I spent a number of years running the tax support for professional operations at a large tax consultancy. Most of the clients were small firms of accountants who recognised that they couldn’t risk advising on issues outside of their comfort zone. However they didn’t like paying the sort of fees charged by the large consultancy or the fact that they were often allocated someone with limited experience or to whom they could not relate.

The other options were either:
a) to go to an accountancy firm with the requisite tax expertise – but this tended to be just as bad as the tax consultancies with the added risk of delegation to relatively inexperienced people and a perceived risk that they might poach the client; or
b) to find a credible independent tax specialist with the right degree of expertise to provide the support required.

I’ve noted an increasing number of tax specialists who prefer the flexibility of working from home or their own office. These days they don’t need the support of a large firm other than to provide a regular salary and stream of work. So they need help to to market their services beyond their immediate local area and to be part of a like minded community.

All of which factors contributed to the formation of the The Tax Advice Network last year. http://www.TaxAdviceNetwork.co.uk

This is a unique facility enabling accountants to go direct and choose appropriate specialist tax expertise to resolve clients’ challenging tax questions and problems.

We’ve been described as a tax dating agency for accountants. In fact we are a 21st century solution to a growing need as tax law becomes ever more complex.

The Network incorporates a number of modern developments:

- Ratings and feedback (inspired by Ebay, Amazon and Ecademy)

- Online networking amongst the tax adviser members (inspired by Ecademy, Facebook, Linkedin and other online networks)

- Outsourcing (saving on the employment costs and related employment law obligations)

- Virtual teams (whereby the accountants and tax advisers can work together without being in the same city, let alone the same building)

Will this model (or whatever it evolves into) disrupt the existing business models of the larger firms trying to provide tax support to smaller practices and their clients? I hope so. I also anticipate that we will, in time, become an attractive ‘home’ for those senior tax specialists whose only fear of leaving employment at the moment is whether they could generate enough business themselves.

In the meantime (and through a simple coincidence of timing) the tax consultancy I had been with, Chiltern plc, was acquired by BDO Stoy Hayward. So it’s now part of a top ten accountancy firm and the person responsible for the tax support for professionals team is a BDO partner. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this will reduce the flow of new work (and possibly the erosion of existing flows too).

More recently I’ve noted 2 or 3 tax consultancies being acquired by larger firms. Is this a sign that the market place is splitting into the big boys and the independents? If so, a facility such as the Tax Advice Network should be ideally placed to actively support the independents and enable them to focus on doing what they do best without the shackles of a large firm.

I won’t abuse this facility to set out my reasoning or the self imposed constraints I have adopted in recognition of the limited take-up of new technology by my target audience. Happy to share more on request.

Mark