Managing Client and Office Accounts Module — CLC Level 6 Diploma in Conveyancing and Probate

What does the Managing Client and Office Accounts module cover?

Short answer
Three Learning Outcomes covering: more complex double-entry bookkeeping for client transactions and the firm's own finances (including VAT under the principal and agency methods, abatements, bad debts, capital movements, and credit purchases) in accordance with the CLC Accounts Code; the preparation and analysis of year-end accounts including profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, year-end adjustments, and appropriation accounts; and the preparation and analysis of bank reconciliation statements and cashflow forecasts. The module is structured around the bookkeeping records that any CLC-regulated practice must keep — the entries that go in, the year-end financial statements that come out, and the reconciliation and forecasting tools that the owners use to manage the business.

What will I be able to do after completing the Managing Client and Office Accounts module?

Short answer
Record complex client and firm transactions in a double-entry system in compliance with the CLC Accounts Code, including VAT under both the principal and agency methods, abatements, bad debts, credit purchases, and capital movements. Prepare a profit and loss account, balance sheet, and appropriation account from a trial balance, including year-end adjustments. Construct and interpret bank reconciliation statements and cashflow forecasts. Analyse a set of accounts and identify the financial strengths and weaknesses of the business. This is the module that prepares you to take responsibility for the accounts function in a CLC-regulated practice — the financial competence required of a Licensed Conveyancer or Licensed Probate Practitioner.

Record complex bookkeeping transactions accurately

After completing the module, you'll be able to record at least ten different types of financial transaction in a paper-based double-entry system, including residential conveyancing and probate scenarios. You'll know when to use the principal method for VAT on disbursements and when to use the agency method (and why the choice matters). You'll be able to record an abatement correctly — including its effect on the VAT account — and write off a bad debt without leaving the ledgers out of balance. You'll be able to record the firm's own transactions: paying expenses, buying capital items, receiving interest, recording credit purchases, and dealing with owners' drawings and capital.

Produce year-end accounts from a trial balance

You'll be able to take a trial balance and produce a profit and loss account for a defined accounting period, identifying receipts and payments correctly and arriving at the net profit. You'll build a balance sheet showing current and fixed assets, current and long-term liabilities, and the capital employed in the business. You'll apply the necessary year-end adjustments — accruals, pre-payments, work in progress, bad and doubtful debts, depreciation — and you'll be able to explain why each adjustment is needed.

Account for partnership profit and owners' capital

Most CLC-regulated practices operate as partnerships or LLPs, and the year-end accounts must show how the profit is divided between the owners. You'll be able to prepare an appropriation account dividing the profit between at least three business owners, dealing with salaries credited to specific owners and interest on their capital balances, and then sharing the remaining profit between all owners in the agreed ratios. You'll also be able to prepare a statement showing movements on each owner's current account — opening balance, interest on capital, salary, profit share, drawings, closing balance — which is the figure that ultimately appears in the balance sheet.

Prepare and interpret bank reconciliations and cashflow forecasts

You'll be able to take a bank statement and a cash ledger that don't agree and construct a reconciliation statement that explains the difference — typically by reference to unpresented cheques and late credits. You'll be able to build a three-month cashflow forecast from historical financial information, projecting income and expenses month by month and showing the closing balance carried forward. More importantly, you'll be able to look at a reconciliation or a forecast and identify the warning signs — the indicators of error, fraud risk, or impending cashflow difficulty that a business owner needs to act on.

Analyse a business's financial position

Beyond the preparation skills, you'll be able to read a set of year-end accounts and use accounting principles and ratios to assess the business's financial strengths and weaknesses. This is the competence that supports the supervisory role of a senior practitioner — the ability to look at a P&L, a balance sheet, and a cashflow forecast and form a view on whether the practice is profitable, solvent, and sustainable.

What's included in the £745 module price?

Short answer
The full Diploma support package: Knowledge Mapping Assessment, unlimited tutor support, video lectures, downloadable materials, live recorded webinars, eBook Central access, a dedicated Revision & Mock Exam Module, a tutor-marked mock exam with written feedback, your final exam, and a free first resit.

What our students say about Managing Client and Office Accounts

Feedback from Level 6 Managing Client and Office Accounts students, 2025–2026.

How is the Managing Client and Office Accounts module assessed?

