Service 03
Year-end accounts your partners can actually sit with
Profit shares, drawings, and year-end figures prepared and explained in plain terms — so the numbers are understood before the partner meeting begins, and the conversation can be calm and well-informed rather than technical and tense.
What this gives you
Year-end that closes cleanly — and partners who understand the figures
The year-end process in a legal practice should produce accounts that partners can read with confidence and use as a basis for sound decisions. Too often it produces something technically correct but practically opaque — figures that require a further conversation just to interpret.
This service prepares your year-end accounts and partner reports with that readability as a deliberate aim. The figures are accurate. The presentation is clear. The conversations that follow can focus on decisions rather than definitions.
Year-end accounts prepared properly
Practice accounts prepared at year-end with the care and attention that a legal practice requires — including the specific treatment of client funds and the particular reporting obligations the profession carries.
Partner reporting in plain language
Each partner's drawings, profit share, and capital position set out clearly — explained in terms that make the figures straightforward to discuss and understand without an accountant in the room.
A foundation for informed decisions
When the year-end figures are well-presented and well-understood, conversations about drawings, reinvestment, and firm direction are grounded in shared understanding rather than different interpretations of the same numbers.
What many partnerships experience
The year-end difficulty that tends to be felt most in the partnership meeting
Accounts that are accurate but hard to follow
Year-end accounts produced to a technical standard but presented in a way that requires accounting knowledge to interpret are of limited use in a partner meeting. Partners end up asking basic questions instead of having the discussions that matter.
Profit share conversations that run longer than they should
When each partner's position is not clearly set out in advance, discussions about drawings and profit allocation can become protracted — not because of genuine disagreement, but because the figures are not presented in a way that everyone can follow from the outset.
Year-end arriving before the bookkeeping is ready
When the underlying bookkeeping has not been kept in good order during the year, year-end becomes a reconstruction exercise rather than a preparation exercise. It takes longer, costs more, and produces results that carry more uncertainty than they should.
These are not unusual situations. They reflect the demands that legal practice places on its partners — and the gap that specialist year-end support is well-placed to fill.
Our approach
Year-end accounts prepared with presentation as a deliberate priority
The technical preparation of year-end accounts for a legal practice is one part of this service. The other is the presentation — making sure that every partner can follow their own position clearly, and that the accounts support rather than complicate the conversations that follow.
Legal practice year-end preparation
Year-end accounts prepared with the particular requirements of a legal practice in mind — including the treatment of client funds, work in progress, and the specific items that general accountants sometimes handle less precisely.
Per-partner position reports
Each partner's drawings, profit allocation, and capital position presented individually and clearly — so no partner is left uncertain about their own position before or after the year-end discussion.
Plain language throughout
Technical accounting output translated into straightforward explanations — so the figures can be read and understood by partners whose expertise is in law, not accountancy.
Working together
A year-end process that does not feel like an ordeal
We begin by reviewing the year's records — assessing whether the underlying bookkeeping is in good shape and identifying anything that needs to be addressed before year-end preparation can properly begin. That review is carried out straightforwardly and without judgement.
Once the records are in order, we prepare the accounts and the partner reports in parallel. The aim is that by the time the accounts are finalised, each partner already has a clear picture of their own position — not something they are reading for the first time at the meeting.
We are glad to discuss any aspect of the figures with individual partners or with the partnership as a group. The goal is that the accounts produce clarity, not further questions.
Records review
We review the year's bookkeeping records, identify any gaps or items requiring attention, and confirm what is ready for year-end preparation to begin.
Accounts preparation
Year-end accounts prepared with the specific requirements of a legal practice addressed — client funds treatment, partner capital, work in progress, and all other relevant items handled properly.
Partner reports prepared
Individual partner reports setting out each person's drawings, profit share, and capital position — written to be read and understood without accounting knowledge.
Delivery and discussion
Accounts and reports delivered ahead of the partnership meeting, with availability to discuss the figures with partners individually or as a group if that would be helpful.
Investment
$1,180
A fixed fee for the full year-end accounts and partner reporting service. The scope is agreed before work begins, and the fee does not change once it is set — so there are no unexpected additions when the accounts are complete.
For year-end accounts prepared by someone who understands the particular requirements of a legal practice, and partner reports that make the figures genuinely useful in the conversations that follow, this is a proportionate investment in the financial clarity of your partnership.
What's included
- Year-end accounts preparation for the legal practice
- Proper treatment of client funds within the year-end accounts
- Individual partner position reports including drawings and profit share
- Plain language explanations throughout the partner reports
- Initial review of year's records to identify any items requiring attention
- Delivery ahead of the partnership meeting
- Availability to discuss figures with partners as needed
Why it works
An approach built around what legal partnerships actually need at year-end
Year-end accounts for a legal practice carry particular requirements that a general accountant may not handle with the same precision. Our approach takes those requirements as the starting point — not an afterthought.
Client funds treatment
Handled as the rules require, not as a general balance sheet item
Client funds require specific treatment in a legal practice's accounts. Getting this right is not optional — and it is not always handled correctly by accountants who are not specialists in legal practice. We approach it with the precision the profession demands.
Partner reporting clarity
Each partner's position set out before the meeting begins
Partner meetings go better when each person arrives already understanding their own position. The individual reports we prepare are designed with that in mind — so the discussion can move forward rather than getting stuck on what the numbers mean.
Profit share accuracy
Drawings and allocations calculated with care
The calculation of profit shares and the reconciliation of partner drawings are areas where errors create real tension within a partnership. We handle them methodically and present the workings clearly so the figures can be verified and trusted.
Forward-looking utility
Accounts that support decisions, not just compliance
Well-presented year-end accounts are more than a compliance exercise. They give the partnership a shared financial foundation — a common picture of where the firm has been and what the figures suggest about the year ahead.
Our commitment
Accounts prepared to a standard you can stand behind
If the accounts do not reflect the agreed scope, or if the partner reports do not provide the clarity we intended, we will address it. That is a straightforward commitment, and it reflects the way we believe professional work should be conducted.
Before you engage us, we are glad to have an initial conversation at no cost and with no obligation — to discuss your firm's situation, what the year-end process involves, and whether this service is the right fit. There is no pressure attached to that conversation.
Initial consultation at no cost or obligation
We discuss your year-end situation and whether we are the right support — nothing more.
How to begin
Getting the year-end started is straightforward
The earlier we can begin the review of your records, the more time there is to address anything before the accounts preparation proper begins. Here is what the process looks like from your first contact.
Get in touch
Let us know your year-end date, the size of the partnership, and a brief description of the current state of the records. That is enough to start.
We discuss and agree scope
We talk through what is involved, confirm the fixed fee, and agree a timetable for the records review and accounts preparation. Everything is clear before work begins.
We begin the review
The records review starts on the agreed date. You are kept informed at each stage, and the accounts and partner reports are delivered ahead of your partnership meeting.
Year-End Accounts & Partner Reporting
Year-end handled properly — and partners who understand the figures
$1,180, fixed fee, clear scope. If your partnership would benefit from year-end accounts and partner reports that are both accurate and genuinely readable, we would be glad to hear from you.
Get in touchOther services
Explore what else Lexbry offers
Service 01
Practice & Client Account Bookkeeping
Careful bookkeeping that keeps firm funds and client funds properly separated, with regular reconciliations carried out to the standard the rules require.
Service 02
Client Account Reconciliation & Compliance
Regular reconciliation of client accounts and clear compliance reporting so partners stay assured and the control environment remains well-documented.