Meet the Brand: Compound
Compound is a digital‑first workplace pension platform that offers accountants a free, automated multi‑client dashboard integrated with payroll systems like Xero. The service also provides employees with an app that automatically locates and consolidates hidden pension pots, exemplified by a typical £10,000 (≈$12,700) undiscovered balance. Backed by Monzo co‑founder Paul Rippon, Compound positions itself as the “Monzo of pensions,” aiming to cut admin time and deepen client relationships. The company will showcase its solution at Accountex London on May 13‑14, 2026.
Karbon and Gusto Partner to Make Payroll Faster for Accounting Firms
Karbon and Gusto announced a partnership that embeds payroll workflow directly into Karbon’s AI‑powered practice management platform. The beta integration automatically creates payroll work items in Karbon from Gusto’s pay schedules, synchronizes deadlines, and tracks approvals in real time. It...
Making Tax Digital for Sole Traders: Do the Rules Apply to You?
Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax will roll out to UK sole traders in three stages, starting 6 April 2026 for those with gross self‑employment or property income above £50,000 (≈$62,500). The threshold falls to £30,000 (≈$37,500) in April 2027 and £20,000...
Menopause Is a Retention Problem. Accounting Firms Should Treat It Like One
Menopause is emerging as a hidden retention risk for accounting firms, with more than 53% of employees experiencing it considering early exit or reduced hours by age 55. The profession already suffers a gender pipeline gap—only 24% of partners at...
From Startup to Stability: How One Practice Grew with Capium
Vanessa Aradia, owner of TCW Accounting and Training Solutions, switched from Iris to Capium in 2015 and credits the cloud‑based platform for cutting software costs and streamlining operations. Capium’s suite of integrated modules—covering accounts production, tax, payroll and practice management—eliminates...
Accountex London Launches AI Hub in Partnership with Hello AI Collective, Powered by Lenovo
Accountex London, the world’s largest accounting and finance expo, is launching an AI Advisory Hub at Stand 1650 on May 13‑14, 2026. The hub, created with Hello AI Collective and powered by Lenovo’s Solutions and Services Group, offers free, drop‑in AI guidance...
Performing Better Under Pressure: What I Have Learned About Staying Clear when It Counts
Rob Hosking, a former police officer, argues that pressure reshapes cognition rather than merely testing skill, a dynamic that mirrors the accounting world’s tight deadlines. In month‑end closes, audits, and tax filings, hidden cognitive load drives over‑checking, rushed decisions, and...
Practical Advice and Effective Tips: Streamlining Valuation Workflows for UK Accountants
UK accountants are transitioning from pure compliance to strategic advisory, making valuations a core service. Valutico’s platform streamlines data intake, offers benchmarking against 54,000 peers and 1.2 million transactions, and embeds qualitative risk analysis. Users report 50‑70% faster preparation and 96%...
The Anatomy of a Highly Desirable SME Manufacturing Business
In today’s M&A market, specialist SME manufacturers that operate in defensible niches are attracting strong buyer interest and premium multiples. Buyers prioritize product‑market fit, diversified sticky customers, clean profitable cash‑generating financials (typically £2‑5 million EBITDA, about $2.5‑$6.3 million, with 10‑25% margins), lean...
Why the Recent Living Wage Rise Should Prompt a Payroll Infrastructure Rethink
The UK National Living Wage rose by £1,040 (about $1,320) per full‑time employee, raising payroll costs and exposing fragile payment processes. Around 25% of UK workers experience payroll errors, with nearly half encountering repeat mistakes and many taking over a...
By the Time the Fake Invoice Lands, It’s Already Too Late
UK accounting firms are increasingly targeted by email‑based reconnaissance, where cybercriminals compromise a client or supplier’s inbox to inject fake invoices. Traditional controls inside a firm’s perimeter miss these attacks because the fraud originates outside. New AI‑driven solutions monitor third‑party...
How to Make Purpose Part of Your Firm’s Working Day.
Accounting firms are urged to embed purpose into daily workflows, using a simple “Purpose Brief” at project kickoff. Research cited shows purpose‑driven firms enjoy 20‑30% higher engagement, a 21% profit uplift and 59% lower turnover, while disengagement can shave $22,800...
Late Payments Crackdown: What It Means for Advisers and Their Clients
The UK Department for Business and Trade is set to introduce legislation that forces large companies to pay suppliers within 60 days and empowers the Small Business Commissioner to investigate and fine repeat offenders. Late payments, already a systemic risk...
The Financial Cost of Burnout in Accounting
A recent Accountex report finds 41% of accountants view burnout as normalized, exposing hidden financial costs. Presenteeism alone costs UK employers about £21 billion (≈$27 billion) annually, while turnover rates rose to 17.9% and 34% of firms struggled to recruit finance talent....
Why Your Marketing Keeps Falling Off a Cliff (and What to Do About It)
Accounting firms struggle to keep marketing consistent amid client work, tax season and staff turnover. Generic AI writing tools often produce robotic, jargon‑filled copy that feels disconnected from a firm’s voice. Plot AI, launched for bookkeepers and accountants, uses a...
Speaker Q&A: Bharti Radix
Bharti Radix, a former finance professional turned hospitality founder, built six London venues during the pandemic and will speak at the FD Show about the CFO‑to‑CEO pathway. She emphasizes that finance leaders must adopt an open‑mind, gain cross‑functional experience, and...
