CILEx Regulation Courses

In association with

CILEx Regulation accounts courses are designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge for accounts and financial management. It has been mapped against and meets the CILEx Regulation accounts requi​rements, which you must meet to be a manager in an entity regulated by CILEx Regulation.

Level 1 – this course delivers the competencies CILEx Regulation requires of all managers in an entity.

Level 2a – this builds on the knowledge and skills gained from Level 1 to be able to support commercial decisions and good financial hygiene.

If you are new to this area, we also highly recommend attending the ILFM Training: The Fundamentals of Legal Cashiering

Level 1

CILEx Level 1 can be taken as a whole course or as individual units.

• Units taken individually £50
• Level One all 14 Units £599

If you take the entire CILEx Level 1 then we will include 2 years membership Free of Charge. Click here for more details on ILFM Membership and how we can add value to you.

The course has been designed to:

• Assist students that have little or no knowledge in bookkeeping, or those that have never studied a professional qualification in this area.
• Concentrate on teaching the accounts rules that every legal professional will encounter during their time in practice.

With more and more focus being placed on understanding the business to ensure strong compliance, coupled with financial health, the ILFM’s courses begin here with the foundations.

For those that have never worked with, or studied bookkeeping or accounts rules, it can at first appear daunting.

You ought to expect an annual visit from your external accountant and auditor, and can also expect occasional visits from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and any Practice Standards Unit (PSU) by your regulator. This course will assist you to be prepared for any of these.

Your tutor will be on hand to provide support and guidance where necessary. These units provide you with the basic understanding to progress to higher level accounting and to fully understand your business’ finances.

The units will take a step-by-step approach. All of the work you do on the course will be better if you use a combination of common sense and careful reading of the units, together with any research and relevant rules.

We estimate, depending on how fast you wish to work, that each Unit could take 1-2 Days (7-14 hours) to complete. All units need to have been completed within 2 years of signing up to the course.

Assessment and Certificates

Assessment will be via submission of an assignment for each unit. This unit assignment will be marked by our tutor. If this assignment reaches the required 50% pass mark, you will be issued with a certificate for the Unit. This can be used as evidence for CILEx of satisfactory completion of that Unit. If you need to resubmit a Unit for marking there will be a small administration charge to cover costs of £30.

Accounts Level 1 – Contents

Level One – Unit 1 – The purpose of accounting

• Introduction
• Basic accounting framework
• Manual accounting system
• Computerised accounting system
• Importance of an audit trail

Level One – Unit 2 – Double entry bookkeeping

• Books of prime or original entry
• The transfer journalPurpose of double entry bookkeeping
• Main principles of double entry bookkeeping
• ‘T’ Accounts

Level One – Unit 3 – Nominal ledgers

• Reason for ledger accounts
• Control Accounts
• Private ledgers
• The importance of coding and an introduction to management accounts
• Introduction to variances

Level One – Unit 4 – Costs

• Client invoicing
• Issuing credit notes
• Setting credit limits
• Credit control policy
• Debt collection and provision of bad debt
• Writing off bad debt
• Sales ledger control account

Level One – Unit 5 -Trial Balance

• Understanding what a trial balance is
• Basic principles
• Omissions and finding an error
• Use of suspense accounts
• Adjustments and the extended trial balance

Level One – Unit 6 – Reconciliations

• Balancing off the books and ledgers
• The importance of regular bank reconciliations
• Process and procedures
• Unpresented payments and lodgements
• Record keeping
• Financial Statements/Completion Statements

Level One – Unit 7 – Financial Position

• Basic management reports
• Profit and Loss Account
• Balance SheetVariances

Level One – Unit 8 – VAT

• Registration
• Rates of VAT
• Tax points and invoicing
• Inputs and outputs
• Accounting schemes
• VAT control account

Level One – Unit 9 – Disbursements v Recharges

• Professional disbursements
• Other disbursements
• Principle and agency method
• Disbursements v recharges

Level One – Unit 10 – Purpose and aims of the legal professionals accounts rules

• Introduction
• Purpose and aims of the accounts rules
• The overarching objectives and underlying principles
• Interpretation
• Procedures for protecting client money
• Who is governed by the accounts rules
• Categories of money

Level One – Unit 11 – Client money and client account

• What is client money?
• Client cashbook and the use of multiple client bank accounts
• Multi currency and client accounts
• Client ledgers and the non use of general client ledgers
• Exceptions to rule around individual client ledgers
• Transferring between clients
• Receiving client funds

Level One – Unit 12 – Withdrawals from client account

• Who can sign?
• Internal policies and procedures
• Types of withdrawal
• Earmarking
• Cash withdrawals

Level One – Unit 13 – Client money not held in a client account

• Liquidators, trustees in bankruptcy, court of protection deputies and Trustees of occupational pension schemes
• Joint accounts
• Accounts in clients own name
• Funds held according to clients own instructions
• Other money withheld from client account
• Rules around holding cash
• Money held as stakeholder or agent
• Third party cheques

Level One – Unit 14 – Interest

• Requirement for interest policy
• Amount of interest
• When interest should be paid
• Situations where interest may be not be paid
• Fair and reasonable application

Level 2a

CILEx Level 2a is taken as individual units.

• Units individually £50

The course has been designed to build on the knowledge and skills gained from Level 1 to be able to support commercial decisions and good financial hygiene.

With more and more focus being placed on understanding the business to ensure strong compliance, coupled with financial health, the ILFM’s courses begin here with the foundations.

For those that have never worked with, or studied bookkeeping or accounts rules, it can at first appear daunting.

You ought to expect an annual visit from your external accountant and auditor, and can also expect occasional visits from H M Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and any Practice Standards Unit (PSU) by your regulator. This course will assist you to be prepared for any of these.

Your tutor will be on hand to provide support and guidance where necessary. These units provide you with the basic understanding to progress to higher level accounting and to fully understand your business’ finances.

The units will take a step-by-step approach. All of the work you do on the course will be better if you use a combination of common sense and careful reading of the units, together with any research and relevant rules.

We estimate, depending on how fast you wish to work, that each Unit could take 1-2 Days (7-14 hours) to complete. All units need to have been completed within 2 years of signing up to the course.

Assessment and Certificates

Assessment will be via submission of an assignment for each unit. This unit assignment will be marked by our tutor. If this assignment reaches the required 50% pass mark, you will be issued with a certificate for the Unit. This can be used as evidence for CILEx of satisfactory completion of that Unit. If you need to resubmit a Unit for marking there will be a small administration charge to cover costs of £30.

Accounts Level 2a – Contents

Level 2a – Unit 1 Safeguarding client money

• What internal controls are needed in a legal practice?
• How do you implement controls?
• How do you test internal controls?
• Communication
• Difference between client money and client account

Level 2a – Unit 2 – Understanding profitability

• Profitability – an introduction
• Variations in profitability
• Financial structure and profitability
• Key profitability benchmarks

Level 2a – Unit 3 – The difference between profit and cash

• Profit v cash
• Drawings
• The balance of bank borrowing and partner capital

Level 2a – Unit 4 – Credit Control Policy

• Implement policy
• Communicate policy
• Payment terms
• Debt collection policy
• Debt collection procedures

For more information, please contact 0208 302 2867 or Email us