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On the auto enrolment campaign trail

11th Apr 2014
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Accountants are getting “misinformation” and “confusion” on auto enrolment coupled with a complete lack of engagement from The Pensions Regulator (TPR), AccountingWEB publisher Andy North told a packed room of pensions professionals last week.

Speaking at a Staffcare panel discussion at the Queens Club in West London, North took the AE message from accountants to the pensions industry. AccountingWEB was thrilled to be involved in the lively debate sitting alongside representatives from NEST, NOW: Pensions, Lorica and Auto Enrolment Consultancy Solutions.

After covering the recent shifts in the auto enrolment marketplace, Centaur Media’s Phil Hayne, acting as chair of the panel directed the discussion towards the role of accountants in the changing pensions landscape.

North highlighted the “misinformation, confusion and lack of engagement” from the regulator when it came to accountants.

“The message is not getting through to small businesses, and even more worryingly, there are some accountants telling their clients that they don’t need to deal with auto enrolment because it doesn’t affect them,” North told attendees at the strategic partner event.

He explained how AccountingWEB had recently run a survey to take the pulse of the profession and find out how well-informed they were about auto enrolment.

“We found that 70% of accountants we surveyed were vaguely aware or not at all aware of auto enrolment, but interestingly 87% were already engaged in running client payroll.”

North explained that the big fear among many accountants was cost implications: “For those who run payroll at a hairs’ breadth margin, they see this as being eroded with the introduction of auto enrolment.”

Levels of awareness were in stark contrast to that of the other big payroll shift in the last couple of years – the introduction of real time information (RTI) for PAYE.

“HMRC did a good job with RTI but this hasn’t happened yet with TPR and auto enrolment,” North said.

How do you think the auto enrolment market is shaping up for accountants? Do you see it as an opportunity or threat to your bottomline?

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By Simon Leyland
14th Apr 2014 11:28

Couldn't agree more...

 

Andy, well said. All aspects of industry need to sit up and recognise the challenges we are all facing as a result of auto enrolment. Ultimately, it will be the employer client who suffers. It’s one thing for them to stick their head in the sand, but altogether a different proposition when their professional advisers do the same!

Maybe it’s time for some ‘soul searching’ and ask ourselves some simple questions:

What’s really holding me back, why am I not engaging with my own clients about AE?Do I honestly believe that my clients will be ‘OK on their own and be able to sort AE out themselves’?      How will I feel when I see a few clients slip away to an accountant/bookkeeper that actually does provide an AE service?

Simply, if you don’t offer them a solution, then someone else will step in and do it

Some of the ‘big boys’ seem to be ramping up their AE propositions, whether they are ‘good bad or indifferent’ is not for discussion here, but we all know they’ll be targeting your clients.

I had this conversation with a firm only last week. Let’s just say they’re now moving ahead with a little more confidence.

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By Niall Ferguson
15th Apr 2014 22:09

Misinformation, Confusion etc

Great to hear that Accounting Web are leading the thought leadership, and agree whole-heartedly with comments Simon.

There is certainly a good deal of misconception about supporting clients in getting a pre-defined solution, and in particular the fact that B2B corporate pension discussions are actually non regulated.

Whilst this may still leave many practices averse to making provider recommendations, the simple facts are:-

~ the more questions your clients have to consider, the more queries will arise

~ the simpler the solution is the easier for all parties

~ many SME/ Micros will expect there payroll bureau to have a solution

~ the more elements that can be delivered as a default the simpler processing will be

~ defining processes to minimise administration for clients as a managed service will generate client retention/ attraction

There are a stack of solutions that add to the complexity rather than ease it, and levy significant and inappropriate costs without an awareness of the margins payroll service providers have to work with.

 

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