Accountants for Law Firms in London: Firms and Services Guide (2026)
AC
Acumon Chartered Accountants·12 min read
This practical guide looks at accountants for law firms in London, focusing on the companies, their legal-sector experience, and the types of clients they support. It is designed as an overview rather than ranking companies against one another. The selection includes larger companies with broad accounting, audit, tax, and advisory capabilities alongside narrower specialists focused on solicitors, SRA requirements, client money, and practice finance. Rather than ranking companies by a single measure, the guide gives context on their service scope, areas of focus, and the kinds of legal businesses they may suit. This makes it easier to compare different approaches and identify companies that fit specific accounting and regulatory needs.
Acumon
Acumon is a UK company of chartered accountants and registered auditors providing specialist accounting, audit, tax, and compliance services to solicitors and law firms in London and across the UK.
The company works with legal practices ranging from sole practitioners and smaller partnerships through to LLPs, incorporated law firms, and larger practices with more complex finance functions. Its legal-sector work covers both routine accounting responsibilities and the regulatory requirements associated with holding client money and operating under the SRA Accounts Rules.
Law firms often need accounting support that reflects the structure of the practice as well as the individual tax positions of partners and members. Acumon supports partnership and LLP accounts, partnership tax returns, personal tax for partners, member capital accounts, profit allocations, and related financial reporting.
SRA compliance forms another part of the company’s work with solicitors. Acumon provides SRA Accountant’s Reports and reviews areas such as client account procedures, breach logs, COFA arrangements, residual client balances, and the financial systems used to manage client money. The company is registered to carry out audit work by ICAEW and provides statutory audit services where a law firm’s size or circumstances require an audit.
Beyond compliance reporting, Acumon supports law firms with management information relating to profitability, work in progress, lockup, cash conversion, and performance by department or fee earner. This can give partners and practice managers a clearer view of the financial position of the business alongside their statutory reporting obligations.
Tax and VAT support can be integrated with the accounting work. Relevant areas include partnership taxation, personal tax for partners, LLP salaried-member considerations, VAT treatment of legal disbursements, and tax compliance for incorporated practices.
Solicitor Accounting Capabilities
Acumon provides accounting and compliance support across a range of legal practice structures.
These include:
Sole Practitioners
Partnerships And LLPs
Incorporated Law Firms
Practices Holding Client Money
Law Firms Requiring SRA Accountant’s Reports
Legal Practices Requiring Statutory Audit
Engagements can combine practice-level accounting with regulatory reporting and the personal tax requirements of partners or members.
Regulatory Licences and Registrations
Acumon maintains professional registrations that support its accounting and audit work for regulated businesses, including law firms.
These include:
ICAEW Registered Audit Practice
UK Statutory Audit Registration
FRC Authorisation For Public Interest Entity Audits
Jersey Recognised Auditor Status
Isle Of Man Recognised Auditor Status
Its ICAEW audit registration is particularly relevant where a law firm requires regulated audit work alongside accounting, tax, or SRA-related services.
Core Services
Acumon provides a range of services covering the financial, tax, and regulatory requirements of solicitors and law firms.
These include:
SRA Accountant’s Reports
Client Money Compliance Support
Partnership And LLP Accounts
Statutory Accounts
Statutory Audit
Partnership Tax Returns
Partner Personal Tax Returns
VAT And Disbursement Advice
Management Accounts
Profitability, WIP And Lockup Reporting
Payroll Services
Company Secretarial Support
Law firms may require different combinations of these services depending on their legal structure, whether they hold client money, the scale of their operations, and the strength of their internal finance function.
Acumon works with practices that are:
Establishing Or Expanding Their Finance Function
Reviewing SRA Accounts Rules Compliance
Preparing An SRA Accountant’s Report
Moving From A Partnership To An LLP Or Corporate Structure
Managing Changes In Partner Membership Or Capital
Improving WIP, Lockup And Profitability Reporting
Approaching Statutory Audit Requirements
Combining accounting, tax, audit, and SRA-related work can help keep practice-level reporting and individual partner obligations aligned as a legal business develops.
Address: 1-2 Craven Road, Ealing, London, W5 2UA, UK
Moore Kingston Smith
Moore Kingston Smith has a dedicated professional firms practice with a specific service offering for law firms. Its clients range from sole traders through LLPs and partnerships to larger legal practices, and the team covers accounting, audit, taxation and regulatory matters relevant to the sector.
