Professional-services businesses sell expertise, judgement and time, but their accounting arrangements can be very different. A self-employed barrister, a law firm holding client money, an architectural practice and a consultancy operating through a limited company should not be pushed through the same accounting process simply because they all provide professional services.
I would first establish how the practice is legally structured, how fees are earned, whether client money is held, who owns the business and whether the work is delivered by employees, partners, directors or contractors. Those facts determine the accounting and tax work.
Give us the profession, business structure and the main tax or accounting issue. Please do not send confidential client records through this initial form.
Sector familiarity is valuable when it helps identify the right questions. It should not lead an accountant to assume that every solicitor, barrister, architect or consultant operates in the same way.
Fee income, chambers statements, clerks' commission, professional expenses, VAT, Self Assessment and digital-record obligations can all form part of the barrister's tax position.
Partnership or company accounts, partner or director tax, payroll, VAT and the accounting distinction between client money and the firm's own money can all require careful systems.
Project fees, work in progress, subcontracted specialists, staff, VAT and company-owner tax can create different accounting questions across long-running projects.
Professional fees, valuation work, project income, property interests, VAT and company ownership may sit alongside the client's own property investments.
Company versus personal trading, IR35, director remuneration, expenses and overseas assignments can be more important than physical business assets.
Permanent-placement fees, temporary workers, payroll, contractors, VAT and debtor management can create a very different finance function from a consultancy.
Company accounts, payroll, director tax and professional-practice costs can be handled within the tax engagement. Regulated investment or financial advice remains outside the tax-accounting scope.
Training, specialist advisory, expert-witness and other knowledge businesses need accounts designed around how their fees, people and contractual work actually operate.
The underlying tax rules may overlap with other professions, but the records, regulatory environment and way fees are handled can be materially different.
A self-employed barrister's accounts need to turn chambers and personal records into a reliable professional-income calculation. The engagement should distinguish the barrister's own taxable business from the administrative functions performed through chambers.
A law firm's business accounts must be distinguished from its handling of client money. Partnership, LLP and corporate firms can also create very different owner-tax, payroll and accounts requirements.
The legal structure determines who earns the income, who bears the expenses and which tax returns are required. It should therefore be established before the annual figures are analysed.
Common for barristers and some consultants. Business records, Self Assessment, VAT and MTD obligations may sit directly with the individual.
The practice accounts, allocation of profits and individual partner tax positions need to be consistent with the partnership arrangement.
Corporation Tax, salary, dividends, director accounts and personal tax should be considered together rather than as unrelated filings.
New owners, succession, employee incentives and an eventual sale introduce tax questions beyond routine accounts preparation.
Not every practice requires every service. The engagement should follow the legal structure, owner position, workforce and transactions involved.
Barristers, partners, consultants and other professionals with personal filing requirements.
View service → Company Accounts & Corporation TaxLimited professional companies and incorporated practices.
View service → Owner & Director TaxSalary, dividends, director accounts and company ownership.
View service → VATProfessional fees, registration, returns and transaction-specific VAT questions.
View service → PayrollEmployees, directors and professional-practice payroll.
View service → IR35 & Off-PayrollConsultant, contractor and intermediary arrangements requiring status review.
View service → International TaxOverseas assignments, internationally mobile professionals and foreign income.
View service → Business Sales & RestructuringProfessional-practice succession, ownership changes and business exits.
View service →Professional-service businesses often have relatively simple physical operations but significant value in fees, debtors, people and contractual relationships.
Fee notes, invoices, chambers statements, project billing or other professional revenue records.
Unpaid fees and unfinished professional work where relevant to the accounting basis.
Employees, freelancers, consultants and the contractual arrangements behind those payments.
Drawings, salary, dividends, loans and other amounts taken by partners or directors.
VAT on fees, overseas services, costs, recharges and relevant disbursement arrangements.
Where a regulated legal firm holds client money, the business-accounting scope should recognise the separate client-account framework.
These rules do not replace the tax analysis, but they affect the records and systems on which that analysis relies.
SRA-authorised firms dealing with client money require appropriate client-account systems and records. A standard tax-accounts engagement should not be assumed to include separate regulatory reporting unless it has been expressly agreed.
SRA Accounts Rules ↗Self-employed professionals within the statutory MTD rules need appropriate digital records and software-based reporting arrangements. This can be particularly relevant to self-employed barristers and consultants.
MTD for Income Tax guidance ↗Professional-services firms using personal-service companies or contractors may need to consider the off-payroll rules and the underlying employment-status position.
Off-payroll working guidance ↗The correct answer depends on the business structure and regulatory environment rather than the professional title alone.
Not every barrister has a complex tax position, but familiarity with chambers statements, professional expenses, VAT, Self Assessment and digital-record requirements can make the accounting process more efficient and reduce the risk of misclassifying professional income or costs.
The exact records depend on the engagement, but fee and chambers statements, commission or chambers costs, professional expenses, VAT records where applicable, bank information and earlier tax returns can all be relevant.
We can scope ordinary accounts and tax work where appropriate. If the firm requires specific SRA regulatory reporting or another regulated assurance assignment, that requirement must be identified and agreed separately rather than assumed to be included.
Client money does not belong to the firm and should not simply be treated as ordinary business cash. Regulated law firms have separate rules governing client-account records and controls.
Not automatically. Commercial arrangements, IR35, administration, expected profit, pension planning and how money will be extracted all influence whether a company is suitable.
Longer projects can make fee timing, debtors and work in progress particularly important. The required accounting depends on the practice's contracts and accounting framework.
Yes. Permanent staff, temporary workers and contractor arrangements can create different tax and payroll responsibilities within the same recruitment business.
Yes. The tax and statutory-accounts engagement can be scoped around an existing bookkeeping or internal-finance function, provided responsibilities and information flows are clear.
