Why this happens in accounting firms
When year-end accounts, VAT returns and payroll runs are tracked across a spreadsheet, a shared inbox and one partner's memory, nobody has the full picture. Work is only visible when somebody asks about it, and a missed step is discovered by the client or by HMRC rather than by the firm.
It is rarely a people problem. It is usually a process that grew up informally while the firm was small and never moved into a shared system.