Its law-firm services include SRA reviews, audit and accounting compliance, partnership issues, LLP status, taxation, business valuations, M&A and performance improvement. The company also has specialists whose work includes SRA Accounts Rules reviews and tax compliance for law firms. Its registered office is in the City of London.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Law firms needing broad audit, tax and advisory support
Core services: Audit, accounting, tax compliance, SRA reviews and advisory
Specialization: Professional firms and partnership structures
Location: London
Relevant capability: SRA Accounts Rules reviews and compliance work
MHA’s Professional Practices team supports law firms and other regulated professional businesses. Its legal-sector work combines routine accounts and audit services with SRA-related compliance, practice structure and wider commercial advice.
The London team includes specialists focused extensively on solicitors. Robert Blech, for example, works almost exclusively with law firms and solicitors on financial compliance and regulation, including SRA matters and investigations. MHA’s wider professional practices work covers accounting, audit, business structure, cash flow, capital arrangements and succession planning.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Regulated legal practices needing accounting and SRA expertise
Core services: Accounts, audit, tax and professional practice advisory
Specialization: SRA compliance and law-firm financial regulation
Location: London and other UK offices
Relevant capability: Dedicated professional practices specialists
Buzzacott works with professional practices across the legal, architecture, accountancy and consultancy sectors. Its professional practices team brings together audit, tax, assurance and outsourcing services, with law firms treated as a distinct part of the sector rather than simply another general business category.
For law firms, the scope includes accounting, audit and tax together with knowledge of SRA Accounts Rules and client money requirements. The company also supports management accounting, partner structures, succession, transactions and capital management, making it relevant to practices looking for both compliance work and broader financial advice.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Established professional practices and growing law firms
Core services: Audit, tax, assurance, outsourcing and advisory
Specialization: Professional practices
Legal-sector capability: SRA Accounts Rules and client money
UHY Hacker Young has a dedicated offering for the legal sector and other professional practices. Its work for lawyers covers both standard accountancy requirements and issues particular to regulated legal businesses, including Solicitors Accounts Rules compliance, partnership taxation and WIP.
The company publishes specialist guidance on SRA client account audits and COFA controls, reflecting a practical focus on client money and financial compliance. Its London office provides accounting, tax, audit and advisory services to businesses and professional practices across the UK.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Law firms requiring accounting plus regulatory and tax support
Core services: Accounting, audit, tax, corporate finance and advisory
Specialization: Legal and professional practices
Relevant capability: SRA client account and compliance work
Perrys provides dedicated accounting services for solicitors and law firms from London and Kent. Its legal-sector work includes SRA compliance, partnership accounting, statutory accounts, audit and tax, with particular attention to businesses handling client money.
The company works with both individual solicitors and multi-partner practices. It supports partnerships and LLPs with accounts and tax while undertaking SRA-related audit work and advising on client accounting procedures where compliance issues need to be addressed.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Small and mid-sized solicitors’ practices
Core services: Accounts, audit, tax and partnership accounting
Specialization: Solicitors and legal professionals
Relevant capability: SRA Accounts Rules and client account reviews
Streets has a dedicated Legal Profession service covering solicitors, law firms, barristers, chambers and other legal businesses. Its offering combines standard accounting and tax work with sector-specific audit and regulatory services.
Relevant services include statutory audit, SRA Accounts Rules audits and compliance reviews, VAT, tax planning, internal controls advice and business advisory work. Streets also supports LLPs, incorporated practices and Alternative Business Structures, giving it a wider legal-profession remit than practices focused exclusively on traditional solicitor partnerships.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Solicitors, law firms, LLPs, ABSs and barristers
Core services: Accounting, audit, tax and business advisory
Specialization: Legal profession
Relevant capability: SRA audits and internal controls
MMBA has a dedicated accountants-for-law-firms service and a London office. The company supports solicitors with financial reporting, bookkeeping, tax, payroll and compliance work, while its SRA offering extends into client money audit and regulatory preparation.
Its London legal-sector service specifically includes SRA client money audits, statutory accounts preparation, tax planning for partners and directors, and payroll management. This makes MMBA relevant to practices that want routine finance administration and SRA-related assignments from the same accountancy provider.
Nichols & Co is a London-based chartered accountancy practice with a dedicated service for solicitors and law firms. It works with legal practices across London and the wider UK, including sole practitioners, partnerships, LLPs and incorporated firms.
The company covers client money, SRA compliance, annual and management accounts, tax, VAT and business structure advice. Its legal-sector team also works with common practice-management systems and provides SRA compliance reviews and independent SRA audit work through registered auditors.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Solicitors wanting a smaller London specialist
Core services: Accounts, tax, VAT, audit and business advice
Specialization: Solicitors and law firms
Relevant capability: Client money and SRA compliance reviews
Rayner Essex is a chartered accountancy company with a central London office and a specific Solicitors Accounts Rules service. It prepares annual SRA reports for legal practices ranging from sole practitioners to firms operating from multiple locations.
