Remote accountancy after lockdown

By Kayleigh Williams, head of business services at Duncan & Toplis

As we near the end of lockdown restrictions, businesses across the economy are reevaluating how they’d like to work in future.

After a year in which people have been encouraged or required to work from home if they can, the relationship between workers and workplaces has transformed.

Official figures show that 47% of workers across the country have been working from home, and commentators are predicting that many will continue to do so – either in part, or entirely – long after the obligation to do so ends.

There are many considerations which employers and employees need to consider; ranging from the impact different arrangements may have on mental health to productivity and team dynamics, but how will it affect accountancy and business advice services in future?

At Duncan & Toplis, we work with more than 12,000 businesses and individuals with a wide range of services including accountancy, tax and business advice to HR, IT, legal and probate services. Some of our most senior team members share their experiences of how remote working has worked for clients.

A break with tradition

“Before the pandemic, regardless of the fact that Duncan & Toplis was able to conduct meetings remotely, and had been doing so for International work for some time, all parties generally preferred an in-person meeting as that has always been ‘the tradition”, explains Matthew Appleyard of Duncan & Toplis.

“The pandemic has required both the profession and clients to break from tradition and embrace a remote system model”, he continues.

Not long ago, face-to-face meetings and site visits were a necessity; printed paper documents needed to be examined, shared and signed, and, of course, it was a cultural expectation. But the last few years have seen advisors and clients adopting more and more systems and practices which make face-to-face, in-person working less of a requirement and more of an optional preference.

Back in 2019 when the first phase of Making Tax Digital was soon to come into force, many predicted that it would take years for businesses to adapt to cloud accountancy and remote systems, let alone embrace it. Post-pandemic, remote working has taken over.

The way we’ll work in future

Now, we’re all looking toward the future when we’re able to move on from the pandemic, but the question is: When we are able to choose to go back to normality, will we go back to the way things were?

“One thing we’ve learned over the course of the pandemic is that there are advantages and drawbacks of each way of working and so a balance between the two is almost certainly the best way forward,” said director, Tara Bellamy.

“How that balance is positioned depends almost entirely on client choice. While remote working has not worked for some clients, others have loved the remote approach and will choose to keep this way of working.”

“Several clients I have dealt with since the pandemic started have said that they would now prefer a video conference over the traditional in-person meeting” said Matthew Appleyard. “It has the benefit of avoiding the need for significant travel and it can therefore allow both parties to ‘get on’ with the rest of their day shortly afterwards.”

Alistair Main, director and head of assurance, agrees: “It will be completely dependent on the clients’ needs and wants. If they have struggled to work remotely, or even if they just want us to work in-person then we will do so. However, remote working will be offered to the majority of our audit clients and I’m sure many will prefer that going forward.”

If you’re a Duncan & Toplis client and you’d like to discuss your preferences for remote or in-person services, please speak to your dedicated adviser, or contact us to find out how Duncan & Toplis can help you.