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Tax Cloud is an R&D Tax Credits claim portal.

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5 quick wins to grow your accountancy practice

24th Jun 2022
Brought to you by
tax cloud

Tax Cloud is an R&D Tax Credits claim portal.

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Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

The accountancy world is a competitive one with each practice vying for a slice of the action. To stand any chance of survival you’ll need to get creative to beat the competition.

Growing your accountancy practice can seem like an uphill struggle. But follow our handy tips to build your brand and attract new clients without the headache.

Go cloud-based

Cloud-based accounting software takes away the need for accountants to sit for ages carrying out labour-intensive processes manually. It also takes out the risk of human error, freeing up time to focus on more strategic problem solving and higher-value tasks.

Once you have your systems managed efficiently you can start to minimise costs like employee salaries, whilst still giving your clients a top-rate service. Only by tackling any inefficiencies in the running of your practice can you become more streamlined, paving the way for growth.

Tax Cloud is fully cloud-based so securely accessible 24/7 from any internet-connected device. It also therefore doesn’t need any updates or maintenance - it’s simply a case of logging on and working on an R&D Tax Credits claim for a client at a time that suits you. The portal integrates with Xero too, making it far easier to input figures and data. More on R&D Tax Credits later.

Hire (and retain) the best talent

This one can be tricky. But by evaluating each role in your practice you can again see where efficiencies need to be made.

Make sure each member of your team has good client service, advisory and technical skills. Finding and retaining staff that have just the right skills the business needs is vital in staying competitive. Don’t forget, recruiting an apprentice is a great way of expanding your team too, as you can mould team members from the beginning.

Stand out from the crowd with something unique

When any potential client is looking for an accountant, they will have their own list of criteria to help them make their decision. They may be on the hunt for an accountant who specialises in their industry for example, especially if they work in a sector that’s rather niche. However, since the pandemic more and more businesses have gone completely remote and accountancy is no exception. Thanks to cloud collaboration and of course video calling, clients can now choose an accountancy firm pretty much anywhere in the country.

If you think about it, to the ‘naked eye’ most accounting practices look pretty much the same. Yes colours, names and logos vary, but how do you actually stand out from the competition in terms of brand identity?

Be distinctive, go for a niche and make sure the right marketing strategy is in place to get new clients through the door.

Connect with your clients

Building a good working relationship with your clients is the only way you stand any hope of retaining them. Not only that, but you can actually learn a lot from them, including what your business is doing well and where improvements can be made. By listening to your clients’ needs you can improve the services your practice offers and fight off competitors.

Stay in touch with past and present clients by setting up regular meetings with them, as well as networking sessions and events. Another way to integrate this into your marketing efforts is to write a regular blog for your practice’s website that lets clients know of legislation changes and anything else they need to know. The handy side-effect of this is that the online visibility of your website should improve too.

Offer new services

As the economy becomes increasingly difficult and both businesses and individuals face more diverse challenges, clients will expect more than just standard tax services. They will look to your practice for even higher-value services such as strategic and advisory planning.

Potential and existing clients are looking to your practice to make their lives easier. This means looking at the services currently being provided (and what your competition is offering) and making sure the range of experience and advice on business operations and finances matches expectations. For example, how can you help your clients make cost-efficiencies? Are they looking to invest in growth through innovation, making them ideal candidates for R&D Tax Credits?

It's also well worth partnering with external consultancies for certain areas where you don’t have expertise inhouse. For R&D Tax Credits, the Tax Cloud portal for Accountants is a straightforward way of creating and submitting R&D tax relief claims on your client’s behalf. It’s the perfect way of expanding your services to clients without having to invest in additional staff or overheads.

Ready to see how the Tax Cloud portal can benefit your practice and your clients?

“Having used another more expensive service for the last three years we thought we would try Tax Cloud this year and are very pleased with the outcome.” - John Buck, The Heritage Content Company Limited.

The Tax Cloud portal essentially means you can work through an R&D tax claim on behalf of your clients in a step-by-step, fully guided way. And with average claims sitting at around £55,000 even for SMEs, it’s an incredibly generous tax incentive your clients won’t want to miss out on.

Tax Cloud was launched back in 2017 by R&D tax and funding experts Myriad Associates, with the whole idea is that R&D tax relief claims are maximised and successful. With bases across the UK, France and Ireland, it doesn’t even matter where your practice, or your clients, are based.

Why not take a look at the Tax Cloud for Accountants to find out more. Still not convinced, why not take a look at our recent blog: Top 5 reasons accountants are using Tax Cloud for R&D Tax Credits.