Accountancy & Tax

At Advantage Consulting, we provide accountancy services that are focused on the legal profession in Birmingham, London, Manchester and beyond. We are a flexible firm of accountants and tax experts offering financial and tax-centred solutions to solicitors firms as well as individual lawyers in all areas, including specialist accountancy, tax and business consultation services to all legal professionals.

What's the difference between an ordinary accountant and a legal accountant?

As you would suspect, an accountant with specific knowledge of the legal sector is someone who has worked with clients in the legal profession over a number of years. While ordinary unspecialised accountants may get the job done to a mostly satisfactory degree, there will also be a large number of situations when their knowledge of legal tax and accountancy lets them and their clients down. Ultimately, legal firms face a variety of sector-specific issues and challenges and having an expert on your side can make all of the difference.

We work with a wide range of lawyers across the Midlands, London and Manchester and work closely with them to understand their specific needs and goals. This personal approach is what enables us to provide a bespoke service for each of our clients.

Specialist understanding of legal matters

Our team of accountants and tax experts provides bookkeeping, accounting and tax services to legal professionals throughout the Midlands and the UK. This specialist understanding of the legal sphere will enable your firm to gain a significant commercial edge over close competitors in your field.

When you engage the legal accountancy and tax services of Advantage Consulting, you can be sure that you’re working with a team of accountants who are more than au-fait with the constantly changing legal financial world and have a clear understanding of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s accounts rules.

Audit & Tax Compliance Services from Advantage Consulting

Compliance with tax and audit regulations is also an important part of the service we provide to our clients. The way your financial statements are presented says a great deal about the way you run your law firm. At Advantage Consulting, we ensure that your accounts are accurate, they comply with all legislation and the SRA accounting standards and that they are delivered on time.

The same can be said for tax compliance. We will ensure that everything from your personal tax or corporate tax returns to PIIDs, PAYE and payroll returns are prepared on time and comply fully with UK tax compliance and the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s reporting requirements.

Bookkeeping Services for Lawyers

Our accountants can relieve you and your law firm of a significant burden by taking care of all of your bookkeeping and accounting needs. This ranges from your making use of our specialist inhouse bookkeeping department to the preparation of annual accounts from your own records. We are able to tailor the service we provide to provide you with the most cost-effective solution to your needs.

Besides core bookkeeping we can also maintain your VAT records and prepare quarterly or monthly VAT returns on your behalf. We are also able to advise you on the best accounting software solutions and to assist you in the installation and maintenance of your digital accounting systems in compliance with the SRA and HMRC regulations.

Management Accounts for Solicitors Practices

One of the most important aspects of the financial management of your solicitors practice is the availability of current accurate and meaningful management accounts. These will be the foundation upon which you can build your business strategy for the future.

Advantage Consulting will be able to assist you in all aspects of the preparation of this financial information. We can either prepare periodic accounts on your behalf or assist you in the implementation and development of financial systems and procedures to ensure that this information is available to you.

Having prepared the management account figures it is imperative that you monitor and control these figures. Here again we can assist you by helping you to interpret the figures and make suggestions to help you improve profitability and to help your law firm grow.

Payroll Services for Lawyers

We provide a full payroll bureau service which can relieve you fully of the ever-increasing burden of preparing your own payroll. HMRC legislation and SRA regulations are constantly imposing more and more compliance requirements, with the potential of significant penalties if these requirements are breached. We can prepare payrolls for any size of law firm.

Our fully comprehensive payroll service includes:

• Computer generated payslips
• Administration of PAYE, National Insurance, SSP, SMP, etc
• Completion of statutory forms (including year-end returns)

Even if you have a few employees you will still be able to make savings by asking us to administer your payroll.

Statutory Accounts for Solicitors Firms

If you are a Limited Company then you will be required to prepare accounts to Companies House in a statutory format, within strict time limits. We can help you by preparing your statutory accounts and filing them, on time, with Companies House.

We provide an integrated Accountancy & Tax service

We also have the resources to be able to provide you with a wholly integrated service that includes tax planning, full accounting and corporate finance services. We have a clear understanding of the key drivers and issues that face legal firms, enabling us to provide clear and concise financial consultancy that adds enormous value to your business.

Ultimately, teaming up with the legal accountancy specialists at Advantage Consulting means saving time and money and reducing stress, knowing your finances are in safe hands.