A broad range of securities and contracts that are traded in the financial markets, including transferable debt and equity securities, money-market instruments, units in collective investment undertakings, options, futures, swaps, forward rate agreements and other derivative contracts, and emissions allowances. A detailed definition, cross-referred to in many other EU measures, is set out in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II) Annex 1, Section C.

A: General information Date of annual review Person(s) conducting annual review B: Review and findings Are your financial management policy and processes up to date and fit for purpose? ☐ Yes☐ No—ensure you set an action point at section C below to update your policy and processes Does your actual monthly/annual financial performance correspond with forecasted performance, in particular:• profit and loss? • cash flow? • balance sheet? (Allow a reasonable level of variation only) ☐ Yes☐ No If no, do you need to re-forecast your financial performance? ☐ Yes—ensure you set an action point at section C below to address this☐ No Are you satisfied your processes for monitoring the following matters are working as they should:• value of work done on your clients files (ie your work in progress) against any payments on account of costs? • the

1 Introduction 1.1 Sound financial management is critical to the success of any business. 1.2 Implementing financial management processes helps us plan for financial success and minimise any threats to achieving and maintaining financial success. This document gives an overview of our financial management processes and forms part of our overall risk management policy. 1.3 This policy sets out: 1.3.1 what financial management is; 1.3.2 our approach to financial management; 1.3.3 who is responsible for financial management; 1.3.4 our financial management processes; 1.3.5 our approach to clients and matters that present a higher than usual financial risk; 1.3.6 our duty to report certain events to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA); 1.3.7 details of financial management training; and 1.3.8 the steps we will take to monitor and update this Financial management policy. 2 What is financial management? 2.1 Financial management involves: 2.1.1 devising and implementing plans to promote the financial success of the firm; 2.1.2 monitoring and controlling risks to our financial stability; 2.1.3 ensuring we work in the most cost efficient way; and 2.1.4 identifying and mitigating matters that pose high financial risk. 3 Our approach to financial management

Good behaviour or practice ☐ You do not make payments to partners irrespective of cash in the bank ☐ You reserve some of your net profits each year (ie you do not draw all net profits) ☐ You are building up your cash reserves ☐ You do not use short-term borrowings to fund partners' tax ☐ You do not use VAT received as cash received ☐ Your partners have a good grasp of office account bank balances, eg they receive copy bank statements on a regular basis ☐ You do not depend heavily on high overdraft borrowings ☐ Your partners’ capital injection

This Practice Note provides guidance on managing financial risk. It reflects the SRA Standards and Regulations and provides guidance on common financial risk tools. The duty to monitor financial stability and business viability You must: • actively monitor your financial stability and business viability—once you are aware that you will cease to operate, you effect the orderly wind-down of your activities • identify, monitor and manage all material risks to your business, including those which may arise from your connected practices The SRA does not provide guidance about how you should achieve this. In practice, the amount of resource expended on managing financial risk will vary from firm to firm and will depend on many factors such as the size of the firm and the degree to which it is presently financially stable. For instance, a firm that is heavily dependent on bank borrowings may invest significant resources to implement financial risk systems that are monitored at regular intervals. Other firms may be content to spend less time on financial risk systems on the basis of, for example,

This Checklist pulls together requirements in the SRA Standards and Regulations 2019 and relevant practice management standards in relation to financial risk management. The Checklist signposts relevant Precedents you can use or adapt to comply with these requirements and recommendations. You can mark whether you have completed the requirement and also to insert comments or note action points. For more guidance, see Practice Note: Financial management—law firms. Governance Requirement Compulsory or recommended ☐ Appoint a person to take overall responsibility for financial management Compulsory, for Lexcel firms Recommended, for other firms Lexcel practice management standard version 2.1, para 2.2See Practice Note: Financial management—law firms—Who should be responsible for financial management? ☐ Ensure the firm has a compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA) Compulsory SRA Code for Firms, para 9.2See Practice Note: Compliance officers—law

