Client Money Policy for Accountancy Firms

A complete clients’ money policy and procedure for accountancy and bookkeeping practices – client bank accounts, receipts, payments, interest, reconciliations, breaches, unclaimed balances and continuity – with forms and a bank letter.

Editable Word document
14
10pages
Guidance notes included
aml consultancy solutions

Accountancy practice – compliance & management

Client Money Policy for Accountancy Firms

About this document

What it’s for

A written policy and set of procedures for any practice that holds, receives or controls money belonging to clients (for example tax refunds, funds to pay HMRC or suppliers, or estate and trust money). It reflects the main requirements of the accountancy bodies’ clients’ money rules and includes a bank notice letter, ledger, reconciliation, withdrawal and annual review forms.

When to use it

  • Before your firm first holds client money
  • To bring existing client money procedures into line with your body’s rules
  • To show a monitoring reviewer how client money is controlled

What’s inside

The document is laid out in the sections below. Each one comes with a plain-English guidance note explaining what it does and what to change.

  1. Purpose
  2. Scope
  3. Definitions
  4. Policy statement
  5. Roles and responsibilities
  6. Client bank accounts
  7. Receiving client money
  8. Interest
  9. Payments from client bank accounts
  10. Records and client ledgers
  11. Reconciliations
  12. Breaches
  13. Unclaimed balances
  14. Continuity and ceasing practice
  15. Training, monitoring and review

Also included

  • Related documents
  • Acknowledgement
  • Client bank accounts
  • Authorised signatories
  • Breach log

How to complete it

  • Choose whether your firm will avoid client money or hold it (clause 4)
  • Insert your professional body’s exact limits and timescales
  • Name the responsible principal and authorised signatories
  • Use the appendices as working forms

Key points to check

  • ICAEW, ACCA, AAT and others have detailed clients’ money rules – follow your own body’s current version
  • HMRC-supervised firms without a professional body should still apply these standards

Our templates are professionally structured starting points for UK businesses, not legal advice. For anything complex, unusual or high-value, have your final version checked by a solicitor.

Included in the pack

Accountancy practice – compliance & management

£20

for every document in this category

Editable Microsoft Word files

Guidance notes in every document

Written for UK businesses

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