Whilst a lot of our clients are accountancy firms with no in house VAT expertise or team, an increasing number are those which do have in house resource but face time and costly challenges.
Disproportionate use of resource
When looking at the VAT provision it is important to remember The Pareto Principle - 80% of the value will be derived from 20% of the effort. This is especially apparent where junior advisors have limited access to senior staff and are trying to navigate the inherent mix of routine and complex VAT demands. 80% of the work can be completed quickly and efficiently, using little resources, and generating healthy returns. To fulfil the outstanding 20% and completely satisfy the client however, there are complexities which cause bottlenecks and consume disproportionate resources.
Balancing training needs with return on investment
Particularly for junior staff, training in all areas and subtleties of VAT will need to be extensive and costly if they are to answer any client query. This still does not give them regular access to mentors or senior VAT practitioners. Or the hands-on experience that helps ground the theoretical in real world application, providing invaluable concrete experience and reusable knowledge.
This means a lot of unbillable hours spent researching from scratch, or attending generic training, or waiting longer for senior availability to get clarification on the specific query. Either way, clients are not getting the service they expect or deserve, and you are spending time and money in areas not recoverable.
Staff turnover
At present, one of the most significant obstacles for accountancy firms is recruitment. Direct and indirect recruitment costs have been known to total over £10,000 per hire, before opportunity cost and lost productivity are even factored. Reducing staff turnover is imperative, not only for company culture and client experience, but also for longevity and profitability.
Burnout and unreasonable workload are cited to cost businesses in the UK about £700million1 a year in sickness and recruitment costs. This is amplified in VAT where there is a known professional shortage, resulting in long hours and unfilled supporting roles. Regular and unknown pressures are not easy to mitigate and before you know it, your teams are unproductive, away from work due to illness, or the quality of work dips below client expectations.
These issues are real but not insurmountable and were finding our clients are seeing some of these issues diminish in a very short time utilising our technical VAT training offering, solve these challenges. Outsourcing the burden of training staff could be the cost-effective solution for your Firm. Why not visit our training page and see what our clients' really think and then get in touch.
1 https://www.spill.chat/mental-health-statistics/workplace-burnout-statistics
