Why I Cap My Client List and Turn Away Good Clients
In a one-person practice, capacity is the whole product. Why I keep a hard ceiling on my client list and waitlist good businesses instead.
Practice
Professional body updates, ethics, audit standards, and the business of running a solo cloud-accounting practice, with notes on what the headlines actually mean at the coalface.
Practice
Careless, Reckless, Criminal: Where HMRC Draws the Line
HMRC wants 'reckless' tax declarations to be a criminal offence. Here is where careless, reckless and dishonest actually sit, and what it changes for me.
What a Year in Audit Taught Me No Certification Covers
Cloud certifications test whether you can drive the software. A year in audit drilled three instincts into me that no Xero or QuickBooks course ever will.
The New AML Rules: Less Box-Ticking, More Judgment on Me
The Money Laundering Regulations 2026 lighten the box-ticking but push the judgment onto me. Here is what changes for a sole practice from 30 June.
Mid-Tier Firms Hire Around AI. Solos Sell Up the Stack.
ICAEW found mid-tier firms are hiring around AI, swapping graduates for school leavers. A solo practice can't. Here's the one lever I actually have.
Why I Still Reach for Excel Before Syft on a New Engagement
On a new client engagement the first 90 minutes belong in Excel, not Syft. Here is why audit-trained practitioners still reach for a flexible grid first.
HMRC's New AI Reads the Network, Not Just the Return
HMRC's £175m Quantexa deal builds AI that maps the connections across your companies and directors. Here is what I am changing in my client file notes.
Sanctionable Conduct Is Live. Here Is What I Changed.
From 1 April 2026, HMRC can penalise tax advisers up to 1m for sanctionable conduct. What the new threshold means for grey-zone advice.
HMRC Tax Agent Registration Opens 18 May
Mandatory HMRC tax agent registration starts 18 May 2026. What the minimum standards mean, who needs to register, and what I'm doing before the deadline.