The directors present the strategic report for the year ended 31 March 2026.
Spencer West, headquartered in the City of London is a leading distributed law Firm, operating across multiple jurisdictions Worldwide.
Founded in 2010, the Firm has grown from being a two Partner, City of London Practice to now having over 370 Partners Worldwide and operates across 24 jurisdictions with it’s main practice in England and Wales.
Senior lawyers, (equating to Partner-level in a traditional law firm model), typically at least 8 years’ post-qualification experience, join the Firm as legal consultants, bringing their clients with them. They are remunerated based on a share of their revenues invoiced and collected. They are also remunerated with origination fees where they originate work within the Firm and which is carried out by others in the Firm.
Increasingly, Partners develop their own direct teams, referred to as “business units”. There is no obligation on the Partners to build out a business unit, but it provides capacity, raises execution standards and allows the Partner to focus on the higher value work and business development. The Partner shapes the business unit team, including the commercial terms on which team members are remunerated, and for which the Partner takes commercial responsibility. The members of the business unit may include other Partners, lawyers (senior or junior) and support staff, such as paralegals, executive assistants and so on. The Firm vets the lawyer team members to ensure that the Firm’s high standards are maintained. The business unit members enter into a compliance agreement with the Firm whereby they commit to upholding the Firm’s policies, controls and procedures (“PCP’s”).The business unit team in turn then become valued members of the Firm.
Core Values
Spencer West is founded on three core values: expertise, collaboration and business experience. The Firm places huge importance on its values: technical excellence from all of its lawyers, business acumen that comes from seeing with a commercial perspective, and a collaborative approach, which means that colleagues can rely on each other’s support. Lawyers are recruited to Spencer West on the basis of a shared commitment to the Firm’s values. The Firm’s lawyers in turn find themselves part of a community where there is real ‘esprit de corps’ and where each Partner matters. With inspiration from it’s values, the Firm is fast becoming a truly international community of lawyers, ands one that reaches beyond the limits of any geography or jurisdiction and that connects across the world as part of a common purpose and shared endeavour.
This is combined with a culture of warm hospitality and a community spirit where colleagues are valued and supported. By joining Spencer West, colleagues become part of an international team of high-calibre lawyers who assist each other to fulfil their potential and succeed.
Purpose
Spencer West has a strong sense of purpose. It is there first and foremost to support its clients, by providing world-class legal services, but also to support colleagues – whether our lawyers or our leadership, operational or administrative teams – and to make a positive impact in the various communities in which our colleagues live and work, wherever that happens to be across the world.
The Firm has strong ESG credentials and a commitment to apply substantial resources to good causes, notably through the Spencer West Foundation.
Vision
The Firm is developing as a leading community of lawyers, rooted in the Firm’s core values and able to practice across numerous practice areas, sectors and geographies. The Firm envisages being the leading firm of its kind in the world in being:
One of the largest, measured by the Firm’s global revenues, which multiplies the opportunities for colleagues.
One of the most connected, being the product of its collaborative culture and ‘pathways’ for connection which are catalysed by the Firm.
One of the most international, measured by the number of geographies from which the Firm practices.
The above three factors together with our vision, guided by our values, will ensure that the Firm achieves its overarching envisaged goal.
Our Growth
The Firm is continuing to benefit from significant year-on-year growth, improving revenue from £36.9million to £38.9million for the year ended 31st March 2026.
The Firm’s impressive growth arises from adherence to its core values, thoughtful recruitment of talented lawyers who share the Firm’s values, and the dedication of the Firm’s team across leadership and operations. Those joining the Firm are attracted to its high-quality expertise, warm connected culture and the international scope of its practices.
The Firm continues to prioritise high-calibre expertise who abide by its core values over and above any growth metrics. The Firm strongly believes that unwavering commitment to the former inexorably leads to the latter. The Firm also sees ample opportunity to continue to grow through the calibre of lawyers attracted to it.
The Firm has attracted lawyers from the upper tier – top 30 UK law firms and international law firms with the ambition increasingly to attract lawyers in this category. As the Firm internationalises, it envisages a significant proportion of its new Partners coming from this source; who are attracted to the Firm’s appetite for complex and international work.
The Firm encourages its Partners to recommend others at Partner-level to join the Firm. Increasingly as the Firm expands its international practice with the addition of high-calibre lawyers with international practices of their own, this encourages colleagues to introduce others with complementary practices to join the Firm, thereby becoming an important source of high-calibre recruitment with an increasingly international focus. Over time, this is expected to be one of the factors that drives an elevation of the target market for recruitment in the upper tier and feeds directly through to increased profitability.
