ACL 1241|1641 – ACCOUNTING FOR ATTORNEYS|LAWYERS

Course Outline 2023 – Semester Two (2)

Degree: BCom (Accounting)

NQF level: 6
Credits: 15

Lecturers:
Lecturer: Mr P Rambuda (Coordinator)
Office: F115 Old Admin Building
Telephone No: 015 962 8000
Email phumudzo.rambuda@univen.ac.za
Monday: 09h00 to 16h00
Consulting hours: Tuesday: 09h00 to 16h00
By appointment

Lecturer: Ms RS Tshinavhe
Office: F114 Old Admin Building
Telephone No: 015 962 8000
Email TBA

Consulting hours:

University Appointed Tutors

TBA
TBA

Pre-requisites: None
Exam duration: 3 hours

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Welcome
Welcome to ACL1241/ACL1641 – Accounting for attorneys/lawyers.
Basic level of knowledge in accounting is critically important for lawyers. For starters,
many lawyers operate their own practice or at least need to do some sort of administration
as part of their work. They have clients, deal with money, and need to report any and all
expenses that crop up during legal proceedings.

Due to the nature of the business, they conduct, they need to have a clear record of all
their income and expenses. Lawyers need to carefully manage their accounts, whether
it’s to explain themselves to the government or their clients.

Why Accounting is Important for Lawyers

Every business needs to keep a clear record of expenditure, income, and other financial
information. For lawyers, well-organised, comprehensive financial records are essential
for two main reasons:
▪ To maintain the highest ethical standards at all times
▪ To determine the value of their work

We are confident you will find this course engaging, challenging, and stimulating.

The module lays the theoretical and practical foundation for concepts and principles
covered in Law School and beyond. It is very important that you carefully read this Course
Outline and all related documents (i.e., lecture handouts and the prescribed textbook –
Legal Accounting – by Sheeda Kalideen & Lester Sullivan (Juta). These set out what
you can expect from the course, and what is expected of you.

Your success is completely within your control, and we look forward to assisting you
through this process. We are committed to helping you succeed in this course (i.e. meet
the learning outcomes). In this respect, you should take full advantage of the resources
available to you (e.g. full and active involvement in lectures and tutorials, make use of
consultation times to deal with problem areas). We expect you to attend all your lectures
and tutorials as this is where we can assist you in reaching your goal of passing
ACL1241/ACL1641.

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The fundamental Departmental principles:

A student of the Department is required to comply with the following fundamental

principles:
Integrity
The quality of having a sense of honesty, truthfulness and consistency in regard to the
motivations for your behaviour towards fellow students, lecturers and other staff
members of the Department.

Respect
Students must respect the diversity and differences of opinions of their fellow students,
lectures and other staff members of the Department. This entails:
• Respect for the learning of other students; and
• Respect for their lecturers

Discipline
Students shall adhere to acceptable behaviour that is not contrary to the principles set
out in the Code and the behaviours’ set out in the University of Venda Student
Regulations.

Responsibility and accountability

Students recognise that they are responsible for their learning and take ownership of the
learning process. Students are accountable to themselves and their lecturers for the
outcome of their learning process.

Fairness
Students acknowledge and respect the rights of other students, the lecturers and other
staff members of the Department.

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Problem solving skills
• Critically analyze a scenario, identify the problem, and select the appropriate
principle to account for the problem.
• Apply concepts and principles to solve one or more accounting problems
simultaneously.
• Plan solution in a logical manner and identify the workings needed to support
solution.
• Integrate workings into solution immediately.
• Present solution and workings in a logical and legible format.

Communication skills
Present logical, structured discussions or evaluations that consider all aspects of an
argument reach a conclusion and explain basis for the conclusion.

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Module Content
WORK PROGRAMME
Chapters in
# Topic Lecturer
the textbook
1 19-July Introduction P Rambuda
2 20-July Double Entry Bookkeeping 1 R Tshinavhe
3 26-July Tutorial Tutor
4 27-July Recording of Accounting Transaction 2 R Tshinavhe
5 02-August Tutorial Tutor
6 03-August Accounting Controls 3 R Tshinavhe
7 04 -August Tutorial (Special Tutorial) Tutor
8 10-August Tutorial Tutor
TEST 1 (Chapter 1 to 3) - Saturday 12 AUGUST 2023
9 16-August Types of Legal Practices 9 R Tshinavhe
10 17-August Types of Legal Practices 9 R Tshinavhe
11 23-August Revision R Tshinavhe
12 24-August Revision R Tshinavhe
13 30-August Transfer Journals 5 R Tshinavhe
14 31-August Transfer Journals 5 R Tshinavhe
15 06-September Tutorial Tutor
16 07-September Tutorial Tutor
TEST 2 (Chapter 1 to 3, 5 and 9) - Saturday 09 SEPTEMBER 2023
MAIN ASSIGNMENT (Due date Monday 26 SEPTEMBER 2023)
17 13-September The Trust Account 6 P Rambuda
18 14-September The Trust Account 6 P Rambuda
19 27-September Correspondence 7 R Tshinavhe
20 28-September Correspondence 7 R Tshinavhe
21 29-September Tutorial (Special Tutorial) Tutor
22 04-October Conveyancing Transactions 8 R Tshinavhe
23 05-October Conveyancing Transactions 8 R Tshinavhe
24 06-October Tutorial (Special Tutorial) Tutor
25 11-October Value Added Tax 4 P Rambuda
26 12-October Value Added Tax 4 P Rambuda
TEST 3 (Chapter 1 to 9) - Saturday 14 OCTOBER 2023
27 18-October Statement of Cash Flows 10 R Tshinavhe
28 19-October Companies 11 R Tshinavhe
REVISION
EXAM

