The accountancy sector is currently going through fundamental change. Technology, digitalisation, regulation and client expectations have impacted in recent years in a way that is unprecedented, especially following the Covid pandemic.
Most small firms are struggling to cope with the pace of this change, creating huge opportunity for those best prepared to embrace it and develop innovative, technology-led services. Latest UK figures show there were 5.47 million small businesses (with 0 to 49 employees), 99.2% of the total business population.
That's where you, as a TaxAssist Accountants business owner, step in.
A visible, accessible, relationship-based service
The loss of the traditional bank manager and other advisory organisations has left a gap that TaxAssist Accountants are filing, as people seek a trusted personal advisor for their business and personal financial affairs.
At TaxAssist Accountants, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of the changes facing the accounting industry. We lead the way to ensure our accounting practices are the first choice for small and medium sized business services and dedicate ourselves to helping our accountants to build successful, profitable, recession and pandemic-proof ‘one stop shop’ businesses.
With a network of more than 400 highly visible high street shops and offices across the UK, our accountants are ideally placed to take advantage of the opportunities that change is bringing.
Tax planning and Financial Planning
Accountants are increasingly being seen as trusted professionals and playing a critical role for their clients. Most tax planning needs can be supported by our network, but we are continuing to develop ways to broaden the range of services we can deliver to clients. Our TaxAssist-branded in-house Tax Consulting service is working alongside our network, delivering more complex tax services to help each TaxAssist Accountant to earn more fees, retain clients and win new business.
Each TaxAssist Accountant and their clients can also benefit from TaxAssist Financial Planning. Accountancy practices can generate fees and commissions from financial services work and is a significant enhancement to the brand as clients look for more rounded and joined up advice on connected topics. This opens up a huge amount of tax planning opportunities – pension contributions, relevant life policies, tax friendly investments, inheritance planning and a range of similar services. Tax planning is hugely valued by clients and we see it as being an ever-greater part of what we do going forward.
Accounting in the cloud
Cloud-based accounting software has revolutionised the way accountants operate and interact with their clients. We continually research, evaluate, recommend and secure significant discounts on the best software to suit the needs of our network and its clients. This is an ever-changing arena we monitor closely to ensure we offer first-class training and support to our accountants and their staff with the advent of each new development. The implementation of leading cloud-based technology has enabled our network to increase efficiencies and develop even stronger relationships with their clients.
Making Tax Digital
Many software changes are linked to Making Tax Digital (MTD) for business, a Government project aimed at putting tax information together in one online place. We have already seen the impact MTD for VAT has had, which is now in place for VAT registered businesses.
This has forced many businesses to adopt digitalisation and embrace suitable cloud-based software. It has also challenged accountants who were not prepared and could not offer their clients advice and support when choosing and implementing new software.
We’ve spent a great deal of time training and developing the right support services to help our accountants support all taxpayers through this period of change.
Client advisory services
Not surprisingly, the nature of client advisory services is evolving to take technological changes into account. This means our industry needs to be adding new services to their practice portfolio not only to stand out from the crowd, but because clients now expect their accountant to offer an enhanced service, including business support and advice.
Our network works alongside their clients, building relationships, helping them to better understand their business and supporting their informed decisions.
Interested in finding out more?
To find out more about owning and operating a TaxAssist Accountants business, take a look at our Prospectus. You can discover more about our business model, marketplace, package, Initial Training Course, and much more. Click here to download our latest version.
