The Annual Accounts Review bridge
The Annual Accounts Review bridge helps firms facilitate a meeting with clients to help them understand their Annual Accounts and tax position, the value you have provided them, and the opportunities to improve their position.
Important info
The Annual Accounts Review Meeting should be delivered by the person who prepared the client's Annual Accounts as they'll better understand the client's accounts and be able to give feedback on the information provided by the client.
To access the Annual Accounts Review bridge, go to Navigation panel > 
Bridges > Annual Accounts Review bridge.
Understanding the Annual Accounts Review process
It's best practice to meet with all of your business clients as well as larger investment and Trust clients to review their draft Annual Accounts. By sending pre-work to the client prior to the meeting, you'll ensure they've read their Annual Accounts and identified areas they'd like to focus on during the meeting.
- Watch the Annual Accounts Review Service Delivery Video to see the process of delivering an Annual Accounts Review step by step with examples
- The Process Guide outlines best practice use of the content in the Annual Accounts Review bridge; click the Download Process Guide button in the top right-hand corner to view this guide
Note
Ensure you review the Process Guide prior to using the content in the bridge.
Delegating the Annual Accounts Review to a Client Manager
Delegating this meeting to a senior team member, such as a client manager, frees up capacity for the partners to deliver higher value advisory services. It will also empower your team to take on more responsibility and learn the process to deliver advisory services.
Make a plan for how you'll start delegating these meetings - some clients can be transitioned to the senior team member immediately, while others might need a longer transition period. Work together for the first few meetings to build the confidence of the client manager.
The Value Register
The Value Register allows you to keep track of the value you've delivered to clients over the year. It should be updated after the completion of all services for the client, recording both financial and non-financial value. The purpose of the Value Register is to show clients that you've delivered more value to them than what they've paid in fees.
- Update the Value Register upon completion of each service
- Record financial and non-financial value
- Record value from previous years if relevant, e.g. a refinancing may provide a tax saving in the following year
- Record complimentary meetings and event attendance
The Value Statements for Value Register resource contains examples of statements you can use to articulate the value of your services. This should be a living document which is updated as team members identify new value statements.
Attention
Don't give the Value Register to the client. Use it during meetings and as an internal resource only.
The Value Gap Brainstorming session
To ensure you provide as much value to your clients as possible, we recommend holding a 15-20 minute brainstorming session with key team members prior to the Annual Accounts Review Meeting. The objective of the session is to identify improvement opportunities using the Value Gap Calculator and client pre-work, while helping your team learn how to speak wider than the numbers and identify symptoms of wider problems in the business and opportunities to help clients achieve better outcomes.
Important note
Have the Cashflow Management Coaching Delivery Notes on hand during the brainstorming session to help identify strategies to add value to your client's business.
Delivering the Annual Accounts Review Meeting
Client outcomes
By attending an Annual Accounts Review Meeting, clients will:
- Improve their financial awareness skills
- Identify likely profit and cashflow improvement potential for their business
- Identify how to work with you to achieve their goals
- Understand their taxation commitments
Session duration
The Annual Accounts Review meeting should take 45-60 minutes.
The meeting
Prior to the meeting, you will provide all attendees with pre-work to complete, ensuring that they take time to review their Annual Accounts.
Important info
We recommend enforcing a 'no pre-work, no meeting' policy. Politely discuss the benefit of pre-work and reschedule the meeting so it does not become one of discovery.
You will facilitate a structured meeting to review your client's draft Annual Accounts, demonstrate the value you've provided during the last year, and identify potential areas to add more value. You'll spend the first half of the meeting reviewing the Annual Accounts and discussing their results. Then, you'll use the Value Gap Calculator to focus on strategies for improving the client's profit and cashflow and generate a Value Gap Analysis Report (provided the client has opted in for this additional option).
Click here for more information about common content found in the Gap bridges and how they relate to each step in the Annual Accounts Review process. See the Annual Accounts review Process Guide for detailed information about the Annual Accounts Review content.
Key content in the Delivery folder includes:
- Annual Accounts - Our Mutual Expectations: an email to send to clients to outline the Annual Accounts process and clarify expectations from the outset.
- Value Gap Brainstorming Notes: to capture the potential strategies to tweak to demonstrate improvement opportunities using the Value Gap Calculator.
- Value Gap Calculator: a link to access the Value Gap Calculator to use during the brainstorming session and client meeting.
- Annual Accounts Review Finalised Accounts Email: an email to send to clients after the Annual Accounts Review Meeting with their finalised Annual Accounts attached.
Note
Some firms meet with clients when their Annual Accounts are finalised. It's important the client sees the value in attending a review meeting and identifying improvement opportunities instead of simply focusing on tax and signing off the Annual Accounts.
Positioning the value of the Value Gap Analysis Report
We recommend using the Value Gap Calculator to demonstrate potential improvement opportunities even if a client hasn't paid for the Report. After demonstrating the improvements using the calculator, discuss how the client feels about the changes and whether they're interested in making these improvements. Position the value of the Report as a guide to set improvement goals and implement the identified strategies. Discuss the cost of the Report and ask the client if they'd like you to send it to them.
As the Calculator and Report only position the strategies for improvement, discuss how the client plans to implement these and what support they need from you to identify tactics and actions to take to maximise their profit and cashflow.
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