An important part of the Firm’s growth arises from colleagues building out their “business units”, which increases their capacity to undertake larger scale work, free up time to engage in business development, and deliver more responsive services. The Firm is targeting an increase in the Firm’s growth through nurturing the development of business units, particularly amongst the Partners with larger practices and which also feeds directly to an increase in profitability.
The Firm does not perceive any constraints to its growth at any point in the foreseeable future. It is certainly the case that office premises will not act as a constraint. Unlike a traditional law firm, the Firm’s office premises are contracted on a more flexible, serviced office or managed basis, rather than a lease or purchase, and besides the premises are intended to accommodate only a proportion of the Partners at any one time – a ‘hub’ approach. Equally, working capital is not expected to constrain growth, in contrast to the traditional equity model. The Firm’s principal cost is the payment of its Partners, and payment is not due unless the revenues have been invoiced and collected. The Firm operates conservatively on expenditure in such a way as to provide surplus margin and therefore does not require any long-term finance or debt.
The Firm continues to assess, monitor and seek to mitigate risks. This work is led by the Risk Committee, whose remit is to consider and address any risks that are perceived to arise, discussing and addressing these proactively. The Risk Committee meets monthly throughout the year (except for August). It comprises Spencer West LLP’s Compliance Officer of Legal Practice (COLP), Compliance Officer of Finance & Administration (COFA) and Money-Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO), which in each case are carried out by a professional appointee who is highly experienced in discharging these regulatory functions. It also comprises leaders of some of the principal practice groups whom the Firm refers to as ‘Directors’, including real estate, dispute resolution, private client/private wealth and family law, as well as data protection/cyber security, led by our Data Protection Officer, and finance, led by our Chief Financial Officer and the Founding Partners.
Some of the principal risks identified are set out below, along with their mitigation.
Firm’s cohesion and Partner retention. The Firm’s lawyers can terminate by serving notice and join another Firm. This is a risk that all law firms are exposed to, although at Partner level the distributed model may make practices more portable. The Firm encourages a cohesive culture, in which all colleagues are valued and supported, and which encourages connections across practice areas, sectors and geographies, and within regions and jurisdictions thereby seeking to catalyse opportunities for all our colleagues. A byproduct of this culture is to reduce the risk of colleagues leaving the Firm. The high proportion of invoiced and received revenue generated by a Partner that is paid to the Partner (between 70 and 80%) along with the referral fees policy (typically 15% of work invoiced and collected by other Partners performing work referred to them by the referring Partner) means that replicating such a high return on work carried out in a traditional law firm is almost impossible thus making flight back to a traditional law firm less attractive. Additionally, the Firm offers very competitive payment rates for its lawyers even within the distributed sector, therefore again mitigating the flight risk associated with its Partners having ostensibly more readily portable practices.
Succession. Professional services firms generally, and law firms in particular, often manage succession badly. The Firm has a 100-year vision, which means that it considers from the outset, and as part of its culture, the requirements to identify and promote successive generations of leaders and operational staff and put in place a programme to reward out-performance on a yearly basis and over the medium- and long-term.
Changes in tax treatment. Partners are very clearly intended to operate, and their terms of engagement with the relevant Practice, are structured, as being independent contractors. The Firm makes no demands on what work to accept or where, when or how to operate. In view of this, it is considered unlikely that the Partners’ status in any particular jurisdiction would be regarded as anything other than that intended, namely as self-employed lawyers. The status tests for independent contractor status is largely the same in the jurisdictions in which the Firm practices or intends to practice, and in weighing the composite factors taken into consideration the overwhelming majority of key factors weigh in favour of independent contractor status. Nevertheless, if a change in tax treatment were to determine otherwise, this could expose a particular Practice to potential additional costs. Furthermore, the relevant Practice would in that eventuality seek to limit the effect of change in tax treatment, if necessary, by seeking in appropriate cases to renegotiate the terms that the Practice has with its Partners in a way that is mutually acceptable.