Task Points to consider Actions ☐ Understand all. sources of legal advice to your organisation, past and present Legal advice can be obtained from multiple sources, eg:—external counsel;—industry bodies;—insurers;—business consultants, accountants etc;—briefings/mailers sent out by law firms, consultants, etc;—conferences;—newspaper articles;—internet searches. Meet with each director and head of function to:—understand all sources of legal advice used;—understand the annual budget for/cost of that legal advice;—understand outcomes stemming from the external service provision and satisfaction levels.Establish the legal department as the first point of call if there is a legal query or issue.If external counsel have been appointed, set up meetings and take control of instructing them.Educate your organisation from the top down on the need to:—engage the legal department

An order made in family proceedings for financial provision for a spouse, civil partner (or former spouse or civil partner) or child.

This Practice Note explains the financial penalties which may be imposed as a term of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) under Schedule 17 to the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (CCA 2013) and the DPA Code of Practice, the purpose of financial penalties and when payment should be made. It also outlines negotiating a financial penalty, taking into account the applicable sentencing guidelines and considers the financial penalties contained in each approved DPA. It also considers the discounts for co-operation and mitigation when determining the financial terms to be included in the DPA and covers the time limits for payments. It also covers what steps can be taken in the event of a breach of a DPA or late payment. Financial terms available under a DPA The types of financial terms included as a term of the DPA may include, but are not limited to, the following requirements: • a compensation order or requirement, to compensate the victims • a financial penalty • a requirement to pay the prosecutor's reasonable costs • a

Local Government analysis: The local authority, Thurrock Council, imposed a £10,000 penalty on Mr Daoudi for operating a house in multiple occupation (HMO) without a licence. Mr Daoudi successfully appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT), which decided that no penalty should have been imposed because Mr Daoudi had claimed not to know that his property needed a HMO licence, because he promptly applied for one when threatened with prosecution and because it was not clear how well the local authority had publicised its licensing scheme before it came into force. The Upper Tribunal (UT) set aside the FTT decision and imposed a penalty of £4,000 on Mr Daoudi, deciding that the FTT had taken into account irrelevant factors when reaching its decision. The UT stressed that even though Mr Daoudi had promptly applied for a licence when threatened with prosecution, there is still a need to impose penalties which deter other landlords from committing licensing offences. Written by Alexander Campbell, barrister at Field Court Chambers.

Prior to 6 April 2014, if an employment tribunal found in favour of a claimant, it had only the power to award various remedies depending on the type of claim, and to award costs (see Practice Note: Costs in the employment tribunal). It had no power to penalise the respondent employer for the breach of employment law itself. From 6 April 2014, section 12A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (ETA 1996) gave employment tribunals the power to order a financial penalty to be paid by a respondent employer where a breach of a worker's rights has aggravating features. For breaches beginning on or after 6 April 2019, the maximum financial penalty is £20,000 (see: How the financial penalty is calculated below). From 6 April 2016, ETA 1996, s 37F gave enforcement officers appointed or authorised by the Secretary of State the power to issue financial penalty notices against employers who fail to pay an employment tribunal award or settlement sum agreed following Acas conciliation. With effect from 7 April 2026, the penalty scheme was

Conduct is a specific factor to be taken into account under section 25(2)(g) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) and Schedule 5, Part 5 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) at CPA 2004, Sch 5 Pt 5, para 21(2)(g), if that conduct is such that it would ‘in the opinion of the court be inequitable to disregard it’. Accordingly, statute specifically invites the court to consider the conduct of the parties as a factor when making a financial award. It is therefore tempting for the parties to list extensive details of each other’s bad behaviour; indeed, they are specifically invited to do so by Form E although with the proviso that bad behaviour or conduct will only be taken into account 'in very exceptional circumstances'. Clients may be keen to run conduct arguments. It is, however, rarely the case that conduct is relevant within financial order proceedings and robust advice should accordingly be given at the outset. The client should be advised of the court’s views on the inclusion of conduct