Innovative Soaring Falcon Accountancy goes sky-high with client care drive

Founded by visionary Alex Falcon in 2015, Soaring Falcon seeks to break away from traditional accounting practices in favour of “looking at the bigger picture”, by going beyond the numbers to achieve holistically excellent results for clients.

Offering a range of cloud-first services including virtual finance directorships, payroll, accounts preparation, business development and budgeting, VAT and other tax liabilities and cashflow planning, the firm specialises in supporting tech and creative enterprises.

Understanding the client

Alex established her boutique practice to meet the unique needs of the technology and creative sectors seeking to launch in the UK from overseas.

From the offset, Alex found herself in the realm of R&D claims within the niche she had established. This gave her an excellent understanding of what a compliant and successful claim looks like and undertaking a huge variety of work from client care to claim calculation and submission.

A committed technology lover, Alex wound up producing a rapidly growing number of claims manually but knew she had to use something which, from her and her clients’ perspectives, integrates smoothly into her working style.

Clipping its wings

Working with “multi-entity setups across multiple countries” from the offset, Alex has never been a stranger to making complex R&D claims on behalf of the firm’s diverse client base.

“We’ve got the network to introduce overseas companies to the UK and vice versa,” said Alex.

“Since we largely focus on our niche of startups in tech and creative industries, we find that a lot of our clients are likely to be eligible for R&D tax reliefs.

“In the past, when tools weren’t available to us, we were preparing these claims manually. They looked okay and were perfectly compliant, but I was always searching for different products to help me improve our claims even further, making them more streamlined.

“It is a struggle to make sure that we’ve got all the right content under HMRC guidelines and that it’s all accurate when you’re processing complex claims.”

The WhisperClaims Solution

Alex engaged WhisperClaims for Soaring Falcon to support her with the growing number of R&D claims from innovative clients. Reflecting her love of technology, she was excited when she came across one that could meet her needs and expectations.

“WhisperClaims has acted like my tax partner in a way. It’s always great to have a second opinion as a sole practitioner and I make use of this service all the time.

“Having software like this in my practice helps me do my job better and make sure nothing is missed.

“I needed a solution that was going to be reliable and clearly present the figures and documents.

“WhisperClaims takes the heavy lifting out of that, without letting us get complacent about due diligence. It’s user-friendly but appreciates that we’re the professionals and know best what HMRC look for in claims.”

Soaring ahead of expectations

“Clients don’t want to have to go through huge numbers of forms and applications. They want it to be streamlined and as easy as possible, something which makes it easier to provide honest and accurate information that fits HMRC guidelines.

“It allows my clients to log in on their side and answer any questions or see their claims, stress-free.

“It’s what I’ve enjoyed most about using WhisperClaims. I work with clients across the world, in different time zones, so it’s great to have this software in place that simplifies things and makes it easier for me to meet tight deadlines.”

The importance of an expert partner

Alex finished by reiterating how helpful the WhisperClaims solution has been to her – but cautions clients against using inexperienced firms for complex R&D claims.

“WhisperClaims are like collaborators,” said Alex. “For people who know about R&D, it’s so useful and I would definitely recommend it. It takes the pressure off more than anything and integrates with my own expertise.

“At the end of the day, it ultimately does the things I need it to do and gives me what I need. I’ve used several other planforms and, out of all the ones I’ve used, this one does what I need.

“Looking at it from my clients’ perspective, it’s a reassurance that their claims are being taken care of in the right way.”