Calastone's Fund Flow Index recorded £315m of UK equity fund outflows in August 2026 — the fourteenth month in fifteen, and £15.16bn since June 2025. Why cash is a taxed asset in a way an unsold holding is not, a worked example of a £95,000 earner whose £250,000 cash pile costs £4,425 in tax at an effective 47.2%, the £100,000 personal allowance trap it walks clients into, and two lists to run against the client base this week.
Read article → · 9 min readThe DHSC circular of 17 February 2026 froze England’s care capital limits at £23,250 and £14,250 for a sixteenth consecutive year. Why the change of signatory on a tax return is the most reliable later-life signal a practice ever receives, a worked example of an 84-year-old client with a £310,000 house and £190,000 in savings facing a £37,133 annual gap, the one question about the house that must never be answered across the desk, and three things to run against your client list this week.
Read article → · 10 min readVanguard research reported on 7 September 2026 found 59% of around 200 advisers surveyed are likely to adapt their models to offer simplified advice. What the FCA is actually consulting on in CP26/10, why the shift from “necessary” to “sufficient” information puts the weight on scope, a worked example of a 61-year-old director with £340,000 in the company account and five facts a narrow fact-find would never ask for, and the one question to agree in the practice this week.
Read article → · 10 min readFCA research published 27 August 2026 found four in five less experienced investors have used AI for help with investing, and 44% mistakenly believe AI-generated financial information is regulated. Why the question now arrives at the accountant as a conclusion rather than a question, what the 32% who expect FSCS or Ombudsman cover are actually missing, a worked example of £64,000 of surplus company cash, and the two things to agree in the practice this week.
Read article → · 10 min readThe FCA decided on 3 September 2026 to ban an adviser and fine him £742,700 over defined benefit transfer advice he was not permitted to give — 53 clients, 63 transfers, five years. Why authorisation and permission are two different records, what the scope of an appointed representative’s appointment actually bounds, the fifteen-minute check worth doing once per firm, and the form of words to agree before the next deferred final salary scheme appears in a year-end meeting.
Read article → · 9 min readAJ Bell warned on 2 September 2026 that Budget speculation is pushing clients into decisions they cannot undo. FCA data shows an extra £10bn of tax-free cash left pensions before the 2024 Budget. The Budget is 28 October: what taking £100,000 early actually costs when nothing changes, why the £3,000 CGT exemption is worth £720 a year, the holding answer to write down this week, and the half of the question an accountant must not answer.
Read article → · 9 min readAn FOI request by LCP’s Steve Webb, reported 1 September 2026, shows pensioners paying tax at 40% or 45% have risen from 494,000 in 2021/22 to 1.092 million in 2026/27. Why the full new State Pension leaves about £22 of Personal Allowance, what a £42,000 drawdown does to the tax on £8,000 of savings interest, the money purchase annual allowance trap at £10,000, and the list to sort this week.
Read article → · 9 min readHMRC opened a technical consultation on 6 August 2026, closing 28 September, on the transitional rules for the pension age rising from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028. Two dates of birth split every client list into three groups — and the middle one, born between 6 April 1971 and 5 April 1973, gets a window that opens at 55 and shuts again for up to two years. A client born 1 July 1972 has 280 days to decide; one born 1 March 1973 has 36. The filter to run this week, and the line an accountant should not cross.
Read article → · 9 min readHMRC published its first official cryptoasset gains statistics on 27 August 2026: 17,600 individuals, £13.8bn of disposal proceeds, £1.38bn of gains, an average of £78,000 each — and 240 people over £1m. The tax on an illustrative £78,000 gain, why exchange data arriving in 2027 changes every conversation held before it, and the query to run across your returns this week.
Read article → · 11 min readProfessional Adviser reports that accountancy–adviser tie-ups are moving past referral arrangements towards jointly branded joint ventures — DJH with Perspective in January 2026, TaxAssist Plus Financial Planning in July. The three structures a practice can actually occupy, what changes when your name goes on a regulated business, an illustrative comparison for a three-partner firm, and the count to run this week.
Read article → · 9 min readAn FCA-authorised wealth firm entered administration on 24 August 2026. What the FSCS actually covers, why custody protection answers a different question from advice liability, and the two checks worth doing this week.
Read article → · 9 min readHMRC is issuing 1.8 million Simple Assessment letters for 2025–26, with a second tranche built on bank and building society interest due between October and December. Most of them exist for one reason: cash held in a client’s own name passed the £1,000 or £500 Personal Savings Allowance. The £760 bill on an illustrative £60,000 balance, the two dated changes coming on 6 April 2027, and the one query to run across your correspondence this week.
Read article → · 8 min readResearch commissioned by IG and reported on 21 August 2026 found 41% of UK investors have acted on an investment tip seen on social media — and 45% of those lost money, at an average of £802. Separate TSB research puts the loss rate at 56% and regret at 59%. The advice gap did not stay empty. The rate applied to a 400-client list, why the accountant hears the question first, and the one line to add to the year-end agenda this week.
Read article → · 8 min readHMRC collected £322.7bn in the four months to July 2026 — £19.1bn more than last year, with £13.2bn of that increase in Income Tax, CGT and NICs alone. Almost none of it came from a new tax. It came from thresholds standing still: a £325,000 nil-rate band fixed until 2031 and a £3,000 CGT allowance. The £140,000 bill that appears in one illustrative estate on 6 April 2027 without the client doing anything, and the threshold pass to run this week.
