By enrolling in this membership, Acute has gained access to a wealth of resources, including targeted training courses and certification programs. We spoke to Mitch Poyzer, the Training and Compliance Manager, to explore how the partnership with The R&D Community has empowered Acute to elevate their expertise and deliver exceptional value to their clients.

Improving R&D expertise across the whole team

One of the most tangible changes to the team’s process has been the introduction of regular spot-checks into the team’s knowledge of R&D tax relief.

Mitch told us, “We now implement ‘mini-tests’ to continually monitor the competency of our Tax Consultants, who were already very knowledgeable. This allows me to highlight areas for recapping and training in which staff need a refresh.

“This has come directly from the structure of the Certification and was something that we’d not considered doing before. A recent example would be the topic of ‘fortuitous sales’ and ‘Ordinary course of business’ under CIRD82300 – which comes up in the course Qualifying Costs & Apportionments.”

This process really solidifies knowledge within the team, and provides reassurance to both staff and customers that they are getting things right. Customers appreciate this focus on high standards, and it gives Acute a boost when it comes to differentiating with competitors.

In the longer term, making sure everyone has the right baseline knowledge gives team more flexibility, and staff members have more opportunities for growth and development within the company. That reduces the pressure on the leadership team when it comes to resource planning and hiring, because not every role needs to be filled externally.

Improving screening and onboarding for new R&D tax relief customers

Another key change has been in the way they screen potential customers. Responsible R&D firms have to spend a lot of time explaining the rules of the scheme to new customers and often turn them away from claiming for projects which don’t quality.

“We have now implemented a much more thorough screening process during our initial consultation, coming straight from the courses on Qualifying leads for R&D tax relief and Explaining Eligibility – How to discuss R&D with clients.”

Mitch explained, “[With our previous process,] we did already disqualify a lot of optimistic claimants. Having a stronger structure to explain why someone doesn’t qualify will prevent companies from ‘hopping’ around advisors until someone says yes. This, for us, is crucial to prevent abuse of the scheme and to help protect businesses from falling prey to less scrupulous advisors.”

For the team, this new structure allows them to be more concrete, and far more efficient. They’re no longer at risk of working on a claim for months before discovering that there’s a clear barrier to the claim.

The conversation with the client becomes easier as well. Now they can draw a clear link to the guidance, and explain it so that prospects really understand, they can paint HMRC as the ‘bad guy.’ Companies go away trusting the advice from the team at Acute, instead of shopping around for a more favourable opinion. The team then don’t feel like they’re then leaving themselves at a disadvantage to competitors.

Building constructive advisory relationships with R&D tax relief clients

Mitch and the team have also seen a less concrete changes in practice – which have been no less beneficial!

“As our tax consultants have improved their expertise, we’ve pushed and encouraged them to have open dialogues with each other and also with customers. This allows constructive conversation and helps upskill customers throughout the claims process.”

Up until about 6 months ago, everyone in the team felt very protective of expertise, and resisted ‘giving too much away’ to clients and even colleagues. As their collective understanding deepened, it became clear that there is so much more to preparing an R&D claim than just knowing a few key facts and applying them easily. Because it’s such a complex area, clients are always going to value expertise from their advisor. And in fact, the more clients understand about the scheme themselves, the more they value that expertise!

Upskilling accountants as R&D referral partners

This has carried over into their relationships with accounting partners – who typically refer clients to Acute for R&D claim services. Now they are actively trying to upskill those partners, instead of keeping all the knowledge to themselves. Rather than losing them referrals, it has strengthened and improved these partnerships.

Mitch explained, “The clients they refer are night and day different. Rather than accountants saying ‘Is there anything you’ve found challenging this year? Acute will sort out your R&D claim,’ they can now get some of the basic facts from the client, and know whether or not it’s worth referring.

“It shortens the screening process and allows our tax consultants to appear more competent, and makes the process slicker and less expensive. We don’t have to be the bad guy so often, everything is easier to explain, and all in all it gives a smoother process for the clients.”

This is crucial for Acute, because referrals from accountants are their bread and butter. “It’s so much easier, and accountants can practically do the sales pitch for us. They know what to ask the client to prepare, so it makes a big difference to everyone involved.”

And what’s fascinating is that the benefits of better training and support, which Acute gained through The R&D Community, have gone beyond just their team of tax consultants. There’s a whole network of people beyond their organisation who now have far more knowledge about R&D tax relief. Not only has this had a clear benefit to the team at Acute, it also has a ripple effect across the R&D industry.

Want to give your R&D tax team a performance boost?

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Watch our free demo to learn about everything involved in The R&D Community membership, and then sign up for yourself!