawsociety.ie.
Yes, but you must notify the Law Society not later than one month prior to the current accounting date or in the case of a shorter accounting period, one month prior to the new accounting date. If the change would extend the accounting period to longer than one year the prior written consent of the Law Society is required.
In addition to the Law Society’s Reporting Accountant’s report you are required to furnish the Law Society with a copy of the accountant's report furnished to the Law Society of Northern Ireland. The accounting dates for the firms in respect of the reports furnished should be the same accounting date in both jurisdictions.
You will receive an arrears letter from the Law Society informing you that you are late in filing your annual Reporting Accountant’s report. If your report is still outstanding, you will receive a further letter from the Law Society calling you up to the next Law Society Regulation of Practice Committee meeting. If your report is received before the meeting, there is no need to attend before the committee.
No, if you do not hold any client’s monies you do not need to file an annual Reporting Accountant’s report. You must inform the Law Society that you do not hold any client’s monies and file a Statutory Declaration which is sworn and independently witnessed confirming this. If you start holding client’s monies at any stage, you must immediately inform the Law Society. For further information please email RAR@lawsociety.ie.
You must file an annual report with the Law Society. Your first report should be submitted five months after your first accounting date. This would normally mean that your first report will be submitted before you complete 17 months in practice.
Please email RAR@lawsociety.ie and a decision will be made based on the facts in your case.
A Reporting Accountant must be a member in practice of a Law Society approved body as per Regulation 26(4) of the Solicitors Account’s Regulations 2023 and they must apply to the Law Society for approval by submitting a copy of their current practicing certificate, copy confirmation of their current professional indemnity insurance details and a copy of their firms headed notepaper to the Society.
No, a spouse, co-habitee, parent, child, sibling, dependent, associate, partner, consultant, clerk or servant of the solicitor concerned or a person with whom the solicitor either directly or indirectly has a mutual business interest cannot act as a Reporting Accountant. It is the Law Society’s policy that, in the interest of objectivity, Reporting Accountants should be independent of the solicitor for whom they conduct the annual accountants report.
Yes, a Reporting Accountant should notify the Law Society in writing of their resignation or their cessation of operation as a Reporting Accountant, such notification to take place within 21 days of such resignation or cessation of operation. A Reporting Accountant shall provide the Law Society with reasons for such resignation or cessation unless the Reporting Accountant does not consider it appropriate to do so, in which case, the Reporting Accountant shall notify the Law Society accordingly.
Yes, you should notify the Law Society in writing of such change, resignation or cessation of operation, together with the reasons for same, not later than fourteen days after such change has taken place.
The Law Society requires that only funds lodged to the client account on or before the balancing date, which have not yet cleared the bank, should be reported to the Law Society as an outstanding lodgement. Where it is necessary to lodge monies to the client account after the balancing date or to correct a bookkeeping error, the existence of a deficit should be reported to the Law Society.
No, quarterly balancing statements must be completed but only the balancing statement for the accounting date and the balancing statement for the date six months before the accounting date are included in the report.
If, in the course of carrying out their examination of your accounting records, the Reporting Accountant forms an opinion or has reasonable ground to suspect that
- there is a deficit of clients' funds in the practice which cannot be rectified within seven days; or
- there are entries in the accounting records which have been made to conceal the existence of a deficit;
the Reporting Accountant may notify the Registrar of Solicitors directly of that opinion or those reasonable grounds.
You must list all client ledger balances outstanding two years or more as at the accounting date, disclosing the reason the balance is outstanding and, where appropriate, any action taken or proposed to clear the balances. This list will be provided at appendix 6 of the Reporting Accountants report.
Under current legislation there is no provision to allow a solicitor to pay client money to anyone other than the beneficial owner without the written consent of the beneficial owner.
Frequently asked questions - closing reports
A closing reporting accountant's report is required to be submitted to the Law Society covering the period from the date of your last annual reporting accountant's report to the date on which the practice ceased to hold, control, receive or pay client monies (i.e. - the date at which the balances on the client bank account, as per the bank statements, went to zero). This report should be submitted within three months of the date of cessation of the practice.
Your reporting accountant must also submit confirmation that the client bank account/s are closed.
The closing reporting accountants report should be in the exact same format as the annual report (and include interim balancing figures if it covers a period greater than 6 months). The only difference is that the closing report should have zero balances as per the bank statements at the accounting date.
Please note that a report which shows client monies still held in the client bank account will not be accepted by the Law Society as a closing report.
You can keep your client account open pending resolution of outstanding matters e.g. matters before the taxing master. You should write to the Law Society explaining why the client account has not been closed, the timeframe within which you expect that all matters to be resolved and confirm that you will submit a closing report as soon as practicable. You must continue to submit annual reports until a zero-balance closing report is submitted.
The Law Society recommends that when there is a change in the structure of a practice the old bank accounts are closed and new bank accounts are opened for the new practice. However, if this was not possible your reporting accountant should submit a closing report with balances as normal within three months and submit the following documents with the report:
- A Letter from the Firm's bankers confirming that they are aware of the change in structure of the firm
- A copy of the new Bank Mandate
- A letter from the Reporting Accountants along with their Closing Reporting Accountant's report that confirms that they are aware of the change in structure of the firm.
Please note that the report will not be accepted as a closing report unless the above documentation is submitted.
Please contact the Law Society and each case will be looked at individually. Please email RAR@lawsociety.ie.
No, an annual report and a separate closing report must be submitted.
No, the closing report should be dated the date on which the balances in the client account go to zero as per the bank statements; this does not have to be the date of cessation of the practice.
You will receive an arrears letter from the Law Society informing you that you are late in filing your closing reporting accountant’s report. If your report is still outstanding, you will receive a further letter from the Law Society calling you up to attend before a Law Society Regulation of Practice Committee meeting. If your report is received before the meeting, there is no need to attend before the committee.
Please note that if you are in difficulty meeting the three month deadline you should contact the Law Society outlining the difficulty.
Under current legislation there is no provision to allow a solicitor to pay client money to anyone other than the beneficial owner without the written consent of the beneficial owner.