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Learning outcomes
Accounting for attorneys is aimed at providing students with a working, theoretical and
practical knowledge of general principles of accounting with special emphasis on Trust
Accounts. This course prepares the student who wishes to take the attorney’s
examination.
Critical Cross-Field Outcomes
Students will be able to:
a) Identify and solve problems.
b) Collect, analyze and evaluate information.
c) Communicate effectively.
d) Recognize problem solving contexts.
e) Explore education and career opportunities.
f) Develop entrepreneurial opportunities.

Specific Intended Outcomes

After completing this course, students will:
▪ Gain basic knowledge and understanding of the variety of transactions essential
to complete an adequate set of books and to design a plan of accounts to suit the
needs of a legal enterprise.
▪ Prepare simple set of Annual Financial Statements
▪ Compute and account for VAT
▪ Account for moneys received on behalf of clients to be held in trust for them.
▪ Compute and account for income (fees) and expenses (disbursements).
▪ Compute and account for interest received to be paid over to the Attorneys Fidelity
Fund
▪ Compute and account for conveyance fees
▪ Use the knowledge to solve day-to-day basic bookkeeping/ accounting problems

Delivery/learning methods
Lecture Tutorials Project/ Consultation Reading Total
Presentation
Notional hours per week 1.5 1.5 1 1 3.5 8.5

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Assessment criteria
Main Assignment 15%
Tutorials 10%
Test 1 15%
Test 2 25%
Test 2 35%
Total 100%
**We are going to have 1 individual assignment to be submitted on Turnitin.
▪ We will also have tutorials which should be attempted by each student (not
in groups). This constitutes 10% of your final mark.
▪ You are therefore advised to attend classes regularly.

Tests and final examination will generally be based on your main prescribed textbook and
any other materials provided or referred to. It is therefore of paramount importance to have
these books as early as possible. Dates for writing tests has been set and are static. You
are expected to avail yourself to write the tests at the prescribed times and dates.

Test Dates
Test 1: 12 August Saturday (Venue to be confirmed)
Test 2: 09 September Saturday (Venue to be confirmed)
Test 3: 14 October Saturday (Venue to be confirmed)
Sick test will be written after Test 3
Submission of Main Assignment 26 September 2023

N/B special test will only be written by those who did not write either test 1, test 2
or test 3 for valid reasons. This is not negotiable and students are expected to take
their studies seriously from day 1.

THERE IS NO REPLACEMENT TEST

The dates for the tests are static and will not be change, please start making prior
arrangements. All tests will be written on Saturday. Please arrange in time as I have given
you the dates in advance. No excuses will be tolerated.

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Admission criteria: to last assessment opportunity:
A minimum module mark of 40% is required in order to gain access to the last assessment
opportunity/exam.

Prescribed text books

▪ Legal Accounting – by Sheeda Kalideen & Lester Sullivan (Juta)

Personal Assistance
Any further assistance that you may require as an individual in this module should be
brought to the attention of lecturer (s) as early as possible. Consultations should be done
in accordance with the consulting timetable.

Class participation
Students are particularly encouraged to participate and engage themselves fully in class
and group discussions in order to improve their analytical, public speaking and
presentation skills, which will prove to good preparation for future job interviews.

Lecturer evaluation
As a means of Quality Control on service delivery, students will periodically be required to
fill in pre-printed lecturer-evaluation questionnaire forms. Your genuine responses to the
questions will be helpful for us to adjust our approach to lectures and other services
delivery accordingly (if necessary), for the benefit of students.
Since we, as lecturers, are concerned with the effectiveness of our teaching and the quality
of your learning, we will attempt to monitor and evaluate the course by:
• Meeting student representatives to receive their comments on the progress of the
course, and
• Being at all times receptive to constructive comments and suggestions that may
be made by you.

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Class Timetable
Class Timetable: Most classes will be contact – Will use online classes as and when is
necessary.
Date Time Venue
Wednesday 13:00 - 13:50 A2
Thursday 12:00 - 13:50 E3

We are going to have special tutorials on Fridays – Class reps will be responsible
to find Venue and suitable time.