Accounts Rules breaches

This subtopic focuses on requirements to report breaches of the SRA Accounts Rules, which can be found in the SRA Codes of Conduct and the SRA’s enforcement strategy. See Practice Note: SRA Accounts Rules—law firms—Breach rectification and reporting.

For more guidance on the SRA’s regulatory regime, see:

•
Practice Note: Breach reporting—law firms
•
Compliance officers and compliance breaches—law firms—checklist

When and what must you report to the SRA

The SRA’s threshold for reporting is expressed as ‘serious breach’—see Practice Note: Breach reporting—law firms—When and what must you report to the SRA.

Compliance officers

Your firm’s COFA must take all reasonable steps to ensure:

•
a prompt report is made to the SRA of any facts or matters the COLP reasonably believes are capable of amounting to a serious breach of the SRA Accounts Rules
•
the SRA is informed promptly of any facts or matters the COLP reasonably believes should be brought to its attention in order that it may investigate whether a serious breach of its regulatory arrangements has occurred or otherwise exercise its regulatory powers

There is a similar reporting obligation

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