Professional liability claims. The Firm, like any professional services firm, is exposed to the risk of suit for breach of professional duty. The risk is mitigated by ensuring that each Practice is ring-fenced from a liability perspective, by putting in place separate engagement terms between the client and the relevant Practice that is being engaged, and by having PCPs whereby no Practice assumes any liability for the acts and omissions of any other Practice. The Firm has appropriate limits of liability, which it puts in place for each Practice, and in amounts which are covered by the revenue income and the levels of insurance cover in place. The Firm’s Practices arrange professional liability insurance in amounts which are kept under review regularly.
Regulatory action. The Firm operates in an increasingly demanding regulatory environment, where the legal regulator in the relevant jurisdiction may impose fines or other sanctions on any Practice, which ultimately could include the closure of that Practice. The Firm mitigates this risk by training our colleagues to operate to high regulatory standards, and by carrying out file reviews to ensure that these standards are being upheld. The Firm ringfences each Practice, with the intention that any regulatory default does not occasion a default in any other Practice. In an extreme case leading to the closure of a Practice, the Firm has terms in place with each Practice, and between the Practice and its Partners, intended to enable the arrangements to be novated to a different Practice to ensure continuity of operations.
Reputational damage. Professional services firms are at risk of damage to reputation, through the conduct of their Partners and other staff. This could arise from regulatory action, data breach, adverse media, or other causes. The Firm keeps any risks that might result in reputational damage under careful and detailed review, and these are escalated proactively in order that any harmful effects are contained as far as possible. The Firm’s exposure may be mitigated to an extent by its large size and the diversity of its practice across jurisdictions. The Firm has a response team in place in the event of any issue that might bear on reputation.
Data breach. It is regrettably a feature of business life nowadays that all businesses are exposed to risk of data breach. This is especially the case for law firms, as they handle confidential data. The Firm benefits from specialist third-party cyber-security services that seek continually to identify and mitigate proactively any perceived data security risks. This includes providing regular ongoing training for our lawyers and other staff, undertaking penetration testing, and maintaining back-ups of data.
Market and Economic Conditions. The Firm is exposed to risks arising from changes in economic conditions. This is mitigated by the diversity of practices in any jurisdiction, such as to include counter-cyclical elements such as dispute resolution, restructuring and insolvency, alongside corporate and commercial and real estate. Further, diversification is achieved across geographies, so that adverse effects from any downturn in any particular jurisdiction may be compensated to an extent by performance in other jurisdictions.
The Firm monitors an increasing range of financial and non-finance key performance indicators (KPIs). To be clear, however, the Firm’s principal focus is on enabling a supportive culture true to the Firm’s values and purpose, and by doing so, the byproduct is strong KPIs. At the same time, the Firm by developing a market-leading offering is liable to deliver market-leading gross and net margins as the Firm develops.
Partner numbers: The Firm has now exceeded 360 Partners. The current total is 365. This metric is relevant to breadth and depth of practices.
Practice Areas: The Firm has 9 main practice areas, and measures concentration to adequate levels. No one area accounts for more than 25% of revenue.
Revenues: The Firm’s revenues have increased substantially over the last 12 months to £38.9million,which is growth of 5.6% over prior year.
Gross Profit and Operating profit margins: The Firm’s gross profit has increased from £7.9million to £8.2million and gross profit margins have slightly declined to 21.1%. Profit before tax has dropped from £2.4million to £1million, and PBT margin slightly declined to 2.7%, however this is mainly attributable to the significant investment in technology and people to support future growth.
Cash: Cash and Cash equivalent stands at £2.8million and increase of over £953k (52%) compared to the prior year. The company continues to generate and reinvest cash in the business.
Other non-financial KPIs: The Firm continues to track and report on number of practices and number of fee generating lawyers, partner retention rates, brand strength, diversity and inclusion and regulatory compliance through breaches and complaints.
Origination and referral across Firm: The Firm has the ambition to be the most connected of law firms with the distributed model, which is intended to generate the most mutual opportunity of business development and referral. As ever, the focus for our Partners needs to be on developing business relationships amongst colleagues as well as externally, and it is out of these relationships that ‘referral’ opportunities arise. The extent of ‘referral’ opportunities varies according to practice area, sector and geography, however approximately 35.7% of matters does involve an element of referral.
Technology
The Firm has invested in and developed proprietary technology for the support of its operations and the benefit of its lawyers. This includes specialist software (which it refers to as the ‘Revenue Dashboard’) for the calculation of payments between colleagues, which takes account of business units, origination fees and other applicable payments. The Revenue Dashboard has a “self-billing” function which creates a draft invoice for our lawyers to the relevant Practice, thereby supporting efficient administration for our lawyers.
