How the partnership works for one client

Every introduction starts with something already in the file: retained profit that has grown for a third year with no plan for it, cash above what the business needs, a director's 55th birthday in the diary, a personal guarantee on a new lease with no cover behind it. Six of these are set out in six situations in the accounts that call for a financial adviser.

What you say to the client is an observation and an offer: "Retained profit has grown again this year. Would it be useful to have someone look at what that surplus is for? We work with a firm of financial advisers who do this." You have not recommended a product, a provider or a course of action. The boundary is set out in what the accountant does and what the financial adviser does.

The client agrees before any detail is shared, and the agreement is recorded: the date, what the client agreed could be passed on, how they want to be contacted, and whether they would like you in the meeting. A client who has said yes in your office is expecting the call.

The introduction is made in your firm's portal, in your firm's name. It holds the client's name, their contact details, what you saw in the accounts in a line or two, and any practical notes. The accounts, the tax computation and the personal tax data do not travel with it. The financial adviser asks the client for what they need, and if the quickest route is a figure from you, the client authorises that. Your duty of confidentiality is unchanged.

When the client comes on board they answer six yes or no questions, rank five priorities, and can complete a Health Score, answering on a 0 to 10 scale and receiving a scored report. That gives Equity & General a starting point before the first conversation.

The client’s Equity & General Account Manager contacts them and is their main point of contact. The first meeting is a fact-find: what the client owns, what they owe, who depends on them, and what they want the business to have paid for by the time they stop. No advice is given on that call. The advice comes later from the client’s own financial adviser, once they know enough for it to be relevant. You can sit in if the client would like you there.

From this point the work is Equity & General's: the research, the recommendation, the suitability report, putting it in place and the ongoing service. Equity & General is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA No. 474163). Where the advice touches something you handle, such as the timing or accounting treatment of an employer pension contribution, the adviser asks you to confirm the position.

Every introduction is recorded in the portal from the first call to the advice being in place, so you know when contact was made, when the client met the adviser, and what stage the advice has reached. Several of the things an adviser puts in place, an employer pension contribution for one, are things you need to know about when you next prepare the accounts.