Practice management software should hold one record for each client that drives the deadline register, job workflow, time and fee recording, billing and client communication. No professional body prescribes a product, but they do expect a brought forward system for deadlines, a record of client papers received and returned, evidence that clients approved their accounts and secure, backed up data. Choosing a system is therefore a controls and data protection decision as much as a productivity one.

What do the regulators expect a practice’s systems to do?

AAT’s Practice Assurance Standards are a useful checklist because they are specific. They say there should be a system of brought forward notification so that work is dealt with promptly and both internal and external deadlines are met, that receipt and return of client books and papers should be recorded, and that there should be evidence completed accounts have been agreed by the client. Electronic media should be secure, backed up regularly and protected from unauthorised access and viruses, with contingency plans for a major systems failure. The standards also say procedures can be electronic or manual, and that their content and scope are more important than how they are recorded.

The HMRC Standard for Agents adds two points that apply directly to software. Agents must keep online access and HMRC credentials safe from unauthorised use, and only access client data in HMRC systems through their agent services account with authorisation. They must also take reasonable steps to make sure any third party input, such as software, gives accurate results that comply with the client’s tax obligations. The wider approach to deadlines is on the workflow and deadline management page.

Which workflow features are worth paying for?

  • A single client database. Entity type, period ends, services engaged, contacts, authorisation status and risk rating in one place, so nothing has to be retyped.
  • Recurring jobs. Jobs created automatically from each service with the statutory deadline and an internal target date, and rolled forward when a job is completed.
  • Stages and owners. Defined stages such as records requested, in preparation, review, client approval and filed, each with a named person.
  • Dashboards. Lists of jobs at risk, jobs stuck at review and jobs waiting for the client, filterable by manager.
  • Checklists and sign off. Review and approval steps recorded against the job, so a reviewer can see who did what and when.
  • Integrations. Links to the tax, accounts, payroll and bookkeeping products the practice already uses, so job status updates when a return is filed.

A capacity view that compares budgeted hours with staff availability by month is what turns a job list into a plan.

How should time recording and billing work?

Even practices that sell fixed fees need time data, because it shows which clients and services are unprofitable and where scope has crept. Good systems let staff record time against a job rather than just a client, compare actual time with the budget, and value unbilled time as work in progress. That feeds the WIP and debtor day measures explained on the practice KPIs and lock up page.

On billing, look for recurring and monthly fee plans, automatic invoices when a job reaches a stage, collection by direct debit and statements with automated reminders. Invoices must still meet the basic legal content: GOV.UK lists a unique identification number, the business name and address, the customer’s name and address, a clear description, the supply date, the invoice date, the amounts charged, VAT if applicable and the total owed. GOV.UK adds that VAT invoices, which carry more information, must be used where both the practice and the client are VAT registered.

What should client communication features include?

A client portal with messaging, document requests and electronic signature reduces email and gives an audit trail for approvals. The legal side of e signatures and portal security is covered in client portals and e signatures. Other useful features are automated records requests with escalating reminders, onboarding forms that collect identity and ownership information, and a full message history attached to the client record.

Whatever holds customer due diligence records must be able to keep them for the right period. Regulation 40 of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 requires records to be kept for five years from the date the business relationship ends, so the system must retain them after a client leaves and then allow deletion. The client onboarding process page covers the checks themselves.

How do Making Tax Digital and Companies House filing affect the choice?

Practice management software rarely files returns itself, but it must fit the filing products around it. Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, the client or the agent must use commercial software that works with the service to keep digital records and send quarterly updates. HMRC allows more than one product, but only one product for each separate submission, so the workflow system needs to track which product is used for which client. See Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

Companies House says that from 1 April 2028 all companies must file their accounts using commercial software, whether they file themselves or through a professional such as an accountant. Its web and paper services will close for accounts filings with no transition period, and this includes revised accounts. Practices that still use web filing for small companies should choose accounts and practice software with that date in mind.

What data protection checks come before signing?

A cloud supplier holding client data will usually be a processor for the practice. Article 28 of the UK GDPR says a controller may only use processors that give sufficient guarantees of appropriate technical and organisational measures, under a contract that among other things requires the processor, at the controller’s choice, to delete or return all personal data at the end of the service. ICO guidance says a restricted international transfer can include making personal information accessible, for example by allowing remote access to systems from outside the UK, so ask where data is hosted and where the supplier’s support staff work.

Ask for multi factor authentication, user roles that limit who sees payroll and personal data, audit logs, backup arrangements and a full data export in a usable format. The export is the exit plan if the supplier fails or the practice moves on. Our pages on data protection for practices and cyber security for practices go further.

How should a practice run the selection and migration?

  1. Map how work moves now, from engagement to billing, and list the steps that cause delay.
  2. Write a short list of must haves and separate it from nice to haves.
  3. Ask two or three suppliers to demonstrate with the practice’s own client types and deadlines.
  4. Check integrations, user pricing, contract length and data export terms.
  5. Clean the client list before migration, removing former clients and duplicate records.
  6. Migrate outside the busiest months, run the old and new systems side by side for one deadline cycle, and train every user.

How might the numbers look?

Illustration only. A practice with 400 clients has about 1,100 recurring jobs a year once accounts, Corporation Tax, Self Assessment, payroll and VAT are counted. If each job is created automatically with its deadline and internal target, the managers no longer maintain spreadsheets, and the weekly at risk list is produced from the same data. If staff record time against those jobs, the practice can see that a group of small company clients takes an average of 14 hours against a 10 hour budget and reprice them at renewal.

What mistakes do practices make?

  • Buying on features without mapping their own process first.
  • Migrating in December or January.
  • Letting staff keep side spreadsheets, so the system is never the single source of truth.
  • Signing without a processor agreement or a tested data export.
  • Sharing one login between staff, which breaks audit trails and security.

Solar Protect runs fee protection schemes for accountancy and bookkeeping practices. See how our accountant schemes work or read fee protection schemes for accountants.

Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.