Firms need to understand the importance of accounts production and compliance services, how they fit into their portfolios and how to communicate their value to the client. Nigel Harris explores the accounts production challenge and gives his insight into how firms can retain compliance services as a cornerstone for their business. A white paper by AccountingWEB in association with DataTracks.

1. SELLING ACCOUNTS
PRODUCTION SERVICES
From AccountingWEB in association with

2. A NEW APPROACH TO FINAL ACCOUNTS
Accountants receive lots of messages about selling services to clients. Quite often in practice
development circles the conversation turns to “value-added” services and advice, which
are positioned as the best defences against eroding margins on compliance work such as
accounts production and tax return filing.
The problem for many practices is that these compliance services represent their bread and
butter work. It‘s what they do best and it’s what they do most of the time, for most of their
clients. The challenge therefore is to help those firms to sell and deliver compliance services
more effectively.
Accounts production is a case in point, as it is a core service provided by most firms, yet
price-sensitive and undervalued by clients. Legal and regulatory changes in accounts filing,
iXBRL and reduced reporting requirements for the smallest companies and the new cash
accounting for sole traders only add to this pressure.
THE ISSUES
• Client education: the lack of or variable quality of client records can make accounts
production work unprofitable, while clients fail to appreciate the value of the service their
accountant provides.
• Failure of firms to communicate the value of accounts production, why quality matters,
and therefore why this is a service worth paying for.
• Managing workflow and receipt of client records.
• Fee pressure and competition from unqualified accountants and bookkeepers. We can’t
be cheaper, quicker AND better, but we should be able to provide a high value, timely
service that includes benefits that unqualified accountants and bookkeepers cannot
deliver.
Nigel Harris explores the accounts production challenge and gives his insight into how
firms can retain compliance services as a cornerstone for their business.
SELLING ACCOUNTS PRODUCTION
SERVICES: MAKE COMPLIANCE WORK PAY

3. ESTABLISHING AND COMMUNICATING VALUE
Help the client understand the value of quality compliance work, and to see it as a platform
for a better business.
• Make sure you value accounts production. Don’t be tempted to just mention it in passing
or trivialise it at your first meeting with a client, perhaps before moving on to try to
sell more exciting ‘value-added’ consultancy services. Stress the value of the accounts
as a management tool, the opportunity to set and review budgets and the benefits of
monitoring KPIs and benchmarking the company against others in the same industry.
There is much talk in the profession of accounts production being perceived by clients as
just a commodity, so sell the benefits of your service. For example, a quick turnaround
provides timely data for management decisions and tax planning and professional
accounts and tax filing gives peace of mind over compliance concerns. The accounts
production process also gives you insights into their business from which you can offer
proactive advice.
• Make it an on-going process. Many firms have moved away from accounts sign-off
meetings in the interest of speed and efficiency, but a face-to-face meeting at least once
a year gives you an opportunity to stress the value of the accounts and draw out salient
points of value for the client. Even if the points you make are the same as last year, don’t
assume clients will remember what you said previously!
• Clear and creative pricing practices: stress the benefits to the client, not the cost. When
quoting, provide a detailed work schedule describing all the steps required to prepare
accounts and returns and repeat this each year. Most clients are unaware of the extent
of the work you do to prepare accounts. Experiment with a three-tier fixed fee pricing
structure so that clients can opt in or out of some services, but are always aware of what
they are missing if they choose a cheaper package. Consider including high value (to the
client)/low cost (to you) benefits within packages to enhance the perceived value.
• Lack of effective workflow procedures.
• Burden of online filing for small companies.
• Bunching of work around annual deadlines.
• Availability of low-cost accounting software enables clients to do their own accounts.

4. THE SOLUTIONS
What you can do to reduce the time and effort your practice needs to undertake to deliver
compliance and value.
• Establish an efficient accounts production system. This should save time and ensure the
quality of legal and disclosure compliance.
• XBRL/iXBRL tagging and output should be fully automated for speed and quality
assurance. Wherever possible, data should be shared electronically to save time and avoid
errors – for example between bookkeeping/management accounts and final accounts
production, and then between final accounts and tax return production and filing. This can
be achieved by integrated software, or through outsourcing to a recognised, professional
iXBRL tagging service provider.
• Client portals are increasingly important as a secure and effective way to exchange data
with clients and simplify the approval of accounts and tax returns.
• Encouraging all clients to adopt the same accounting software or cloud solution can
significantly reduce your staff’s time on accounts production.
• Cloud accounting opens up opportunities to work collaboratively with clients and offer
proactive tax and business advice, and should at least be considered by all firms. They can
be sure that many of their competitors are already doing this.
• Offering an outsourced bookkeeping service to clients, using either cloud or traditional
accounting software, enhances your ability to provide pro-active advice (for example
monthly/quarterly management accounts and follow up meetings), and ensures the
quality of accounting records. It also helps to spread workflow and puts you in control
of your client’s records from an early stage, reducing the risk of late submission and
incomplete records.
• Client education and training: offer training as an additional service. Some clients
will appreciate the annual savings in accountancy fees to be achieved from a one-off
investment in improving the quality of their internal accounting. This might include a
decision not to accept rubbish from your clients. So fees for ‘shoe box’ or ‘carrier bag’
clients should include a separate, itemised fee for sorting and collating their paperwork.
Make it clear to them that they could save money just by keeping better records (or by
keeping their records better).

5. DataTracks UK is a part of DataTracks Services Limited (www.datatracksglobal.com), a global leader
in preparation of financial statements in XBRL and iXBRL formats for filing with regulators. DataTracks
prepares more than 12,000 XBRL statements annually for filing with regulators such as SEC in the
United States, HMRC in the United Kingdom and MCA in India.
Contact us:
(020) 3468 6382
http://www.datatracks.co.uk
enquiry@datatracks.co.uk
ABOUT DATATRACKS
SUMMARY
Accounts production and other compliance services aren’t going away any time soon. Firms
need to understand where these services fit into their portfolios and how to communicate
their value to the client. Perhaps the first step should be to really think about what you want
to say the next time you tell your client about their final accounts.
Nigel Harris, partner, Burton Sweet, leading accountants & business
advisers in Somerset & South West UK and a regular contributor to the
www.accountingweb.co.uk website and the author of three software
guides published by the IT Faculty of the ICAEW.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• Offer final accounts production and filing of company accounts to local bookkeepers’
clients. This can be a very effective partnership, enabling you to focus on the higher value
technical work rather than the detailed number crunching.
• Create bespoke packages for specific sectors to solve their particular needs, and therefore
add value they will appreciate – for example farm accounting and monthly VAT for
farmers; sub-contractor invoicing, accounting and CIS for construction industry – all of
which also lead to annual accounts production and filing, but also provide regular work
over the year.