Resources for accountants

If you want to succeed in business, you’ve got to differentiate yourself. That also applies to accountancy firms, of course. So, how can you set your accountancy firm apart?

The post-Autumn Budget 2024 headlines were dominated by news of inheritance tax and capital gains tax changes, the increase to employers’ NICs and confirmation that VAT will indeed be introduced on private school fees.

Many UK small businesses (reportedly more than half) are now using accounting software. If you’re an accountant, having your sole trader, freelancer and small private landlord clients using accounting software makes your life far easier.

Accountants often choose complex software for larger clients, but smaller businesses like freelancers and landlords need simpler solutions. Overly complicated tools waste time on training and support. Find out how Coconut can help.

MTD for ITSA will be introduced in phases. Sole traders, freelancers and landlords with a gross income of more than £50,000 will be first affected. They’ll need to comply with MTD for ITSA requirements from 6 April 2026, but they’ll need to get ready long before then. Read our blog to find out more.

There are a few important ways that you can help your sole trader clients to save time and money and become more successful. Why wouldn’t they love you for that?

“The key thing for all accountants is time saving and efficiency, because there are never enough hours in a day I think any accountant who looks into Coconut will realise the potential time saving is massive.”

What key 2024-25 tax dates should you be telling your small business, sole trader, freelancer and landlord clients? Find out in our blog.

Against a backdrop of eye-watering price increases across the board, like everyone else, accountants are experiencing cash-flow pressures. Their small business, landlord and personal clients are also having to deal with significant price hikes, of course, which makes it difficult for accountants to increase their fees and grow their own firm.

Adding real value to the relationships you have with your small-landlord clients can be a good way to ensure their loyalty. They might also be more willing to leave positive reviews about you online and recommend you to others. So, how could you add value to your relationships with your small-landlord clients?

Winning new clients is sure a sign not only that your services continue to appeal and meet market demand, but possibly also that your existing clients are saying nice things about you or that the way you’re marketing your business is working well. Happy days. Read our blog on how to streamline your client onboarding process.

Coconut is an easy-to-use accounting software solution that enables sole traders and landlords to conveniently record their income, track their expenses (so they don’t forget to reclaim any), manage their invoicing and work out how much to set aside for tax. Coconut gives your clients far greater control over their cash flow and finances, which brings peace of mind. If your sole trader and landlord clients use Coconut, it also saves you time, effort and hassle, of course. It’s a classic win-win. Well, things are about to get even better thanks to the integration of Coconut and GoSimpleTax.

January can be a nightmare month for small-business accountants. The reason? Battling the looming end-of-month Self Assessment online-filing deadline, of course. And despite sending email reminders to your small-business clients, appealing for them to send the information you need to complete their Self assessment tax return, they leave it until January. Of course they do. They do every year.

If your accountancy firm is to grow, obviously, it will need to attract more clients (probably, many more). And no matter what you do for them, some will go elsewhere or decide to do their own accounting and tax returns. Customer churn is a challenge for all accountancy firms. So what can you do to attract more clients?

No one starts a career in accounting to spend their days entering receipts…but that doesn’t stop some clients presenting you with a shoebox full of them when it’s time to do their tax return. Find out how Coconut will help you power through that particularly tedious task in no time.

Many thousands of sole traders all over the UK use the Coconut accounting app. Some of your sole trader clients might already be among them, but if not – how could using Coconut benefit them and you?

Calling all accountants and bookkeepers! Coconut’s software is now HMRC-recognised for handling MTD ITSA digital record-keeping and quarterly submissions requirements, and our Pilot Programme is now open.

When working with small clients, you may find yourself chasing receipts or manually entering data into spreadsheets. And as you well know, these aren’t the areas where accountants can add the most value. Here’s how tech could help you eliminate up to 80% of that work, provide more value to clients, and maximise your margins.

Technology has the potential to drastically improve the way the accounting profession works with smaller clients. Below, we explore some of the wider benefits of sole trader digitisation, and why we should be thinking about it now—Making Tax Digital, or no Making Tax Digital.

A huge proportion of unincorporated landlords own fewer than 5 properties, but aren’t serviced properly by the accounting software industry. With MTD ITSA on the horizon, this is an issue that needs resolving. In this guide, we discuss the accounting challenges of ‘non-professional’ landlords, and how accountants & bookkeepers can overcome them ahead of the 2026 deadline.

We commissioned Opinium to survey 500 UK sole traders to better understand their views on Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, how prepared they are for the changes, and what action they expect to take to become compliant with the rules. The results revealed an incredible opportunity for the accounting industry.

The extended tax season is over and so for accountants that means we’re gathering our thoughts and making our plans for 2022. What’s different this year is that it’s the last year before MTD ITSA really kicks in which will dramatically change how we work with sole traders. Read on below to learn how Coconut will support our Accountant Partners through this change.

2021 will be a year that we’ll remember at Coconut for a while. This year saw a big change in our business come to fruition.

The barefoot accountant provides accountancy services to creative sole traders who just want to be fabulously creative and not worry about the boring stuff. Operating from a shop front in Hertfordshire, the firm delivers personalised tax and accountancy services in a relaxed and judgement-free zone.