Are you currently thinking of moving to a new accountant, but do not want to have to deal with the stress of the admin that comes with it?
Here at SAS, client experience is our top focus, and we always make sure that clients receive a great and stress-free experience right from the very start of the engagement.
One of the methods we implemented to ensure a seamless experience was to introduce an Onboarding Specialist in-house. The Onboarding Specialist will become your very own ‘concierge’, a consistent contact for our prospective clients. This means that you would have one point of contact right from agreeing on a proposal, to becoming a fully onboarded client.
Our Onboarding Specialist has worked at SAS for over 6 years and by working with clients directly for this amount of time, has meant they have gained a thorough understanding of what it is that can make a client’s experience that much easier and more efficient. This wisdom has allowed us to implement better pre and post onboarding processes and to reduce the amount of input that is required from you.
With that being said, it is worth noting that in order to make sure we gain a thorough and reliable picture of you and your business (which will enable us to provide the best and most bespoke service), there is still an element of information that we would require from you at the initial point of engagement.
For transparency and to build expectations, we thought it would be useful to detail in this blog the key information that we would require to get you onboarded as our client and why we request it:
- Copies of your ID documentation. The accepted forms of ID can either be your driving license, or your passport and a utility bill. We ask this from you so that we comply with the Money Laundering Regulations, by completing an AML check.
- E-Signature of our Letter of Engagement. Our Letter of Engagement confirms the services that we will be providing to you and our terms of agreement.
- To set up an account with our Bright Manager portal. Bright Manager is a centralised, safe & secure hub where you can access & E-Sign all documents related to yourself personally & the company.
- Your company reference numbers. This will be your company UTR (which would have been sent in a form of a letter from HMRC a week after company incorporation), authentication code (this would have also been sent in a form of a letter, but from Companies House upon company incorporation) & Tax registration numbers (where applicable). This is to make sure that we can submit any compliance related returns to HMRC as soon as required and it also means we can request agent access to your business and its taxes ASAP.
- Access to your accountancy software. Which will allow for more reliable quoting and to enable us to ensure we allocate the right resources to you.
- Business Bank Statement. In the form of a pdf & csv. We use the bank statements to reconcile your accountancy software against the bank statement, which will determine the accuracy of previous reconciliations.
- Your previous accountant’s contact details. We would then reach out to the accountants directly, to request a full professional clearance, without you having to be the middleman.
And that’s it! With this information we can successfully onboard you as a client.
