Undifferentiated packages
The proposal lists compliance tasks but not the outcome, access or judgement behind them.
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Clients
Competing With Low-Cost Online Accountants
A national advert promises everything for a tiny monthly fee. Matching it line by line is usually the fastest route to worse service and thinner margins.
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Quick answer
Do not compete with low-cost online accountants only on price. Define the clients you serve best, package a clear outcome, show who is accountable, respond reliably and make onboarding effortless. Use technology to remove friction, not to imitate a model that depends on volume. Remindoo helps structure proposals, onboarding and communication, but your expertise remains the differentiator.
You’re not alone: why does this feel so frustrating?
The price comparison feels unfair because the services are rarely identical. A polished advert compresses exclusions, response levels and complexity into one number, while a local firm often quotes for a deeper relationship.
Clients still deserve clarity. Saying 'we offer a better service' is not enough. Established firms need to make the difference visible before the prospect has to ask.
Why does this keep happening in accounting firms?
Slow response
A warm referral cools while the firm prepares a bespoke proposal from scratch.
Manual onboarding
The first experience feels fragmented even when the eventual advice is strong.
Price avoidance
The firm refuses to discuss value and leaves the prospect to compare monthly figures alone.
What is this costing your firm?
A race to the bottom on price consumes partner attention that should be spent on judgement, relationships and developing the team. The hidden cost is context switching: a five-minute interruption often breaks a much longer block of concentrated work.
Unclear ownership creates duplicated effort. One person assumes somebody else has acted, another repeats the chase, and the partner becomes the unofficial control system. That is exhausting and difficult to scale.
Client trust can also erode. Clients rarely see the internal cause; they see slow answers, inconsistent messages or last-minute requests. A reliable process protects the relationship even when the underlying issue is outside the firm's control.
How can a local accounting firm compete with online accountants?
- 1
Choose the clients you serve best
Define a narrow set of situations where your experience and service model create real value.
- 2
Package outcomes clearly
Show scope, contact model, response expectations and exclusions in language the buyer understands.
- 3
Respond while interest is high
Use a standard discovery and proposal process with a named owner and next date.
- 4
Make onboarding feel organised
Request information once, explain the sequence and keep the client informed.
- 5
Show the human accountability
Introduce who will own the relationship and how issues are escalated.
- 6
Review profitability
Do not discount work below a sustainable delivery cost simply to win a comparison.
How do you make the change stick in a busy practice?
A sensible fix can still fail when it is announced as a new rule and left to compete with client work. Treat the change as a small operational project. Give it an owner, a start date, a review date and a clear definition of success. Test it with a representative group before asking the whole firm to change at once.
1. Put “choose the clients you serve best” into daily practice
Define a narrow set of situations where your experience and service model create real value. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
2. Put “package outcomes clearly” into daily practice
Show scope, contact model, response expectations and exclusions in language the buyer understands. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
3. Put “respond while interest is high” into daily practice
Use a standard discovery and proposal process with a named owner and next date. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
4. Put “make onboarding feel organised” into daily practice
Request information once, explain the sequence and keep the client informed. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
5. Put “show the human accountability” into daily practice
Introduce who will own the relationship and how issues are escalated. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
6. Put “review profitability” into daily practice
Do not discount work below a sustainable delivery cost simply to win a comparison. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
What should partners ask at the weekly review?
Keep the review short and evidence-led. Ask what is waiting, who owns the next action, which internal date is at risk, what the client has been told and whether the same exception has appeared before. The purpose is not to inspect every keystroke. It is to remove ambiguity while there is still time to act.
- Which item has no clear next owner?
- Which promised date is most at risk?
- What are we waiting for from outside the firm?
- Has the client received an accurate update?
- Is this an isolated case or a repeated process failure?
- What decision needs partner judgement today?
What does a realistic 90-day improvement plan look like?
Days 1–30: establish the baseline. Review recent examples, speak to the people doing the work and identify the smallest repeated failure worth fixing. Agree one rule and one owner. Do not redesign the whole practice while the team is still trying to describe the problem.
Days 31–60: run the new process on live work. Record exceptions rather than quietly working around them. Check whether staff can find the right client context, whether dates are realistic and whether the client communication matches what the firm can deliver.