Short answer
One 2-hour supervised open-book exam (plus 15 minutes reading time). The exam is booked on demand — no fixed sittings — and scheduled within 14 days of your application, 6 days a week. Three delivery options: online with remote invigilation, at your workplace, or at one of our 15 UK assessment centres. Two attempts are permitted (first sit plus one free resit). 90% of students pass first time (Mar 2025 – Mar 2026).

The exam is open-book in one specific respect: you're permitted to bring a copy of the CLC Accounts Code and Guidance into the exam room and refer to it throughout. You may also use a silent, non-programmable calculator. No other notes, textbooks, or materials are permitted.

The exam carries 100 marks in total, distributed across the three Learning Outcomes:

• Learning Outcome 1 — 30 marks. You'll be given a scenario covering a standard residential conveyancing transaction (sale and purchase, freehold or leasehold) together with a series of financial actions taken on behalf of the firm. You'll need to record at least ten transactions in a double-entry system using standard ledger templates — including the payment of disbursements under both the principal and agency methods of accounting for VAT, the delivery of a bill to a client, an agreed abatement, a bad debt write-off, payment of firm expenses, capital expenditure, owners' drawings, receipts on behalf of the firm, and a credit purchase. Entries are required in the Client Ledger, Cash Ledger, Profit Costs, Abatements, Bad Debts, HMRC (VAT) ledger, and any ledgers relating to the firm's finances. Running balances must be maintained throughout.
• Learning Outcome 2 — 40 marks. Working from a trial balance, you'll prepare: a profit and loss account (at least three receipts, four payments, stating the net profit); a balance sheet (at least two current assets, two fixed assets, two current liabilities, one long-term liability, plus capital employed); an appropriation account dividing profit between at least three business owners (including salaries and interest on capital for at least two of them); and a statement showing movements on owners' current accounts. The 30-mark preparation section is followed by a 10-mark short-answer section testing your understanding of accounting concepts — five questions sampled from accruals, pre-payments, depreciation, work in progress, bad debts, provision for doubtful debts, and ratios.
• Learning Outcome 3 — 30 marks. You'll prepare a bank reconciliation statement (10 marks) using information from the bank statement and the cash ledger — including the bank balance, at least two unpresented cheques, at least two late credits, and the cash ledger balance. You'll prepare a three-month cashflow forecast (10 marks) showing at least two items of income and three expenses per month, with closing balances carried forward. And you'll answer five short questions (2 marks each, 10 marks total) analysing the bank reconciliation and cashflow forecast you've just prepared — identifying weaknesses, risks, or anomalies in the figures.

The pass mark is 50% overall — a composite mark across all three Learning Outcomes. Individual Learning Outcomes do not need to achieve 50% in isolation.

The format is practical and document-based. Unlike some academic exams, this assessment puts ledger templates, trial balances, bank statements, and partial cashflow forecasts in front of you and asks you to complete them, balance them, or analyse them. The exam tests whether you can do the work that a CLC-regulated practice's accounts function actually requires — not whether you can write about it.

Preparation support includes the Revision & Mock Exam Module on the VLE (practice questions on each examined area, a full mock exam with model answers) and the tutor-marked mock. The tutor-marked mock is the key preparation step: you submit it under exam-like conditions, the module leader marks it and provides written feedback, and that feedback tells you whether you're ready to book the exam or whether specific areas need more work.

Booking the exam. When you feel ready, you apply through the Assessment Information section of the module on the VLE and choose your delivery option: online (remote invigilation via webcam), at your workplace (if it's a CLC- or SRA-regulated practice), or at one of our 15 designated UK assessment centres (Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Guildford, Halifax, Hendon, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Watford). Access Law arranges the exam within 14 days. Six days a week of availability means the date is rarely the constraint — your own readiness usually is.

Online exam requirements. If you choose to sit online, you'll need a webcam, a microphone, and a stable broadband connection (recommended 5 Mbps download / 2 Mbps upload minimum).

How long does the Managing Client and Office Accounts module take to complete?

Short answer
It depends on your background. The module carries 75 guided learning hours and 15 credits — the same as the route-specific Level 6 modules, but with a 2-hour exam rather than a 3-hour one. A typical student studying alongside full-time work takes 2–4 months. An experienced accounts handler, bookkeeper, or practice manager who already deals with year-end accounts and the CLC Accounts Code daily, and who completes the [Knowledge Mapping Assessment], can finish in as little as 4–6 weeks.

