What counts as client money under the SRA Accounts Rules 2019, and how each receipt is classified — the distinction on which the whole accounts regime rests.
Almost every breach of the Accounts Rules starts with money landing in the wrong account, which is why classification comes first. This chapter opens with the definition of client money, the two bank accounts a firm must maintain, and the safe default when a receipt is hard to place. It then works through the recurring classification puzzles — payments on account of costs, billed fees, paid and unpaid disbursements, third-party payments and completion funds — before turning to agreed fixed fees and the categories of money expressly excluded from the definition. It closes with the mechanics of handling: the deadline for paying client money into the client account, mixed payments, transfers for fees, and whether a firm may keep its own float alongside client funds.