The Firm has also developed various integrations, which connect through an API with a third party licensed practice management system, supporting processes that align with the Firm’s PCPs.
Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’)
The Firm sees the adoption of AI as providing a step-change in technology enabling radical improvement in the Firm’s processes, which will benefit our lawyers and clients, grow the Firm, and support compliance.
Our internal technology team directly support our lawyers to harness technology for the delivery of client services. For the Firm’s lawyers and clients, AI brings tools that enable our lawyers to provide greater value-add in a range of services from corporate law (including in respect of data rooms and due diligence) through to dispute resolution (with disclosure and identifying key documents). The fact that the Firm is Partner-led means that the Firm stands to benefit disproportionately from the benefits of AI: this is in marked contrast to the traditional law firm model, which is dependent on more routine work being passed to less experienced fee earners, where technology may result in part of this requirement being reduced. By contrast, our Partners, empowered with technology, will be able to provide services far more effectively, which in turn will lead to growth in revenues and practices for the benefit of our lawyers and clients alike.
The Firm intends increasingly to invest in technology, and notably AI, to grow the Firm’s revenues.
This year marked a pivotal shift in the Firm’s AI journey, transforming ambition into meaningful action. We have made significant investments in AI technologies, strengthened our in-house AI and business intelligence expertise, and set a clear strategic roadmap that will guide our evolution over the next two years. Looking ahead, we are exploring a range of innovative tools designed not only to enhance the Firm’s overall capabilities but also to address the unique needs of individual practice areas.
At the heart of this vision is the development of a bespoke AI platform, purpose-built for the Firm and shaped around the way we work. This investment has been supported by the expansion of our specialist AI engineering capability, ensuring we have the expertise to create solutions that deliver lasting value. As the AI landscape continues to advance at pace, our focus remains on harnessing technology in a way that drives innovation, elevates operational excellence, and enhances the service we provide to our clients, while upholding the highest standards of governance, trust, and professional integrity.
Environmental, Social and Governance
The Firm is a values-based law firm that sets its purpose of being a positive contribution to its clients, lawyers and other colleagues, and the communities in which it operates. As part of this purpose, it lives out its values in creating a culture, and in developing as a law firm, in ways that are reflective of its values and purpose.
Our leadership and operational team. This includes developing a culture that supports the wellbeing of our colleagues in the leadership and management teams, ensuring that they are well remunerated and receive bonuses to rewardperformance and share in the rewards of the Firm’s success. Our colleagues in turn are encouraged through their work to achieve mastery and operate for the mutual performance of our Firm. Many of the Firm’s colleagues operate at such a high level that they achieve two or three times what is achieved by colleagues at other firms, and in so doing find fulfilment, mutual affection and support. For all of this, we are truly grateful.
Environmental. The concerns around climate and the negative impacts of climate change are widely recognized as one of the great challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. The Firm seeks to play its part by keeping its carbon footprint to a reasonable minimum. Its distributed model, which avoids the negative impacts on using large office space, and commuting, puts the Firm a great distance ahead of most comparable traditional model law firms. The Firm has policies and procedures in place that serve to minimise environmental impact. These range from electricity and water conservation; to the use of local suppliers.
Social and the Spencer West Foundation. An important element of the Firm’s outreach is supporting good causes, whether charitable organisations or other not-for-profits, that make a positive impact. The Firm does this principally by channeling resources to the Spencer West Foundation, a charitable organisation that is registered with and regulated by the Charities Commission of England and Wales. The Firm provides financial support through a share of the amount equivalent to interest that accrues on funds in the Spencer West LLP (the England and Wales law firm) client account, and from other sources including one-off donations by Spencer West Global Limited and Spencer West LLP, and a proportion of the monies arising from referrals from other organisations and individuals through the Firm’s inbound referral network known as Law Reach. The Foundation is established as an independent charitable foundation with separate trustees, which supports organisations nominated by colleagues from within the Firm, whereby a determinative criterion is that the person nominating is involved in that organisation nominated and able to identify and report on the positive impact arising from the Foundation making the donation in question.