Days 61–90: review the evidence with the team. Keep what improved control, simplify what created administration and stop anything that merely moved the problem elsewhere. Document the final process, decide how it will be monitored and schedule the next review.
Where can Remindoo help—and where can’t it?
Remindoo helps make the buying and onboarding experience as organised as the service you promise.
Proposal templates
Drag-and-drop builder for consistent proposals.
See featureProducts and services catalogue
Your services and prices, organised.
See featureClient onboarding automation
Standardise requests, checks and first services.
See featureCompanies House sync
Import company details and filing deadlines.
See featureClient portal and document sharing
Share requests and documents securely, not by email.
See featureAutomated reminders
Timely prompts before work becomes urgent.
See featureWhat Remindoo doesn’t do here: Remindoo cannot define your market position, replace specialist advice or make an unsuitable pricing model profitable.
Talk through the problem with us
A practical 30-minute walkthrough using your firm’s current process.
What can you change today without buying software?
Start with a written rule for compete with online accountants. Define what good looks like, who owns the next action, when it must happen and when the issue moves to a partner. Keep the rule short enough that the team will actually use it.
- Choose one owner for every next action
- Use a visible internal deadline
- Record the decision and the reason
- Review exceptions weekly, not only after something goes wrong
How do you know the fix is working?
Use a small set of operational measures that prompt a conversation rather than create a league table. Look at ageing, missed internal dates, repeated rework and work waiting without a named owner. Review the trend with the people doing the work and fix the process before blaming individuals.
Frequently asked questions
Can software solve competition from online accountants on its own?
No. Software can make ownership, dates and evidence visible, but the firm still needs clear policies, judgement and consistent follow-through.
Where should a small practice start?
Choose one recurring problem, write down the current process, assign one owner and test a simpler version for four weeks before changing everything else.
Should local accountants lower their prices?
Only when the scope and delivery cost support it. Discounting an unchanged service usually creates pressure rather than advantage.
What do clients value beyond price?
Clear scope, reliable responses, named accountability, relevant expertise and confidence that deadlines will not be missed.
Can a traditional firm offer an online service?
Yes. Digital proposals, portals and structured onboarding can reduce friction without removing human judgement.
How should firms explain value?
Use specific service commitments and outcomes rather than broad claims about being proactive or personal.
Related challenges and practical guides
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Sources
Last updated: . General guidance, not legal, tax, medical or regulatory advice. Check current primary guidance and take appropriate professional advice.
Why recording every task matters in an accountancy practice
Accounting firms run on deadlines: VAT returns, payroll, confirmation statements, accounts and Self Assessment. Recording every job as a task, with an owner and a date, is the simplest way to make sure nothing is missed.
Avoid penalties
HMRC and Companies House charge penalties for late filing. A task for every deadline, with an internal date before it, gives the team a buffer.
Nothing depends on memory
Recorded tasks mean work continues when someone is off sick, on leave or has left the firm.
Consistent quality
Subtask checklists make every job follow the same steps and reviews, whoever does the work.
Visibility for managers
Filters by owner, status and deadline show at a glance what is late, what is due and who needs help.
Practical tips from UK practice
- Set an internal deadline two to four weeks before every statutory deadline.
- Use recurring tasks for repeat work such as VAT, payroll and bookkeeping.
- Break larger jobs into subtasks, including a review step.
- Comment on the task instead of by email, so the history stays with the work.
Related Remindoo features
Written and reviewed by Waqas Sagar ACA FCCA FMAAT, Chartered Accountant with 18+ years in practice. Founder and MD of Accotax, an ICAEW, ACCA and AAT regulated London practice that has served over 5,000 clients, and founder of Remindoo. Guidance is general; check current GOV.UK and professional body guidance for your firm.
What UK practices say about Remindoo
Read all reviews on Trustpilot“With Remindoo, everything from the first enquiry to onboarding and ongoing client management is tracked in one place… It saves us hours and gives me, as a practice owner, complete visibility of where the firm stands.”
“The biggest benefit is having clients, tasks, deadlines, workflows, proposals and communication all organised in one place.”
“During my trial, the team were absolutely amazing. They helped onboard my clients, set up my settings and made sure everything was ready for me to use… they made the whole process completely stress-free.”
“It brings client information, tasks, recurring deadlines, workflows and reminders together in one place, giving us much better visibility across the team.”
