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Practice Compliance OutsourcingFinal accounts production • Personal tax returns • Corporation tax returns HMRC-recognised iXBRL tagging services • Payroll • Bookkeeping

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InsideOutsourcing

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THINK OUTSOURCING. THINK ADVANCETRACK®NEVER KNOWINGLY BETTEREDFor Quality | For Security | For Service & Reliability Cal l advancetrack ® on +44 (0) 24 7601 6308

AdvanceTrack® selected to deliver 600 tax returns

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AdvanceTrack® offers Online Payroll Platform

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Where is the Entrepreneurial Accountant?

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AdvanceTrack® selected to deliver 600 tax returns through busy seasonThis 15 partner regional practice needed to free up time for tax staff. The major problem the firm had, as with many firms was a peak of work from around September to January. This meant that advisory work suffered delivery delays during this period.

How did AdvanceTrack’s® approach appeal?Experienced UK Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers run the business. The secure AdvanceTrack® system enabled the client to manage the work.

So were the client’s expectations met?“The jobs have been coming back this week, we’re really pleased with the quality and find the working papers very useful. Once I import the file back into CCH, all the standing data re-appears...” On discussing the service with the client manager, they confirmed jobs were approved within 5 minutes of receiving them.

If your firm could benefit from AdvanceTrack® practice compliance services, please contact us.

Top 60 firm chooses AdvanceTrack®

Why was Outsourcing important to the future of the firm?• To provide additional capacity at certain times of the year• Recruitment in the area is difficult so to reduce the number of new staff required in the future• To provide a more process driven approach to exercises such as accounts production• To offer trainees and staff more interesting and challenging work• To save money as a result of the above

Why was AdvanceTrack® Chosen?• The fact you were based up the road, in the UK and accessible within an hour or so• The fact that having trained with Rabjohns and then worked for other UK practices you fully understand the type of work that we do and the pressures and issues facing us as a firm• The simplicity of your AdvanceTrack® system• The professional attitude of the staff

AdvanceTrack® selected in a competitive process as long-term outsourcing partner for this multi-partner multi-office practice. This Top firm conducted a review of all the major outsourcers. Having completed their due diligence, AdvanceTrack® were selected. Some of their reasons are listed here:

ARE YOU FEELING THE STRESS THIS TAX SEASON? Make a date in the diary

2015 • Issue 1 4 page special edition www.advancetrack.co.uk Price: priceless information

2 WHERE IS THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ACCOUNTANT? 3

Where is theEntrepreneurial Accountant?

W hat an entrepreneur demands from

their accountant needs to be taken in context.

How many in our profession consider themselves as an entrepreneur? Do we need to be entrepreneurs to deliver great service to our clients?

Before we consider what an entrepreneurial accountant is,what is an entrepreneur?

Having searched the internet, I came across one definition from Chris Oakley, OBE, who led a £120m media acquisition (and a timely sale) of regional newspapers in the Midlands.

Chris’ definition is: “An entrepreneur sees an opportunity which others do not fully recognise, to meet an unsatisfied demand or to radically improve the performance of an existing business. They have

unquenchable self-belief that this opportunity can be made real through hard work, commitment and the adaptability to learn the lessons of the market along the way.”

Examples of people who meet this criteria range from Steve Jobs and Richard Branson to Sir Tom Singh from New Look or the local barber’s shop.

“They are not diverted or discouraged by scepticism from ‘experts’ or from those from whom they seek backing and support, but willing to weigh all advice and select that which will be helpful.

They are prepared not just to work seriously hard but to back their judgment with personal investment at a level which will cause problems if they are wrong about the opportunity.

They understand that achievements are the result of teamwork and know how to

choose the necessary blend of talents and inspire them with their vision.”

Our profession has a range of talents. Some will change how their firms adapt to client needs, whilst others carry on where their predecessors in the firm left off.

What makes an entrepreneurial accountant compared to a me-too accountant?

We’ll consider a few key areas including use of technology, delivering growth, new pricing models, creating time for the value-added services and getting the message to market of their key differentiators.