If you're new to year-end accounts

Most students studying Managing Client and Office Accounts for the first time complete the module in 2–4 months alongside full-time work. The Level 4 Accounting Procedures module gave you the foundations — the CLC Accounts Code, basic double-entry, invoices, conveyancing statements, estate accounts — but Level 6 adds significant new territory: the VAT distinction between principal and agency methods, the firm's own financial transactions, full year-end accounts including balance sheets and appropriation, and the analytical skills required to interpret bank reconciliations and cashflow forecasts. You'll work through the video lectures and course manual, practise with the Revision & Mock Exam Module, submit your tutor-marked mock, and book the exam when your tutor confirms you're ready.

There are no fixed terms, no cohort start dates, and no scheduled sessions you need to attend at a set time. You study at your own pace and book the exam when you're prepared.

If you already manage practice accounts

If you work in a CLC- or SRA-regulated practice in an accounts or practice management role, much of Learning Outcome 1 will be familiar — recording bills, disbursements, abatements, and bad debts in the ledger system is what you do every week. You may also be involved in year-end accounts preparation (Learning Outcome 2) and bank reconciliation (Learning Outcome 3). The KMA identifies your existing competence and focuses your study on the areas where formal knowledge is needed: the precise treatment of VAT under principal versus agency methods, the underlying accounting principles behind the entries you make daily, and the exam technique required to produce balance sheets and appropriation accounts under timed conditions.

For experienced accounts handlers, the effective study time can shrink to 4–6 weeks — focused primarily on exam technique, the Revision & Mock Exam Module, and practising the year-end accounts preparation that may not feature in your day-to-day work.

Level 6 Diploma in Conveyancing — module structure

Level 6 Diploma in Probate — module structure

Can I upgrade to the full Diploma after passing Managing Client and Office Accounts?

Short answer
Yes — but only if Managing Client and Office Accounts is the first standalone module you've purchased with us. The upgrade path is available once, within 30 days of being notified you've passed your first module. If you've already completed other standalone modules before Accounts, you've chosen the modular route and the upgrade option is no longer available.

In practice, most students don't start with the Accounts module at Level 6 — it's almost always studied last, after the route-specific modules. If you're already at the point of studying Accounts, you've probably either enrolled on the full Diploma already or completed the other modules individually. If you've been buying modules one at a time and Accounts is your last, you're on the modular route and the upgrade window has passed.

If Managing Client and Office Accounts genuinely is your first module — perhaps because you hold exemptions from the other two Level 6 modules and this is where your Diploma begins, or because your employer wants you to formalise your accounts competence before committing to the full Diploma — the 30-day upgrade window gives you time to decide whether to commit.

The upgrade mechanics: within 30 days of passing, you can transfer onto either the Level 6 Conveyancing Diploma or the Level 6 Probate Diploma. You pay the difference between what you've already paid (£745) and the Diploma price (£1,920) — so £1,175 extra.

Not sure which route is right for you? If you're fairly confident you'll want the full Diploma, enrolling on it from the start saves £315 and gives you 2 years of VLE access (versus 12 months per standalone module). If you're genuinely unsure — perhaps you're waiting for an exemption decision on one of the other modules — starting with Managing Client and Office Accounts and keeping the upgrade window open is the lower-risk option.

Who is the Managing Client and Office Accounts module for?

Short answer
Anyone completing the Level 6 Diploma in Conveyancing Law and Practice or the Level 6 Diploma in Probate Law and Practice — and especially anyone planning to complete both. It's also available as a standalone module for accounts staff and practice managers in CLC- or SRA-regulated firms who want formal recognition of their financial competence, for experienced practitioners filling a specific gap, or for candidates with exemptions from the route-specific Level 6 modules who only need Accounts to complete their Diploma.

Level 4 Diploma graduates progressing to Level 6

This is the most common scenario. You've completed (or been exempted from) the Level 4 Diploma in Conveyancing or Probate, and the Level 6 Diploma is your next step toward becoming a Licensed Conveyancer or Licensed Probate Practitioner. Managing Client and Office Accounts is typically the third Level 6 module students study, after the two route-specific modules. The Level 4 Understanding Accounting Procedures module gave you the foundations of the Accounts Code and basic bookkeeping; this Level 6 module takes you into the financial management of the practice itself.

Law graduates and LPC holders entering the CLC route

If you hold a qualifying law degree (LLB, BA in Law, or GDL), you'll typically have been exempted from the entire Level 4 Diploma and can enrol directly on Level 6. The Accounts Code and the regulated-practice bookkeeping content in this module will be largely new to you — undergraduate law degrees don't typically cover practice accounts, and the CLC Accounts Code is specific to the Licensed Conveyancer / Licensed Probate Practitioner regulatory framework. The LPC does not exempt you from Managing Client and Office Accounts — it's a Level 6 requirement for all candidates entering the CLC route.