Governance. The Firm has adopted as part of its constitution a legal commitment to have regard to impacts for the Firm’s colleagues as well as environment and communities in which we serve, as well as stakeholder interests. For Spencer West Global Limited, this has been done by the adoption of Articles, which “bake in” an ESG culture in the Firm.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. The Firm celebrates its diversity in gender, age, culture, ethnicity, religion and other differences, across its leadership and operational team, Partners, lawyers and other colleagues. This is a way of recognising our shared humanity and, if one wishes, the spiritual dimension arising from that. It is reflected in a warm culture, the ambition of which is that each person is valued for who they are and where everyone is made to feel welcome, in a sense of belonging or “home” which applies regardless of where our colleagues are from. This is the culture that enables us each to be our “best selves”, personally and professionally.
Future Outlook
Looking ahead, we see significant opportunities to grow by expanding into new practice areas, new locations, leveraging technology, and continuing to attract top legal talent. We have invested in an in house talent acquisition team of four which is supplementing our core third party recruiters. Our distributed model positions us strongly to adapt to client needs, economic conditions, and sector trends. We remain confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth while maintaining the highest standards of compliance, professionalism, and client service.
On behalf of the board
The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2026.
The results for the year are set out on page 14.
Ordinary dividends were paid amounting to £604,000. The directors do not recommend payment of a further dividend.
The directors who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the medium-sized companies regime.
United Kingdom company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the directors have elected to prepare the group and parent company financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law, the directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and parent company, and of the profit or loss of the group for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable United Kingdom Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the group and parent company will continue in business.
The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the group’s and parent company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the group and parent company, and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the group and parent company, and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
We have audited the financial statements of Spencer West Global Limited (the 'parent company') and its subsidiaries (the 'group') for the year ended 31 March 2026 which comprise the group profit and loss account, the group statement of comprehensive income, the group balance sheet, the company balance sheet, the group statement of changes in equity, the company statement of changes in equity, the group statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Basis for opinion
Conclusions relating to going concern
Other information
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
As explained more fully in the directors' responsibilities statement, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the group's and parent company's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the group or parent company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, incorporated the following:
The engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
We identified the laws and regulations applicable to the company through discussions with directors and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the legal services sector.
We focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the company, including the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation, employment, and health and safety legislation;
We assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence;
Identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:
Making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
Considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, our work included:
Performance of analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
Testing journal entries to identify unusual transactions. Investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions;
Observation and identification of internal controls in place, specifically around sales orders, sales tendering process, purchase ledger approvals, payroll and bank transactions; and
An assessment of whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates around stock provisions were indicative of potential bias.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
Agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting evidence;
Enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
Reviewing correspondence with HMRC and reviewing for evidence of correspondence with legal advisors.
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the parent company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the parent company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the parent company and the parent company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
As permitted by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the company has not presented its own profit and loss account and related notes. The company’s profit for the year was £795,545 (2025 - £1,752,307 profit).
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions relating to medium-sized companies.
Spencer West Global Limited (“the company”) is a private limited company domiciled and incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Swift House, Ground Floor, 18 Hoffmanns Way, Chelmsford, Essex, UK, CM1 1GU.
The group consists of Spencer West Global Limited and all of its subsidiaries.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
The consolidated group financial statements consist of the financial statements of the parent company Spencer West Global Limited together with all entities controlled by the parent company (its subsidiaries: Spencer West LLP).
All financial statements are made up to 31 March 2026. Where necessary, adjustments are made to the financial statements of subsidiaries to bring the accounting policies used into line with those used by other members of the group.
All intra-group transactions, balances and unrealised gains on transactions between group companies are eliminated on consolidation. Unrealised losses are also eliminated unless the transaction provides evidence of an impairment of the asset transferred.
Subsidiaries are consolidated in the group’s financial statements from the date that control commences until the date that control ceases.
The directors have prepared budgets and cash flow forecasts for a period of at least twelve months from the date of approval of the financial statements. These forecasts indicate that the Company will have sufficient resources to meet its liabilities as they fall due.
The Group operates a flexible cost model and continues to generate positive cash flows. After considering the Group’s financial position, forecast performance and principal risks, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.
Turnover is measured at the fair value of the consideration receivable, net of discounts and added taxes. Turnover includes revenue earned from work invoices during the year together with accrued revenue for services provided to the client during the year.
Rendering of services
Turnover is recognised when the LLP has performed services in accordance with the agreement with the relevant client and has obtained a right to consideration for those services. Where such income has not been billed at the year end it is included in amounts recoverable on contracts into amounts amounts recoverable on work in progress.