Use of TechnologyAll firms want stronger

partnerships with clients. Cloud technology is one that enables more frequent engagement with clients, allowing the firm’s staff to interpret financial information

and link it to the client business’ strategic aims. Professional development of staff is key to delivering great service.

Cloud accounting also enables new skills as the market evolves.

AdvanceTrack’s experience is that firms recruit staff comfortable engaging with clients, leaving compliance to AdvanceTrack®.

Few forward thinking firms recruit the traditional “career-manager”-type staff member any longer.

The key skill required is the ability to understand and advise.

Traditionally, getting financial records once a year provided a somewhat backward-looking insight into a client’s financial performance and was the core service offering.

However, clients and increasingly, banks and other financial institutions want real-time data to base their decisions. Cloud-based accounting provides

AdvanceTrack® offers Online Payroll Platform

AdvanceTrack® have always put technology at the heart of every service they deliver. AdvanceTrack also recognised that Payroll has in some ways been a more “difficult” service to outsource and maintain an efficient seamless service.

AdvanceTrack’s new online payroll portal allows clients to enter payroll information on your website using our white-labelled portal. This feeds directly into our ISO Compliant robust, tested processes allowing our teams to efficiently process your client payrolls for you to share with your clients.

If you’d like to reduce costs, deliver great service and be part of the revolution in outsourcing payroll services, please call us on 024 7601 6308 to discuss your requirements.

Entrepreneurs want to understand where they are making money, where they are losing money and where to use their energy.

fixed-price service offering. To maintain margins, firms use outsourcing for what is increasingly seen as a commodity part of the overall offering.

The key is selling the value of the non-compliance services, while using outsourcing to deliver compliance cost-effectively.

Time to deliver value-added services

Compliance due to the shifts in technology is increasingly seen as a commodity service. The price for compliance has fallen in real terms; with the overall fee increase across the accountancy market of just 0.6%, the only way to deliver fee growth is to ‘create’ time to deliver value-added services.

A firm that can engage the entrepreneurial business can

the entrepreneur are rewarded with a long-standing client who enables the firm to grow financially and the breadth of services it can deliver.

An entrepreneurial accountant is one who is open to new ideas including changing services the firm provides and the method of delivery. My own journey took time putting a team together and getting the structure right after leaving the ‘safety’ of a permanent role, but I had a clear vision.

As a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Adviser with over 20 years’ experience I understand what professional firms require and our teams deliver for professional firms across the UK.

Even today, I’m based in the UK and am as passionate as ever to deliver great service and have a team which shares this passion to deliver great service.

If you’re an entrepreneurial accountant, call AdvanceTrack® on +44(0)24 7601 6308 or e-mail us on advice@advancetrack.co.uk

Vipul Sheth ACA CTA Managing Director AdvanceTrack® Outsourcing

help them through the various challenges of running a business.

Compliance, be that payroll or tax returns and accounts are necessary parts of running a business. Entrepreneurs want to understand where they are making money, where they are losing money and where to use their energy.

Getting the message to market

The world of marketing has changed. The traditional accountant considers an advert in the local Yellow Pages as active marketing. The world today is different and includes use of social media, websites and understanding the visitor profile, and email marketing. Regardless of size, this is accessible to them. Entrepreneurs consider marketing as an essential part of running their business to deliver the growth.

So what’s the conclusion?Technology and outsourcing

helps firms deliver value added services that clients expect. Most importantly, accountants trusted by

an opportunity to be a more proactive adviser.

Delivering GrowthLarge firms are run as

businesses to deliver growth. They have a management board

making decisions on the daily management of the business. The FRC report on industry trends show the Big Four firms delivered 7.7% growth in 2011-12 compared to UK growth of 0.6%.

Outsourcing and technology are key drivers to delivering that growth in revenue and profits.

Without using outsourcing or centralised compliance services, the Big Four firms would not have delivered such growth. The growth in fees is delivered by using technology better and delivering the value-added services that clients increasingly demand.

PricingEntrepreneurs demand value-for-money. Delivering a fixed price service enables more entrepreneurial accountants to place greater value on the advisory services delivered as part of a