We act for a wide variety of professional practices including solicitors, surveyors and architects, who trade through a variety of different structures such as traditional partnerships, companies and LLPs.
Our professional firms advisers have many years of experience. They can assist you with practical advice on how to run and grow a successful practice as well as dealing with the red tape and regulations specific to your industry.
T +44 (0)20 8922 9304
E david.landau@bkl.co.uk
Our services include:
Our tax compliance team can give you the peace of mind that comes from knowing that all the compliance obligations of the firm and of the partners are in safe hands.
More than that, we can advise on the myriad taxation issues that arise during the life of a professional practice. Partnership or LLP? Is there a place for a service company? What are the tax consequences of partners joining, leaving or retiring from the practice? Are there tax-efficient ways to undertake mergers or acquisitions? Should you be carrying goodwill on the balance sheet? What are the tax risks of having “salaried partners”? What tax and VAT issues arise in respect of real property owned or occupied by the partnership? What are the most tax-efficient ways to finance the business? The list goes on.
As a professional partnership ourselves, we have experienced all of these issues and others. In fact, we’ve literally “written the book”: one of our partners wrote the authoritative Tolley’s Tax Digest on Partnership Tax. So you can be sure that we know what we’re talking about.
In the current economic climate of low interest rates and investment markets’ volatility, it is even more important to remain focused on your businesses, your personal and your family’s financial planning. Making the most of your existing capital and income, protecting those around you from financial hardship and re-evaluating your appetite for risk is all part of our role as qualified financial planners.
Our team is experienced in detecting even minor breaches of the rules and is able to advise you of any potential weaknesses in your systems. We can help you improve your systems, making them more efficient to prevent serious breaches in the future.
We ensure that our team is technically up to date and can advise you on any changes to the rules and the practical implications these may have for your business.
The rules stipulate that reconciliation of clients’ accounts should be done at least every five weeks. Computerised systems are essential and we can advise on suitable IT solutions.
Our team has considerable expertise in forensic accounting and other deeply analytical matters. We have been instructed in the past in a wide range of specialist forensic accounting assignments including those in the support of divorce settlement negotiations, civil claims, defending criminal charges, and assessment of commercial enterprise as part of portfolio risk classification.
If a complex issue requires skilful mathematical and commercial analysis, we enjoy rising to the challenge of delivering a succinct, non-technical solution that can be easily understood by the appropriate audience.
We also get involved in more specialist litigation support work, assisting in analysing the financial impact of various happenings to help with the quantification of claims and counterclaims, defences and settlements. Howard Graff has considerable experience in this field. He has given evidence in the High Court and, together with a number of our other partners, has authored a number of reports as expert.
A challenge for solicitors posed by the Legal Services Act 2007 is the declining dependence on transactional business and the building of enduring client relationships.
An area which complements solicitors’ mainstream work is financial advice. More enterprising law firms are increasingly seeking to align themselves with financial advisers to provide a more comprehensive service to their clients.
We have highlighted many areas in which solicitors’ advice may be incomplete without the input of a financial adviser. These include:
Our BKL Wealth Management team has many years of experience in advising both personal and corporate clients on efficient planning to meet their future financial needs and preserving valuable assets. Our team has a wide range of skills and offers personally tailored financial advice.
We already have a number of developed relationships with other professional advisers and work on both fee based and commission based remuneration structures to best meet the needs of our clients.
For more information or help from one of our professional firms specialists, please contact us using our enquiry form.