When valuing the year end work in progress the firm considers the age of the debt, the specific circumstances of each balance, expected future cash flows, and also takes into account the firm’s past experience of recoverability.
Income from franchisees
Income from franchisees includes initial franchise fees, ongoing royalty or management fees, and other charges. Royalty and management fees are recognised as the related franchisee sales occur. Initial franchise fees are deferred and recognised over the period in which the firm provides continuing services to the franchisee under the franchise agreement.
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the profit and loss account.
Equity investments are measured at fair value through profit or loss, except for those equity investments that are not publicly traded and whose fair value cannot otherwise be measured reliably, which are recognised at cost less impairment until a reliable measure of fair value becomes available.
In the parent company financial statements, investments in subsidiaries, associates and jointly controlled entities are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses.
A subsidiary is an entity controlled by the group. Control is the power to govern the financial and operating policies of the entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities.
Entities in which the group has a long term interest and shares control under a contractual arrangement are classified as jointly controlled entities.
At each reporting period end date, the group reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible and intangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any). Where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, the company estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs. The carrying amount of the investments accounted for using the equity method is tested for impairment as a single asset. Any goodwill included in the carrying amount of the investment is not tested separately for impairment.
Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset for which the estimates of future cash flows have not been adjusted. If the recoverable amount of an asset (or cash-generating unit) is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset (or cash-generating unit) is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss, unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation decrease.
Recognised impairment losses are reversed if, and only if, the reasons for the impairment loss have ceased to apply. Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset (or cash-generating unit) is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset (or cash-generating unit) in prior years. A reversal of an impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss, unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the reversal of the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation increase.
The group has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the group's balance sheet when the group becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset and the net amounts presented in the financial statements when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Other financial assets, including investments in equity instruments which are not subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures, are initially measured at fair value, which is normally the transaction price. Such assets are subsequently carried at fair value and the changes in fair value are recognised in profit or loss, except that investments in equity instruments that are not publicly traded and whose fair values cannot be measured reliably are measured at cost less impairment.
Financial assets, other than those held at fair value through profit and loss, are assessed for indicators of impairment at each reporting end date.
Financial assets are impaired where there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been affected. If an asset is impaired, the impairment loss is the difference between the carrying amount and the present value of the estimated cash flows discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate. The impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss.
If there is a decrease in the impairment loss arising from an event occurring after the impairment was recognised, the impairment is reversed. The reversal is such that the current carrying amount does not exceed what the carrying amount would have been, had the impairment not previously been recognised. The impairment reversal is recognised in profit or loss.
Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the group transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the group after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Derivatives, including interest rate swaps and forward foreign exchange contracts, are not basic financial instruments. Derivatives are initially recognised at fair value on the date a derivative contract is entered into and are subsequently re-measured at their fair value. Changes in the fair value of derivatives are recognised in profit or loss in finance costs or finance income as appropriate, unless hedge accounting is applied and the hedge is a cash flow hedge.
Debt instruments that do not meet the conditions in FRS 102 paragraph 11.9 are subsequently measured at fair value through profit or loss. Debt instruments may be designated as being measured at fair value through profit or loss to eliminate or reduce an accounting mismatch or if the instruments are measured and their performance evaluated on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented risk management or investment strategy.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the group's contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
Equity instruments issued by the group are recorded at the proceeds received, net of transaction costs. Dividends payable on equity instruments are recognised as liabilities once they are no longer at the discretion of the group.
The tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable and deferred tax.
The tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the profit and loss account because it excludes items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The group’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the reporting end date.
Deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all timing differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that they will be recovered against the reversal of deferred tax liabilities or other future taxable profits. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the timing difference arises from goodwill or from the initial recognition of other assets and liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the tax profit nor the accounting profit.
The carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each reporting end date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered. Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised. Deferred tax is charged or credited in the profit and loss account, except when it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also dealt with in equity. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset if, and only if, there is a legally enforceable right to offset current tax assets and liabilities and the deferred tax assets and liabilities relate to taxes levied by the same tax authority.
The costs of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and an expense, unless those costs are required to be recognised as part of the cost of stock or fixed assets.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Equity-settled share-based payments granted to directors are measured at fair value at the date of grant by reference to the fair value of the equity instruments granted, as determined by the directors. As the shares are granted and vest immediately, the fair value determined at the grant date is recognised as an expense immediately, with a corresponding credit recognised within equity.
