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Free tools for law firms

Four calculators and a compliance calendar, each built around a question a firm owner or a COFA has actually put to us. No sign-up, no email wall, and every result can be printed or saved.

Client account health check

“Would our client account stand up to being looked at?”

Twelve questions across the SRA Accounts Rules, and a red, amber or green picture of where your client account stands — with what to fix first.

Open the calculator

Law firm lockup calculator

“How much of our profit is sitting in work nobody has paid for?”

WIP days plus debtor days, and what every extra month of lockup is costing the firm in cash and in the interest paid to fund it.

Open the calculator

Partner drawings and tax calculator

“How much can I take out without a January problem?”

Profit share in, tax reserve out, and the monthly drawings the firm can sustain — including the payments on account that catch new partners in their second year.

Open the calculator

LLP versus limited company calculator

“Would we be better off incorporated?”

Partner tax in an LLP against corporation tax plus extraction from a company, on 2026/27 rates including the dividend increase from 6 April 2026.

Open the calculator

Law firm tax and compliance calendar

“What is coming, and when does it have to be done by?”

The Accountant's Report deadline, SRA practising certificate and firm fee renewal, the AML and sanctions data collection, self assessment and payments on account, corporation tax, VAT quarters, payroll dates, the confirmation statement and Companies House identity verification. One page, built to be bookmarked or printed.

Open the calendar

The guides library

“Can somebody just explain this properly?”

Plain-English guides to the Accounts Rules, the client account, the Accountant's Report, being a COFA, partner tax and drawings, lockup and the LLP-or-company question — with the rule numbers and the dates they apply from.

Browse the guides

How to use them

What is behind the numbers

None of these is a toy, and none of them is a lead magnet with the arithmetic hollowed out. Each is built on the same rules and rates we would use on your real figures.

  • The client account health check walks the obligations in order: the three-way reconciliation at least every five weeks under rule 8.3, bill-before-transfer under rule 4.3, returning money promptly under rule 2.5, residual balances under the prescribed circumstances in rule 5.1(c), and the breach record expected by para 2.2 of the Code of Conduct for Firms. It gives you a red, amber or green picture and an order to fix things in. It is information rather than advice, and it is no substitute for your reporting accountant's judgement.
  • The lockup calculator turns unbilled work and unpaid bills into WIP days and debtor days, adds them together, and prices a month of lockup as cash. Most firms have never put a number on it, which is why it is usually the most uncomfortable of the four.
  • The partner drawings calculator runs 2026/27 rates: a £12,570 personal allowance tapering away above £100,000, 20% on the first £37,700 of taxable income, 40% to £125,140 and 45% above that, plus Class 4 National Insurance at 6% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above. That is a 42% marginal cost on profit share for a higher-rate partner and 47% for an additional-rate one, before payments on account are added to the January bill.
  • The LLP versus limited company calculator compares that with corporation tax at 19% up to £50,000 and 25% above £250,000, with marginal relief producing an effective 26.5% in between, followed by the cost of getting the money out. Dividend rates rose on 6 April 2026 to 10.75% at the ordinary rate and 35.75% at the upper rate, with the additional rate at 39.35% and the allowance still £500 — which changed the answer for a lot of firms that last looked at this two or three years ago.
Where the arithmetic stops

The calculators are illustrative, and simplification is what makes them quick. They do not know about your LLP agreement, your associated companies, your capital allowances, or a partner whose non-savings income is taxed at Scottish rates. The structure question in particular carries consequences the arithmetic cannot see: a non-lawyer owner or manager pushes a firm out of recognised body status and into licensed body authorisation, and the minimum PII cover is £3 million for an LLP or a company against £2 million for a sole practitioner or a partnership of individuals. Use the number to decide whether the question is worth asking properly.

Every tool prints cleanly and can be saved as a PDF from the print dialogue, so a result can go into a partners' meeting pack rather than living on one screen. If a number looks wrong for your firm, that is usually worth a conversation: ask us for the accurate version, which is free, or start with the compliance calendar and see what is coming up first.

Ready when you are

A number raised a question? That is what they are for.

Every tool here has a free human follow-up: a conversation about your firm's actual figures, with no obligation and no follow-up sequence.

The law firm finance email, once a month

One short email: what has changed in the Accounts Rules, the dates coming up, and one number worth checking in your firm. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Book a free client account review