TCP COMPLIANCE AUDIT SERVICE

A TCP audit is generally a one off audit to check compliance with rules and regulations relevant to your firm’s operation. However some TCP client firms have used this service as an annual health check, supporting their Rule 5 procedures and helping them keep up to date with any regulatory changes during the preceding year.

The standard audit follows the structure of an SRA Visit .  It can therefore assist as a mock visit should you have receive notice that the SRA is to call upon your firm. The owner of TCP, Vanessa Shenton via her previous employments with the Law Society and the SRA and her continuing committee memberships has an insider perspective on the SRA and an in-depth knowledge of the development of rules and regulations over the course of time. TCP is therefore well placed to offer this service.

A TCP audit is generally one to three days in duration, depending on the size of the firm.  A range of client care files (including ones from branch offices) are reviewed together with all client care and complaints documentation, any referral arrangements, accounts procedures and any other relevant documented procedures that a firm may have.

Firms are fully briefed on all findings at the end of the audit but firms usually find a written report following the audit to be of assistance.

The audit can be tailored to the particular issues that your firm faces and can be combined with other services. For instance, the audit has been structured for some TCP client firms to focus specifically on financial compliance management within and across branches, combined with training for fee earners and accounts staff on the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules.

TCP has also been instructed to attend the offices of firms facing SRA Regulatory and Disciplinary Investigations to conduct an independent assessment of a firm’s compliance management in order to assist in responses to the SRA or mitigation at the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal. In some instances, decisions to intervene in a practice have been delayed, to allow TCP to draw up an independent assessment and to assist the firm to put TCP’s recommendations into place.

Please contact TCP should you wish to enquire further about the TCP Compliance Audit Service.