How to improve efficiency in an accountancy practice

Key takeaways

Accountancy practice efficiency is mostly lost waiting for client records and handling deadline peaks. Qualified staff spend hours chasing documents, booking meetings and processing routine data. A structured records-chasing routine, a deadline calendar worked months ahead and a support team for data processing and admin return fee-earner time and flatten the January peak.

• Most delay is waiting for client records.
• Chase records on a fixed schedule, months before deadlines.
• Hand routine data processing and admin to a support team.
• Spread work across the year to flatten peaks.

Where do practices lose time?

Practices lose time chasing clients for records, re-requesting missing items, processing bookkeeping data, scheduling meetings and answering routine client questions. Much of it falls on qualified staff. Deadlines then compress the work into peaks, especially before the 31 January Self Assessment deadline.

• How outsourcing can improve business efficiency
• Outsourcing for professional services firms

How do you get client records sooner?

Get records sooner with a fixed chasing schedule that starts months before each deadline, a clear checklist of what each client must send, a portal or single upload route and reminders at set intervals. A support team can run this schedule and flag clients who have not responded.

• Send each client a checklist of what to provide.
• Use one upload route, not email attachments.
• Remind at fixed intervals.
• Flag non-responders to the client manager.

• Document processing outsourcing: from paper pile to data
• Work ageing report: find the jobs that have been waiting

Which work can a support team take on?

A support team can take on records chasing, bank reconciliation, bookkeeping data entry, preparing working papers to a template, scheduling and routine client queries. Qualified staff keep review, advice, sign-off and the client relationship.

• Bank reconciliation outsourcing: daily, not month-end
• How to increase billable hours without longer days

What does the gain look like in numbers?

In an illustrative practice with eight fee earners, each spends about five hours a week on admin and chasing outside peak, more in January. A support team takes on most of it and starts chasing Self Assessment records in the autumn. Fee earners gain about three to four hours a week each, and more returns are completed before December. Example figures only.

• Takt time for service teams: pace work to demand
• Seasonal and peak customer service cover

What about client confidentiality?

Client financial data is confidential and often includes personal data, so you need a written processor contract, access limited to what each task needs and a transfer safeguard for offshore processing. Check your professional body's guidance on outsourcing and tell clients in your engagement terms.

• GDPR and offshore outsourcing
• System access for outsourced teams: fast but safe

When is outsourcing not the answer?

Outsourcing is not the answer if the main problem is pricing work too low or taking on clients who never send records on time. Fix engagement terms and pricing first. It is also less useful for very small practices whose admin fits comfortably in the week.

• Efficiency vs effectiveness: which should you fix first?

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a practice dreads January because records arrive late and qualified staff spend weeks chasing. Starting a structured chasing routine in September, run by a support team, moves much of the work earlier and makes January calmer.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Practice efficiency checklist

Check these in your practice.

• Records checklist sent to every client.
• Chasing schedule starting months ahead.
• One upload route for documents.
• Routine data work handled by support staff.
• Fee-earner admin time tracked.

• Outsourcing efficiency checklist: 20 checks

Next step

Tell us about your practice size and your busiest deadlines. We will suggest which admin and data work a support team could take on.