How we work
Four ways to engage us, a transition taken in stages with one month run in parallel, and partner review of everything we deliver.
Different engagements, one discipline
Clients come to us needing different things. Some want an outcome delivered on a calendar, such as books closed or returns filed. Some want an accountant working inside their own team. Others have a single project, or a single question. Each is a distinct kind of engagement, described below, and they can be combined.
What stays the same is the discipline around the work: a written scope agreed before anything starts, a written engagement letter, a named partner and a dedicated accountant, the encrypted client portal, and partner review of every deliverable.
Every engagement also starts in the same way: a 30-minute private conversation with a partner, a short review of your books, registrations and reporting, and a written proposal within three business days of that review. Once the engagement letter is signed, onboarding begins the same week.
Engagement models
Four ways to work with us. Each has its own written scope, and they can run side by side.
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Managed service
We take responsibility for an agreed part of your finance function, such as bookkeeping, payroll, tax compliance or the month-end close, and deliver it to a written scope and a reporting calendar. You receive the outputs on fixed dates; we organise the people, the method and the review behind them.
Suits businesses that want results on a timetable rather than staff to manage. See accounting outsourcing and payroll accounting.
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Dedicated team members
An accountant, bookkeeper, tax preparer or payroll specialist who works for you alone, full time or part time, inside your systems and to your procedures. You direct the day-to-day work, and a Pi partner supervises the person and the standard of what they produce.
Suits accounting firms and finance teams with steady volumes and established processes. See build a dedicated team.
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Projects
Work with a defined deliverable, scope and end date: clearing a bookkeeping backlog, moving to new accounting software, setting up a finance function, building a forecast model, or carrying out due diligence or an internal controls review. The written proposal fixes what will be delivered and when.
Suits a specific need that does not call for an ongoing arrangement. See the accounting health check, software consulting and setup and transaction advisory.
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Ad hoc partner advice
A partner's view on a specific question, such as the tax treatment of a transaction, the accounting for a new contract or what a lender's covenant requires. Where a question needs analysis, a manager prepares it under the partner's supervision.
Suits clients who need a considered answer rather than a continuing service, and existing clients facing a decision outside their usual scope.
The transition
Two to four weeks of onboarding, a month-end close run alongside your current arrangements, then a settled routine.
| Stage | What happens | Your part |
|---|---|---|
| Kick-off and engagement letter | The engagement letter is signed and the identity checks required by anti-money-laundering regulations are completed. A kick-off meeting agrees contacts, the calendar and the first deadlines. | Sign the letter, provide identity documents for the business and its beneficial owners, and name the people we should deal with. |
| Access to systems and records | Access arranged to your accounting software, bank feeds, payroll system and the tax portals the work requires, with prior-period records and returns gathered through the client portal. | Add us as users with the permissions the work requires, and share the records we request. |
| Documented procedures | Your current processes written down: who approves what, cut-off dates, recurring entries, where documents come from and which reports you rely on. | Walk us through how things are done now, including the exceptions. |
| Opening balances | Opening balances reconciled to bank statements, ledgers and the last closed period, with any differences investigated and explained. | Review the reconciled balances and sign them off. |
| Parallel month | One month-end close run alongside your existing arrangements, with the two sets of results compared and any differences explained. | Keep your current arrangements running for that month and go through the comparison with us. |
| Handover | We take over fully, and the first month-end is delivered on the agreed timetable. | Confirm the handover, and remove any access that the previous arrangements no longer need. |
| Steady state | The agreed calendar of work runs each month, with review meetings at the frequency set in your scope. | Attend review meetings, answer queries and approve the decisions that remain yours, such as releasing payments. |
If your records are behind or balances do not reconcile, we bring them up to date in a separate clean-up first, so the monthly service starts from a clean position. See bookkeeping for how a backlog is cleared.
How we keep in touch
Named people, a single channel for documents, and replies to routine queries within one business day.
Your partner
A named partner supervises your engagement, reviews what we deliver and takes the questions that need judgement.
Your accountant
A dedicated accountant handles the day-to-day work and is your first point of contact, so routine questions reach someone who knows your records.
One business day
We answer routine queries within one business day, so a question about a transaction or a document does not wait for the next review meeting.
The client portal
Documents, requests and approvals move through the encrypted client portal rather than email, so everything for your engagement sits in one place.
Review meetings
Held at a frequency set in your scope, such as monthly or quarterly, to go through results, open items and the decisions in front of you.
Where we meet
In person at our offices or at yours, or by video, booked in advance at a time that works for both sides.
Partner review of every deliverable
Nothing reaches you until a partner has reviewed it.
Reconciliations, returns, financial statements, management packs and written advice are prepared by your accountant and reviewed by a partner before they are released to you. The review asks whether every figure is supported, whether the judgements behind estimates and tax positions are sound, and whether the work answers the question you asked.
Behind each deliverable is a file another accountant could follow: reconciliations agreed to statements, schedules tied to the ledger, and the reasoning for each judgement written down. That record is what allows a figure to stand up when an auditor, regulator, lender or investor examines it.
Questions you raise about a deliverable go to the people who prepared and reviewed it, so the answer comes from someone who knows the work.
Questions
Can we combine engagement models?
Yes. A managed service for the monthly work can run alongside a project, such as a move to new software, or alongside a dedicated team member who works inside your own team. Each part has its own written scope, so responsibilities stay clear.
Can you work alongside our own finance staff?
Yes. A managed service can cover only the parts your team does not, such as the close or payroll, and a dedicated team member works inside your team under your direction. The scope sets out who does what, and who reviews it.
What if our records are behind when we start?
We look at them before proposing a scope. Any backlog, and any balance that does not reconcile, is dealt with as a one-off project ahead of the monthly service, so the first month we deliver starts from balances you have signed off.
Do we have to change our accounting software?
No. We work in QuickBooks Online, Xero and Zoho Books, and provide ERP support for Odoo and SAP Business One. Subscriptions stay in your name, and if a move to different software would help, it is scoped as a separate project. See software consulting and setup.
Speak with a partner
Every enquiry is read by a partner and answered within one business day. Meetings are held at our offices, at yours, or by video.