Maintaining clients' accounts

[acf]

I understand that creating and maintaining clients' accounts by the solicitors do eat up quite considerably resources and the time of the solicitors. I know that the banks charge thousands of pounds to the solicitors on annual basis to maintain their clients' accounts. I have special relationship with a high street bank which only charge a one-off fee to the solicitors for maintaining their clients' accounts and the system is computer based where the solicitors can maintain their clients' accounts without visiting banks or contacting it. The fee the bank charges is a fraction of the charges other banks are charging. If any of the solicitors is interested to learn more about the system and looking for saving the money can PM me and I shall arrange a presentation for him either by myself or by one of the representatives of the bank at a time and place convenient for him. I shall not be charging any fee whatsoever to the solicitors for this service. However, what I would be expecting from the interested solicitors, is to introduce their clients to me (they are under you obligation to do so), who would be interested in forming new companies or wanted to raise any kind of commercial finance, had they found the clients's accounts service beneficial.

 

[bwglaw]

Solicitors will no doubt be aware of the bank through various Legal Journals.

From my own experience, I find that Accountants do more company formations than lawyers. We do more agreements associated with the formation such as shareholders agreements. Having said that you might be better targeting Accountants

Jonathan

 

[Kent Accountant]

Solicitors will no doubt be aware of the bank through various Legal Journals.

From my own experience, I find that Accountants do more company formations than lawyers. We do more agreements associated with the formation such as shareholders agreements. Having said that you might be better targeting Accountants

Jonathan

... but we rarely hold client monies. We get all tax repayments into our client's account by BACS and send them out to the client the same day or the next day at the latest.

 

[Pebble Communications]

Solicitors' accounts are a little different. It means a lot more than doing the accounts for the solicitors' business. There are additional accounts where solicitors safely hold their clients' monies separately and some accountants etc specialise in running them. Clearly, there needs to be a very high security level (client funds need to be held separately to the solicitor's own funds) and audit trail.There are certain legal requirements and best practices to follow.

One of my accountant's specialisms is solicitors' accounts. It seems to be quite a complex area.

 

[bwglaw]

... but we rarely hold client monies. We get all tax repayments into our client's account by BACS and send them out to the client the same day or the next day at the latest.

Bob

You have misunderstood my post. I said that from experience Accountants do company formations more than lawyers. I was not making any reference to client accounts and accountants collectively.

I note that the OP is looking for ways to drum up business hence my comment to contact Accountants.

Jonathan

 

[Kent Accountant]

Bob

You have misunderstood my post. I said that from experience Accountants do company formations more than lawyers. I was not making any reference to client accounts and accountants collectively.

I note that the OP is looking for ways to drum up business hence my comment to contact Accountants.

Jonathan

Sorry Jonathan

I did understand your post, but the OP was using the client's account benefit as an inducement. In reality, I suspect there would be more chance of getting business if the website quoted prices?

 

[Kent Accountant]

Solicitors' accounts are a little different. It means a lot more than doing the accounts for the solicitors' business. There are additional accounts where solicitors safely hold their clients' monies separately and some accountants etc specialise in running them. Clearly, there needs to be a very high security level (client funds need to be held separately to the solicitor's own funds) and audit trail.There are certain legal requirements and best practices to follow.

One of my accountant's specialisms is solicitors' accounts. It seems to be quite a complex area.

I think the reference in the OP was to the actual bank accounts and not to the Accountants Reports that are required under the Solicitors' Accounts Rules.. I would be very surprised if any firms of accountants specialise in "running" the accounts. What we are required to do is to "report" on them to the Law Society. Many of us deal with Solicitors' Accounts although it is limited to firms like mine who have remained as Registered Auditors

 

[bwglaw]

Sorry Jonathan

I did understand your post, but the OP was using the client's account benefit as an inducement. In reality, I suspect there would be more chance of getting business if the website quoted prices?

Completely agree. I also suggest that the OP check the site for grammar errors. See:

http://www.askcompanyformation.co.uk/Company Secretary.htm

The first paragraph has errors. The site does not even mention what experience the company has and by asking for payment by Paypal does give a negative view

Also from experience, there is a gradual decline of Accountants and other professionals willing to be Company Secretary because of the legal obligations as a Director and being associated with a company that may be fraudulently managed.

I do not think solicitors will find the OP's incentive attractive because if they are asked to set up a Limited Company for a client they will do it themselves, possibly with a fixed-fee package to include Director Service Contracts, Shareholders Agreements etc

Also as I said earlier, solicitors will find this bank if it is attractive to them. No doubt the bank will have contacted solicitors direct as part of their marketing strategy if they are offering a client account - presuming it complies with the Solicitors Accounts Rules etc

 

[acf]

I am sorry if anyone have misunderstood what I was referring to. I do know that solicitors hold clients money in clients bank accounts and for maintaining such bank accounts, they do pay handsome charges to the banks. My thread was meant to inform the solicitors that they can reduce their charges by using the system of a high street bank. I do recognise that most of the solicitors might have already been benefiting by having maintained clients bank accounts with the bank. As I mentioned in my first thread, there is no complusion for the solicitor to refer their clients to me for companies formation or for any commercial finance. Hence no inducement.

However, I have been enjoying the discussion. Thanks for the positive contribution.

Sajjad

 

[Antonia @limeone.com]

I understand that creating and maintaining clients' accounts by the solicitors do eat up quite considerably resources and the time of the solicitors. I know that the banks charge thousands of pounds to the solicitors on annual basis to maintain their clients' accounts. I have special relationship with a high street bank which only charge a one-off fee to the solicitors for maintaining their clients' accounts and the system is computer based where the solicitors can maintain their clients' accounts without visiting banks or contacting it.


I am not sure this is correct any longer. I left private practice some years ago and even then the maintenance was not that big a deal- all done by IT packages designed for the profession.

Certainly my own firm handled complex client accounts (many deposit accounts) due to the nature of the work being done, but it was dealt with very cost effectively by HSBC. Due to the amount on deposit they paid us for the priviledge of holding those accounts by the interest rate they attracted!