By Lisa Miles-Heal
Lisa Miles-Heal explains how UK accountancy firms risk losing 16% of potential annual revenue due to outdated systems and inefficient workflows. She argues that adopting automation and investing in staff training are essential for firms to free up time, reduce burnout, and unlock growth opportunities in a competitive market.
As the UK wrestles with a productivity puzzle across sectors, from NHS backlogs to delays in court cases, accountancy firms are facing a quieter crisis of their own. What’s holding back one of the UK’s most vital professional sectors from reaching its full potential? It turns out, the answer is time. Or more specifically, how accountancy firms are spending it.
Our new research shows that outdated systems and inefficient ways of working are costing UK accountancy firms up to 16% of potential annual revenue. Put another way – that means
firms are sitting on a £48,000 opportunity — per accountant, per year.
Why BAU is becoming a bottleneck
Although accountancy firms tell us that growth is a top strategic priority, they are spending precious little time on it. In fact, partners dedicate just 14% of their time on strategic planning. In fact, for every hour spent advising clients, 1.5 hours are lost to internal admin.
This imbalance has wider implications. Let’s be honest: nobody became an accountant to spend their days chasing clients for paperwork or manually keying in data across systems that don’t talk to each other. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening, day in and day out. More than this, one in five accountants say their tech is outdated or non-integrated, adding friction to already heavy workloads.
When you add it all up, accountants are losing an average of 1.2 hours a day to mundane tasks. It’s the kind of time loss that quietly chips away at profit margins, and at people’s motivation. Also referred to as the ‘Activity Trap’, when busyness is mistaken for productivity, leading to a cycle where routine tasks become higher in priority than meaningful, purpose-led work.
The toll on people
We’re not just talking about lost revenue here. We’re talking about people. Burnout is rising. A quarter of accountants say they’re showing signs of it, and 31% are working six or more extra hours every week. While the right to disconnect policy has since been scrapped by the Labour government, more than three-quarters still say they’d back an approach that would allow workers the right to ignore emails during personal hours.
And yet, despite being under this kind of pressure, many professionals feel unable, or in some cases, unwilling, to change the status quo. One in five senior accountants find training junior staff “mundane” and less than 10% of firm time is allocated to adopting or embedding new technologies. That’s a big problem in a sector already battling a well-documented talent crunch. Accountancy, traditionally seen as a secure and stable career path, is now competing with tech-driven sectors like fintech. And in that war for talent, the ability to streamline admin, invest in automation, and offer strategic work is the difference between a company sinking or swimming.
Tech isn’t the enemy, it’s the answer (if you use it right)
Promisingly, most companies aren’t tech-averse. In fact, 89% have invested in automation or digital tools, and AI is starting to show real promise. 85% of companies say it’s saving them time, currently around 9%, with expectations that this will rise to 12% by 2028.
But here’s the catch. Less than 10% of time is being spent on training or implementing that technology. Which means the return on those investments is falling short, not because the tools don’t work, but because they’re not being fully used.
Nearly half of accountants say they’re unsure how AI could benefit them. A further 28% said staff resistance to change is a blocker. These aren’t insurmountable issues of course, but they do require effort, leadership, and a willingness to rewire old habits.
So, what now?
The cost of this inefficiency is £1m+ per year for mid-sized companies, slipping through the cracks. Accountancy is at a crossroads. If we want firms to excel, something’s got to give.
We need to:
- Free up partner time for strategy, not spreadsheets
- Automate repetitive tasks so teams can focus on the work that matters
- Invest in people, not just software, because without training, tech doesn’t stick
- Create space for mentoring and talent development, because if your staff are growing, the business is growing too.
The companies that are doing this well aren’t just more efficient, they’re more attractive to work for. They retain talent, deliver more value to clients, unlock new revenue opportunities and make every day work (and in turn, life), better.
And what’s next?
Every firm will say it wants to grow. But not everyone is doing what’s needed to get there. If the way time is spent doesn’t change, the numbers won’t either. If we start to treat time as the strategic asset it is, protecting it, optimising it, and aligning it with the bigger picture, then growth will happen slowly but surely. For firms that move now, the potential is clear: more efficiency, more profitability, and a stronger position in an industry that’s evolving faster than ever.
About the Author
Lisa Miles-Heal is the CEO of Silverfin, the cloud-first accountancy SaaS platform. She’s an experienced leader of SaaS and technology companies with a love of expanding them globally. At her core, she’s a change agent, strategist, and storyteller. From IT Director, to COO, then to CEO, she considers herself a “specialist generalist” and her broad experience base has served her well, growing and scaling organisations.
#Accountancy #Firms #Unlock #Potential #Annual #Revenue #Modernising #Outdated #Systems #Processes