Charsley Harrison LLP
Windsor House, Victoria Street, Windsor , SL4 1EN
Recognised body
509880

Decision - Fined

Outcome: Fine

Outcome date: 8 June 2026

Published date: 14 July 2026

Firm details

No detail provided:

Outcome details

This outcome was reached by SRA decision.

Decision details

Who does this disciplinary decision relate to?

Charsley Harrison LLP, located at Windsor House, Victoria Street, WINDSOR SL4 1EN, a recognised body (the firm).

Short summary of decision

We have fined the firm for breaches of its obligations under the SRA Accounts Rules 2019.

Facts of the misconduct

In October 2024 the SRA began a forensic investigation at the firm. This identified concerns in relation to the late preparation and delivery of accountants' reports and dormant balances in the firm's client account.

Reasons/basis

Findings

It was found that:

Allegation 1

The firm failed to obtain accountants' reports within six months of the end of the accounting period for accounting years (a) 2020 to 2021, (b) 2021 to 2022, (c) 2022 to 2023, (d) 2023 to 2024, and (e) 2024 to 2025. In doing so the firm breached rule 12.1(a) of the SRA Accounts Rules 2019.

Allegation 2

The firm failed to deliver accountants' reports to the SRA within six months of the end of the accounting period for accounting years (a) 2020 to 2021, (b) 2021 to 2022, (c) 2022 to 2023, (d) 2023 to 2024, and (e) 2024 to 2025 in circumstances where the accountants' reports for these years had been qualified to show a failure to comply with the SRA Accounts Rules. In doing so the firm breached rule 12.1(b) of the SRA Accounts Rules 2019.

Allegation 3

Between July 2019 and August 2025, the firm allowed client funds of approximately £113,560.32, including 14 balances over £500, to accumulate in the client account when there was no valid reason for the firm to still hold these funds. In doing so the firm breached rule 2.5 of the SRA Accounts Rules 2019.

Decision on sanction

The firm was directed to pay a financial penalty of £18,552 and ordered to pay costs of £1,425. It was decided that a financial penalty was an appropriate and proportionate sanction. This was because the firm's conduct was serious by reference to the following factors in the SRA Enforcement Strategy:

• The breaches demonstrated a pattern of misconduct in failing to comply with the SRA Accounts Rules 2019. The firm failed to obtain or deliver accountants' reports over five consecutive years and failed to deliver qualified reports for the same period.
• Although the firm took steps to address the outstanding reports the failure to comply continued after the conduct was known to be improper.
• The firm permitted £113,560.32 of client money to remain in its client account for long periods without valid reason, with some dormant balances dating back to 2019. This demonstrated a persistent failure to comply with rule 2.5 of the SRA Accounts Rules 2019, which requires firms to return client money promptly.

Although the firm took steps to address the dormant balances the conduct continued after it was known to be improper.

• The firm had direct responsibility to ensure compliance with the SRA Accounts Rules 2019.
• A public sanction is required to maintain standards and to acknowledge there had been a breach of regulatory requirements. A financial penalty will deter the firm, and others, from similar behaviour in the future.  

In view of the above, the firm's conduct was placed in conduct band C, which has a financial penalty bracket of between 1.6 % and 3.2%. The firm's conduct was placed at the bottom of this bracket at C1. This reflects the fact that, while the firm's breaches gave rise to a risk of harm, no actual harm resulted from them and the firm has taken steps to address them.

The financial penalty was reduced by 20% to recognise that the firm made early admissions of the breaches, co-operated with the SRA and made efforts and devoted resources to resolving the breaches.

SRA Accounts Rules 2019

Rule 2.5: You ensure that client money is returned promptly to the client, or the third party for whom the money is held, as soon as there is no longer any proper reason to hold those funds.

Rule 12.1: If you have, at any time during an accounting period, held or received client money, or operated a joint account or a client's own account as signatory, you must:

1. obtain an accountant's report for that accounting period within six months of the end of the period; and
2. deliver it to the SRA within six months of the end of the accounting period if the accountant's report is qualified to show a failure to comply with these rules, such that money belonging to clients or third parties is, or has been, or is likely to be placed, at risk.