5.6 Million Taxpayers Overpaid HMRC Last Year. A New Free Tool Wants to Send Them Straight to Your Door.
In the 2023/24 tax year, HMRC data show 5.6 million UK taxpayers overpaid an average of £625 (≈$795), costing the Treasury about £3.5 bn (≈$4.45 bn). Workiro has launched TaxReady, a free online tool that gives self‑employed users a 30‑second tax estimate and...
FRS 102 Lease Accounting: Practical Tips for a Smooth Transition
The Financial Reporting Council’s 2024 amendments to FRS 102 will bring most leases onto the balance sheet for periods starting 1 January 2026. To ease the transition, the standards introduce several expedients, including using an Obtainable Borrowing Rate instead of a full incremental...
From Missed Leads to Measurable Growth: How The Tax Guys Transformed Their Client Acquisition with AI
The Tax Guys, a UK accounting firm, adopted Hannah AI, an AI‑driven lead‑engagement tool, to address slow response times to inbound enquiries. Since its April 2025 rollout, the bot has handled 128 leads, replying within 30 seconds and automatically scheduling...
Speaker Q&A: Kolarele Sonaike
Kolarele Sonaike, a barrister, communications coach and author, will speak at the FD Show on May 14, delivering a session titled “Spreadsheets to Stories: How to present with confidence and impact to non‑finance stakeholders.” He has coached executives at Meta,...
Meet the Brand: Reach Reporting
Reach Reporting offers a cloud‑based platform that automates financial reporting, dashboards, and forecasting for accounting and advisory firms. Founded in 2015, the solution replaces spreadsheet‑heavy processes with a scalable framework that integrates directly with Xero and other data sources. By...
Young Accountants Seek Jobs with Better Tech as They Lose 33 Days a Year to Inefficiency – IRIS Software Group...
IRIS Software Group surveyed 500 final‑year students and early‑career accountants and found they waste roughly five hours each week – equivalent to 33 days of productive time per year – on manual data entry and fragmented systems. Only 1% of respondents...
Document Management for UK Accountants: Why an Intelligent Workspace Beats a Patchwork of Tools
UK accounting firms are confronting a surge in document volume as Making Tax Digital for Income Tax goes live in April 2026. Most practices rely on a fragmented stack—IRIS, SharePoint, Outlook, DocuSign—leading to version‑control headaches and manual signing. SuiteFiles offers...
Beyond the Salary: The Hidden Costs of In-House Bookkeeping for UK Accounting Practices
UK accounting firms often assume in‑house bookkeeping is cheap, but the true expense far exceeds the headline salary. A mid‑range bookkeeper earning £30,000 ($37,500) carries employer National Insurance and pension costs that push the baseline to about £35,000 ($44,000) per...
Meet the Brand: Corpay
Corpay, an S&P 500 corporate payments firm, introduced its Corpay Complete platform in the UK in April 2025, uniting corporate and virtual cards, accounts‑payable automation, expense and supplier management, and cross‑border payments. The solution integrates with existing ERP systems to give finance...
From Adhoc AI to Accountable Tax Workflows
A February 2026 Tolley survey of over 400 UK tax professionals shows AI is now routine in tax research, knowledge management and document analysis, with 84% using AI for research. Despite this high adoption, only 23% have integrated AI into...
Data Analysis and AI Literacy Emerge as the Defining Skills for Accounting Professionals
IDC’s new study of over 1,000 audit and accounting professionals finds data analysis now the top skill for the AI‑driven era, with AI and technology literacy a close second. Only 28% of respondents feel fully prepared to reskill staff for...
MTD for Income Tax – Why Outsourcing Is the Smartest Strategy for Accountants
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD IT) is now mandatory for self‑employed and landlord clients, with full compliance required by April 2028. Accountants handling large volumes of these clients are urged to outsource record‑keeping and submission tasks to specialised...
CASS 15: What Payment Firms Need to Know About the New Safeguarding Rules
The FCA has launched CASS 15, a sweeping overhaul of safeguarding rules for payment institutions and e‑money firms, moving them from the lighter‑touch PSR regime into the stricter Client Assets Sourcebook. The new framework mirrors CASS 7 requirements, demanding segregated customer...
TaxCalc Engager Announces Enhanced Strategic Collaboration with Virtual Cabinet and Workiro to Deliver Embedded Tax and Document Workflows for UK Firms
TaxCalc Engager, Virtual Cabinet and Workiro have announced an enhanced strategic collaboration that embeds tax compliance and document‑management workflows for UK accountancy firms. The new integration deepens an existing partnership, delivering client‑record synchronization, automated filing of CT600 and P11D returns,...
Wolters Kluwer Survey: UK Accountancy Firms Brace for Delivery Pressure as Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Begins
UK accountancy firms are gearing up for the first mandatory Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax reporting period starting April 2026. A Wolters Kluwer survey shows that 50‑70% of income‑tax clients remain non‑digital, creating pressure on firms to scale...
Automation First: The Practical Path to AI-Ready Accounting
Accounting firms face mounting pressure from regulation, client expectations and AI advances, prompting a shift toward automation. Dext’s new Practice Automation Blueprint advises firms to begin with systematic manual‑process automation before tackling full AI transformation. By reducing data‑entry effort, improving...