Promotional banner of WhisperClaims Ebook: "Making the shift from compliance to advisory"

Making the shift from compliance to advisory

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As compliance services have become commoditised and cloud-based, book-keeping and accounting technology have led to margins becoming squeezed for traditional services. Read through the posts on any (of the many) accounting groups on LinkedIn and Facebook and you’ll see just how nervous many firms have become at the creeping power of the software giants, and the price pressure that is coming their way.

As a result, accountancy firms have had to start considering how to build more sustainable and profitable businesses in the future.

We see our software as having an important place in this journey, and many of our users reflect back to us that we’ve helped them reposition their firm and to open up new opportunities. Not just in R&D tax, but that the client discussions they’ve had as a result of using our software have led them to a deeper, more value-added dialogue resulting in the delivery of other services.

A great example of this is Phil Ellerby—recently voted Digital Accountant of the Year at the Digital Accountancy Awards—who has been a valued user of the WhisperClaims software, having said:

“WhisperClaims was the trigger to spend more time with our clients. The income it has generated us and the tax benefits clients have seen have been astronomical.”

So, with customers reflecting these things back to us, we decided to create a new ebook, with hints and tips for all of our customers and prospects on how to make the shift into higher value-added services. Who better to collaborate with on this than Richard Brewin FCA, a leading consultant and advisor to accounting firms both here and overseas. Together we’ve produced “Making the shift from compliance to advisory—how an R&D tax service can help you stand out in a crowded market”. Our goal is to help firms to make sure that they are able to build and deliver advisory services that are embedded in the client relationship from the outset and are generating revenue streams in their own right.

It might sound strange, but many firms have been either doing consultancy work for clients for free for many years, or have simply been guilty of stepping back and allowing others to take control of their client relationships. R&D tax is a great example of a service line where this can often happen; often manifesting itself as a request from the client to have you amend their CT600 with someone else’s figures, when perhaps you weren’t even aware they were making a claim!

We’re keen to make sure that you are in a position to build, launch and of course sell new profitable services to your clients—it’s time for change. It’s time for accountancy firms to start delivering real value at a realistic price point and making sure their clients are able to realise the benefits of this advice. Take a look at our ebook and find some inspiration!

How to write an R&D tax relief technical narrative

With HMRC’s new mandatory requirement for project descriptions on all submissions, we wanted to share our experiences to help others to write their best possible technical narratives.

Available to download here.

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