Professional Experience Exemption candidates

If you've entered Level 6 via the CLC's Professional Experience Exemption (for fee-earners with 4+ years of continuous conveyancing or probate practice and no prior legal qualifications), you'll need to complete all three Level 6 modules. PEE candidates often find Managing Client and Office Accounts the most demanding of the three — fee-earning experience may not have given you exposure to year-end accounts preparation, appropriation accounts, or cashflow forecasting, even if you're entirely confident with day-to-day client account bookkeeping. The KMA will identify which areas need formal study and which you can move through quickly.

Accounts staff and practice managers in CLC- or SRA-regulated firms

You handle the firm's accounts but don't hold a formal CLC qualification. This module formalises the financial knowledge you already use daily — the Accounts Code, the ledger system, the year-end process — and gives you 15 Qualifications Scotland credits and a certificate. The KMA recognises your existing competence and focuses your study on the areas where formal exam technique is needed.

Employers funding targeted training

Some firms enrol individual staff on Managing Client and Office Accounts to formalise a team member's competence in practice finance — perhaps a senior conveyancer or probate practitioner being prepared for partnership or for taking on supervisory responsibility for the accounts function. The module carries the same support package as the full Diploma — it's a fair trial of everything we offer.

Do I need any prior qualifications to study Managing Client and Office Accounts?

Short answer
Yes — this is a Level 6 module. To enrol, you must have either completed the Level 4 Diploma in Conveyancing Law and Practice or the Level 4 Diploma in Probate Law and Practice, or hold a recognised exemption from one of them. Exemptions from the Level 4 Diploma are available for holders of a qualifying law degree (LLB, BA in Law, or GDL), and for candidates who have entered the CLC route via the [Professional Experience Exemption]. There are no additional entry requirements beyond the Level 4 prerequisite.

If you haven't completed Level 4, you'll need to do so first — or apply for an exemption. Our [Exemptions Calculator] can tell you in minutes whether your existing qualifications exempt you from Level 4.

The Qualifications Scotland unit specification states that the module is primarily intended for learners who are working in or have previous experience of conveyancing or probate, and/or conveyancing or probate related financial administration. However, learners do not need to be working in a conveyancing or probate context to generate the necessary evidence to achieve the Unit. The [Knowledge Mapping Assessment] at the start of the module will tailor your study plan regardless of your background — if there are areas from Level 4 that need revisiting, the KMA identifies them early.

Am I exempt from the Managing Client and Office Accounts module?

Short answer
You might be — but exemptions at Level 6 are narrower than at Level 4, and the Accounts module specifically is rarely exempted because most prior legal qualifications don't cover the CLC Accounts Code or the practice-finance content this module tests. The main route to exemption is the dual-qualification overlap rule: if you've already passed the Level 6 Accounts module as part of one Diploma (Conveyancing or Probate) and you're adding the other Diploma, you don't need to re-sit it. Use our [Exemptions Calculator] for a personalised assessment in minutes.

You're exempt from Managing Client and Office Accounts if you've already passed it as part of one Level 6 Diploma and are now adding the other. The CLC permits dual-qualifying candidates to pass only one Accounts module at each level — an exemption is automatically granted for the second Diploma. This applies at both Level 4 and Level 6.

You're not exempt from Managing Client and Office Accounts if you hold a law degree, the LPC, CILEX qualifications, or have entered Level 6 via the Professional Experience Exemption. Even very strong prior legal qualifications do not exempt this module, because the CLC Accounts Code and the practice-finance content are specific to the Licensed Conveyancer / Licensed Probate Practitioner regulatory framework and are not taught in undergraduate or postgraduate law programmes. The CLC's policy is that all candidates pass the Level 6 Accounts module without exemption (other than the dual-qualification overlap above) to ensure their knowledge of practice finance meets the current minimum standard for a first qualifying licence.

The aged qualification rule. At Level 6, legal qualifications awarded more than 6 years ago are generally considered "aged" for exemption purposes. This affects exemptions from the other two Level 6 modules but doesn't change the position for Managing Client and Office Accounts — which is not exempted by prior legal qualifications in any event.

Not sure? Use the Exemptions Calculator or contact our team on 0333 052 3844. We can assess your transcripts and confirm your position within 48 hours.

Other common questions