Beyond the Accountant’s Report, the team provides support with LLP conversions, succession and tax planning. Its broader London practice covers accountancy and advisory services for partnerships, limited companies, SMEs and larger organisations, so law firms can combine sector-specific regulatory work with wider business accounting.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Solicitors requiring SRA reporting and general accounts support
Address: Tavistock House South, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9LG
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/rayner-essex
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rayneressexllp
Twitter: x.com/rayneressexllp
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rayneressex
Accountants for Solicitors
Accountants for Solicitors is a specialist practice focused exclusively on law firms, including sole practitioners, partnerships, LLPs, incorporated firms and chambers. Its finance work covers client account bookkeeping, accounts, tax, payroll, VAT and partner drawings.
Its regulatory model is worth distinguishing from traditional audit practices. The business itself states that it is not a chartered accountancy firm or registered auditor. Instead, SRA Accountant’s Reports are prepared and signed by a separate registered auditor, while the practice handles the underlying bookkeeping, reconciliations and finance work. This arrangement may appeal to law firms looking primarily for an outsourced specialist finance function, but firms should understand the split before appointing it.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Law firms outsourcing routine finance and client account work
Core services: Bookkeeping, accounts, tax, payroll and VAT
Specialization: Law firms only
Relevant capability: Client account reconciliations and SRA report preparation process
Regulatory model: Accountant’s Report signed by a separate registered auditor
BKL works with professional services businesses, including solicitors operating as partnerships, LLPs and companies. Its professional services team covers accounting and tax alongside issues that are specific to regulated legal practices. The company has several London offices, including a City of London location.
For law firms, BKL specifically lists Solicitors’ Accounts Rules and SRA reporting among its areas of work. Its team reviews client account systems, identifies potential breaches and weaknesses, and advises on improvements to accounting controls. The wider service includes partnership and LLP tax, VAT, business structuring and financial planning for professional practices.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Solicitors, partnerships, LLPs and incorporated law firms
Core services: Accounting, tax, SRA reporting, VAT and business advisory
Specialization: Professional services businesses
Relevant capability: Solicitors’ Accounts Rules and client money reporting
Location: London
Contact Information
Website: bkl.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7832 0444
Address: First floor, 5 Fleet Place, London EC4M 7RD
Grunberg is a London accountancy practice providing audit, accounting, tax and business services from its office in northwest London. Its audit team works with regulated and specialist organisations and explicitly includes solicitors’ accounts audits within its audit capabilities.
The company’s work for legal practices is most relevant where an SRA-related audit or client account review is required alongside broader accounting support. Grunberg’s wider services include bookkeeping, business compliance, corporate and personal tax, payroll, VAT and outsourced finance functions. Audit engagements are delivered through Xeinadin Audit Limited, which is registered to carry out audit work in the UK by ICAEW.
Key Facts
Ideal for: London law firms requiring audit and general accounting support
Core services: Audit, accounting, tax, VAT, payroll and business compliance
Specialization: Owner-managed and professional services businesses
Address: 5 Technology Park, Colindeep Lane, London, NW9 6BX
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/grunberg-&-co
Facebook: www.facebook.com/grunbergco
Twitter: x.com/GrunbergandCo
Anstey Bond
Anstey Bond is an accountancy and audit practice based in central London. It provides accountancy, audit and tax services and is registered to carry out audit work in the UK by ICAEW.
The company is directly relevant to law firms through SRA Accountant’s Report work. Colin Ellis of Anstey Bond is identified as an ICAEW member and Responsible Individual who prepares and signs SRA Accountant’s Reports for solicitor practices. This gives Anstey Bond a clear role in the regulatory reporting process for legal businesses holding client money, rather than only a general professional-services connection.
Key Facts
Ideal for: Solicitors requiring an SRA Accountant’s Report
Core services: Accountancy, audit and tax
Specialization: Audit and regulated reporting
Relevant capability: Preparation and signing of SRA Accountant’s Reports
Choosing an accountant for a law firm depends on the size and structure of the business, the complexity of its finances, the maturity of its internal processes, and the regulatory requirements it must meet. Some companies provide an integrated mix of accounting, audit, tax, compliance, and advisory services, while others concentrate more narrowly on SRA requirements, client money, or legal practice finance. The right partner should provide independent assurance where it is needed, while giving practical recommendations that help reduce financial and compliance risks and strengthen operational resilience. The purpose of this guide is to give neutral context for comparing those different service models. The final choice should reflect the legal practice’s own reporting obligations, internal resources, and level of specialist support required.
AC
Written by the Acumon team
Acumon is an ICAEW-registered firm of chartered accountants and registered auditors
based in London, with offices in Pitstone, Aylesbury and Bournemouth. Need advice on
anything covered here? Talk to us.
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