Rentals payable under operating leases, including any lease incentives received, are charged to profit or loss on a straight line basis over the term of the relevant lease except where another more systematic basis is more representative of the time pattern in which economic benefits from the leased asset are consumed.
In the application of the group’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Other key sources of estimation uncertainty:
Work in progress is valued at recoverable amounts based on time recorded, expected billing, fee arrangements, and historical recovery rates. The amount ultimately recoverable may differ from the estimate, as it depends on the outcome of ongoing matters and client billing discussions.
Bad debt provisions are made where the assessment of full recoverability of a debt is deemed to be uncertain. This is based on an assessment of each debtor, including the age of the debt, the contractual status of the customer, the length of the trading relationship and the trading status of the debtor.
The annual depreciation charge for tangible assets is sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives and residual value of the assets. The useful economic lives and residual values are re-assessed annually. They are amended when necessary to reflect current estimates, based on technological advancement, future investments, economic utilisation and the physical condition of the assets.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the group and company during the year was:
Their aggregate remuneration comprised:
The actual charge for the year can be reconciled to the expected charge for the year based on the profit or loss and the standard rate of tax as follows:
Details of the company's subsidiaries at 31 March 2026 are as follows:
Amounts due from group undertakings are interest-free, unsecured and repayable on demand.
Included in other creditors is balance of £1,911 (2025: £41,468) due to the directors. The directors loans are interest free, unsecured and repayable on demand.
On 23 July 2013, fixed and floating charges were secured over the assets of the Limited Liability Partnership in favour of Coutts & Company. The charge remains valid and in force at the date of this report. At 31 March 2026, the loan balance outstanding was £5,000, which is due for repayment within one year.
Bank loans and other loans include amounts due to Coutts & Company of £5,000 (2025: £15,000), secured by fixed and floating charges over the assets of certain Group entity, which remained outstanding as at 31 March 2026 which is due for repayment within one year.
Included within other loans is £731,524 (2025: £145,165) in respect of loans secured by guarantees and indemnities provided by the Group in favour of the lender. These guarantees and indemnities remained in place as at 31 March 2026.
The following are the major deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the group and company:
The deferred tax liability set out above is expected to reverse in the foreseeable future and relates to accelerated capital allowances that are expected to mature within the same period.
A defined contribution pension scheme is operated for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the group in an independently administered fund.
During the year, the Parent Company awarded 450 ordinary shares to a director for nil consideration as part of the director's remuneration. The award is an equity-settled share-based payment.
The shares had a fair value of £45,000 at the date of award. The fair value of the unquoted shares was determined by the directors based on their assessment of the value of the shares at the date of award.
The Company recognised £45,000 within equity settled share based payment costs in the profit and loss account, with a corresponding credit to the share-based payment reserve. The award was satisfied through the transfer of treasury shares.
During the year, the Company repurchased a total of 1,190 ordinary shares, comprising 176 Ordinary F shares and 1,014 Ordinary E shares. As a result, a Treasury Shares Reserve of £119,000 was recognised, representing the nominal value of shares held in treasury for potential reissue or cancellation.
Further details of the share-based payment arrangement are disclosed in Note 21. In total, treasury shares with a carrying value of £75,000 were cancelled or reissued during the year. As part of the related capital reorganisation, £300 was transferred from share capital to the capital redemption reserve. The net impact of these transactions resulted in the Treasury Shares Reserve decreasing from £119,000 to £44,000 at 31 March 2026.
The related movements in share capital, capital redemption reserve, treasury shares reserve, share-based payment reserve and profit and loss reserves are presented in the Statement of Changes in Equity.
Share capital
Share capital represents the nominal value of shares issued by the company.
Treasury shares reserve
Treasury shares represent the company’s own shares held by the company.
Profit and loss reserve
The profit and loss reserve represents the accumulated profits and losses of the company after allowing for distributions and other transfers.
Capital redemption reserve
The capital redemption reserve represents the nominal value of shares redeemed by the Company and is non-distributable.
Share-based payment reserve
The share-based payment reserve represents the cumulative amount recognised in equity in respect of equity-settled share-based payment arrangements,
Members’ contributions
Members’ contributions represent capital introduced by the members of the LLP during the year, together with any amounts withdrawn or reclassified in accordance with the members’ agreement.
At the reporting end date the group had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:
In accordance with the requirements of FRS 102 Section 33 – Related Party Disclosures, the Directors confirm that there is no ultimate controlling party.