Virtual Service AssistsPractice admin for UK accountants

Outsourced accounting support services, UK

Outsourced support services for UK accounting firms

Nine recurring jobs that eat into a practice's week, grouped the way your team already thinks about them. Pick one, or combine several into a single weekly engagement run inside your own systems.

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Area 1

Compliance and regulatory admin

The evidence-gathering and portal work that regulators expect to see done properly, prepared for the people in your practice who carry the responsibility.

AML checks

We collect identity, address and source-of-funds evidence, run the checks in the AML tool you already pay for, and keep each client file complete and dated. Periodic refreshes are diarised so ongoing monitoring does not drift. Your MLRO makes the risk assessment and the decision to take the client on.

What our AML checks include

HMRC & Companies House portal admin

Agent authorisation requests, filing status checks, logging HMRC correspondence and preparing confirmation statements for approval. While the Companies House identity verification transition runs, we track which directors and PSCs have verified and chase the rest, working under your practice's ACSP registration.

What portal admin covers

Appeals for late payment & filings

We build the timeline, collect evidence for a reasonable excuse and draft the appeal for your review. Your practice submits it under its agent authorisation. You usually have 30 days from the date a penalty is issued to appeal, so we log that date on day one.

How penalty appeals are prepared

Sources: GOV.UK, "Companies House confirms identity verification rollout from 18 November 2025" (existing directors confirm verification with their next confirmation statement during a 12-month transition); GOV.UK, "Disagree with a tax decision or penalty: appeal a penalty" (usually 30 days from the date the penalty was issued).

Area 2

Tax and reporting preparation

Records chased, sorted and laid out so a qualified reviewer can work through a file quickly.

MTD-ready reporting

Each quarter we chase clients for their records, categorise income and expenses in your MTD software and flag gaps well before the 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May deadlines. Your team reviews and submits.

How quarterly MTD support runs

SA100, CT600 & CGT support

We gather records, prepare working schedules and draft self assessment, corporation tax and capital gains returns in your tax software for a reviewer to check. For UK residential property disposals we track the 60-day CGT reporting window from completion.

What return preparation includes

Bank reconciliations & payroll prep

Bank feeds matched in QuickBooks, unexplained items listed for the client, and ledgers kept current month by month. On payroll, we collect hours, starters and leavers and prepare inputs in Staffology or IRIS ready for your payroll team to run.

Reconciliation and payroll prep in detail

Sources: GOV.UK, "Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: send quarterly updates" (quarterly deadlines; MTD for Income Tax applies from 6 April 2026 above £50,000 qualifying income and from April 2027 above £30,000); GOV.UK, "Report and pay your Capital Gains Tax: if you sold a property in the UK" (report and pay within 60 days of completion).

Area 3

Client and practice admin

The front door and the back office of the practice: new clients set up, routine questions answered and invoices out on time.

Client onboarding

Engagement letters sent for signature in SignWell, professional clearance requests to the previous adviser, client records created in Bright Manager and agent authorisations requested. Every new client follows the same checklist, so nothing is missed when the practice is busy.

The onboarding steps we run

Client inquiry support

We triage the shared inbox and answer routine questions about deadlines, missing documents and payments using your approved wording. Anything technical is passed to the named person in your team with the background attached.

How inquiry support is set up

Billing

Invoices raised from your fee schedule, reminders sent on an agreed timetable and an aged debt summary prepared each week. Partners keep the decisions on fees, write-offs and difficult conversations.

What billing admin includes

Scoping and pricing

How engagements are scoped and priced

You pay for the hours your agreed tasks need. There is no fixed package to squeeze your practice into, and the quote follows a scoping call so it reflects your actual volumes.

Scoping call
We go through the tasks you want to hand over, roughly how many clients each one touches, the software involved and the deadlines that matter most to you.
Written scope and quote
We estimate the hours the work needs and send a written scope listing each task, what we do, what comes back to your team and the hours quoted.
Review as volumes change
Hours are revisited when your client numbers change, and known peaks such as January self assessment are agreed in advance.

You engage us as a B2B supplier, so there is no payroll, employer National Insurance or pension for you to run. For a fuller comparison with a local hire, see our guide to outsourced back-office support costs.

Combining services

What a combined week can look like

Most practices hand over several tasks at once. This example shows how six services fit into one week for a three-partner practice, and what comes back to the practice at each point.

Illustrative example only. The practice, volumes and tasks are invented to show how services combine. Your own task list and reporting format are agreed at scoping.
Day	Work completed	Returned to the practice for
Monday	Shared inbox triaged; routine client emails answered from approved templates	Technical questions passed to the right partner
Monday	CDD evidence collected and ID checks run for two new clients	MLRO risk assessment and acceptance
Tuesday	Five confirmation statements prepared; three directors chased for their Companies House personal codes	Approval and filing
Wednesday	MTD Q2 records chased for 14 clients, nine categorised in the MTD software	Review before the 7 November deadline
Wednesday	Six monthly bookkeeping clients reconciled in QuickBooks	Client queries on unexplained items
Thursday	Payroll inputs for four clients prepared in Staffology	Payroll run and approval
Thursday	Late filing penalty appeal drafted with supporting evidence	Partner review and submission
Friday	Month-end invoices raised, reminders sent, aged debt summary prepared	Decisions on write-offs and fee disputes
Friday	Two engagement letters sent through SignWell; one professional clearance request issued	Engagement sign-off

Questions

Questions about outsourcing for UK accounting firms

What accounting work can a UK firm outsource?

Most firms outsource the preparation and chasing that surrounds professional work: AML evidence collection, portal admin, appeal drafting, MTD record sorting, return preparation, bank reconciliations, payroll inputs, onboarding paperwork, inbox triage and invoicing. Tax advice, AML risk decisions, review and submission under your agent credentials stay with the practice.

Can we combine several services in one engagement?

Yes, and most practices do. One team covers every task in your agreed scope, so a new client can move from onboarding into AML checks, agent authorisation and their first billing run without changing hands. The weekly report covers all of it in one place.

How is outsourced accounting support priced?

By the hours your agreed tasks need. After a scoping call we send a written scope and quote based on your volumes and deadlines. Because we are engaged as a supplier, there is no payroll, employer National Insurance or pension cost on your side. Our cost guide compares this with hiring.

Who submits filings to HMRC and Companies House?

Your practice. We prepare returns, confirmation statements, appeals and MTD records, then pass them back for review. Submission happens under your agent credentials and, for Companies House, under your practice's ACSP registration, so you approve everything before it leaves the building.

Do you work with sole practitioners and small firms?

Yes. We work with independent tax advisers and sole practitioners as well as small and mid-sized practices. Because pricing follows the hours your tasks need, a sole practitioner handing over AML checks and billing can engage us on a much smaller scope than a multi-partner firm.

How long does it take to start a new service?

Most engagements go live within the first couple of weeks: a scoping call, then access set-up in your systems, then live work. Adding a further service later is quicker, because logins, templates and weekly reporting are already in place and the team already knows your clients.

Not sure which services fit your practice?

Send us the jobs taking up most of your team's week and we will map them against what we run.