ABS diary | Taking the plunge

I was in the office on 31 December finalising our year end and thinking about the same time last year, when I was waiting for the go ahead from the SRA to apply for our ABS licence. Our licence was granted in March 2012 and we have not looked back.

2012 was a positive year for JWS. Being one of the first licensed ABSs brought about a lot of publicity and has certainly raised the profile of our firm. I am also surprised at how different I feel now that I am a partner.  

I had always said that my role would not change by being a partner. It has not. However, the way I feel about my position has changed. I have always been committed to the firm, as any manager in any business would be, but since being a partner, JWS is my practice and I am excited by the prospect of what we can do next. As a non-solicitor managing partner I am in an ideal position to move the practice forward: I have the incentive, the drive, the time and the experience. Smaller practices who may be considering making their practice managers partners and becoming an ABS will think about the pros and cons. My experience of nine months of being an ABS is that there are many pros but no cons.

In December I met with the SRA again, who told me that they have used some of the feedback from the early applicants to make the application process smoother. This time last year I was manically preparing my application; it was time consuming but by approaching the whole process methodically and with the help of the ABS team when needed, it was not that difficult. Just in case you are considering making an application to become an ABS here is a brief recap of my hints and tips.

Before you start your application, decide on the best time of year for your licence to start, as once your licence is granted your firm will become a new entity and this could impact on both your financial and accountants reporting year.

Nominate one individual to be in charge of your application, it can be time consuming and requires a lot of information so it is a definite scenario for too many cooks Make other partners, members of staff aware that they must co-operate fully with the nominated person. Any information required must be given willingly, in full and any request for information from the nominated person must be given priority.

Speak to your bank, insurers etc to make sure that there will be no major financial implications or complications involved with you becoming an Alternative Business Structure.

Speak to your accountants as you will need cash flow, profit & loss analysis and a projected balance sheet for your first year of trading as an ABS.

Go through the application forms carefully and methodically use the ABS team to answer any questions you may have prior to submitting your application form as incomplete forms will be not be processed.

Once you have thoroughly checked that you have completed all sections on your application forms and you have all the accounts in order you are ready for submission, I stress again, if you have a section that you cannot complete for any reason, consult with the ABS team for advice before submission.