Read article → · 8 min readThe FCA has warned again about unregulated loan notes and mini-bonds, and named accountants among the professionals who see them. The exemption that lets a banned promotion reach an ordinary investor turns on annual income of £100,000 or net assets of £250,000 — figures the accountant is usually the only person who already knows. Where it surfaces in the records, and two things to do this week.
Read article → · 9 min readAlmost nine in ten advisers say tax wrapper decisions have got harder in three years. What that tells an accountant about the clients making the same decision with nobody in the room.
Read article → · 8 min readTen firms now serve 89% of discretionary wealth clients, and the FCA says pricing is not always clear or easy to compare. What its 2026 survey means for the clients you introduce.
Read article → · 9 min readThe National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Act 2026 caps the NIC exemption on salary-sacrificed pension contributions at £2,000 a year from 6 April 2029. HMRC puts 7.7 million employees in these arrangements and 3.3 million above the limit. What it costs one employee on £48,000, why the Treasury expects the yield to halve in year two, and the one payroll report that gives every client the number three years early.
Read article → · 9 min readPensioner poverty has risen from 15.7% to 18.6%, and new research from LCP finds single retirees are driving all of it — couples’ rates are flat. Two-thirds of single pensioners in poverty are women, and divorced single pensioners have tripled since 2002 to 1.5 million. Marital status is a change your practice records first, four moments in your own year where it surfaces, and why the Pensions Commission’s spring 2027 report comes too late for a settlement signed this month.
Read article → · 9 min readThe allowance is £3,000, main rates are 18% and 24%, and Business Asset Disposal Relief reaches 18% this year — an £80,000 swing on a £1m qualifying gain in two tax years. The accountant computes the gain nine to twenty-two months after every lever has closed. HMRC’s own age data, the 60-day property trap, and two queries to run this week.
Read article → · 10 min readMore than 436,000 sole traders and landlords have filed a first Making Tax Digital quarterly update, and 570,000 have signed up — a gap of roughly 134,000 on HMRC’s own numbers. The compliance story is the small one. What changed is the cadence at which an accountant sees a client’s finances, for exactly the population the advice market has walked away from. The September auto-signup, the April 2027 threshold, and five signals a quarterly rhythm surfaces that January did not.
Read article → · 9 min readFrom 6 April 2027 unused pensions fall into the estate for inheritance tax — and business property relief, agricultural property relief, loss on sale relief and the instalment option all stop at the pension boundary. AJ Bell calls it a two-tier system. The liquidity problem inside a SSAS that owns the trading premises, why the charge lands on the personal representative, and the exemption HMRC will not apply for you.
Read article → · 9 min readDividend rates rose on 6 April 2026, so the marginal pound stays in the company — and the balance nobody has taken a decision about is assessed by three separate rules at once. The excepted assets trap, the trading company test, and the working capital note that does two jobs at the next year-end meeting.
Read article → · 8 min readHMRC’s first mandatory registration window closes on 18 August 2026 — and for most established practices it is the wrong deadline to worry about. Which entity in your group is actually in phase one, the conditions that test your own firm rather than your clients, and why financial services organisations joining the same regime on 31 December matters to joined-up client work.
Read article → · 9 min read835,000 trusts and estates sit on HMRC’s register, and it is accountants who put most of them there. From 6 April 2027 unused pension funds enter the estate for inheritance tax — which turns a compliance list into the most legible planning list in the practice. The arithmetic, the three filters, and what the register does not show you.
Read article → · 8 min readThe FCA’s targeted support regime went live in April and Royal London is now reporting real take-up. It reaches millions by making suggestions to customer segments — which is exactly why the accountant, who holds the committed cash, the dated event and the personal guarantee, sees what the provider structurally cannot.
Read article → · 9 min readNew Scottish Widows research finds 45% of SME owners have never sought business protection advice, and 23% of SMEs could not trade on without one person. Owner dependency is already disclosed in the accounts — here is the filter to run this week, and the one question to change in the year-end meeting.
Read article → · 8 min readGood clients almost never leave over the accounts. They leave when somebody else becomes the first phone call. What one relationship is worth, what changes inside the firm, and the one-hour count that tells you whether this is for you.
Read article → · 7 min readMost firms hesitate because the fortnight after the introduction is invisible to them. Here are all six steps, who carries each one, and the two hours of partner time it actually costs.
Read article → · 7 min readStrong profit, idle cash, a director turning 55, a buyer's first phone call. The financial planning conversation is already in the accounts you review every year.
Read article → · 5 min readThe IFA market now serves 59-year-olds with £411k portfolios — most of your clients are neither. The five conversations falling through the cracks, the financial case for your firm, and the structure that fixes it. For forward-thinking accountants ready to become the most important professional in their clients' lives.
Read it → · 15 min readMost business owners get accounting advice and financial advice from people who never speak. Here is what changes when the accountant and the financial planner work from the same picture.
Read article → · 4 min readThe clean division of labour between an accountancy firm and a regulated financial planner — and the exact line accountants should never cross.
Read article → · 4 min readBusiness owners spend years maximising the sale price and days planning what the money must do afterwards. The joined-up exit fixes that — starting two years before completion.
Read article → · 5 min readNo cost, no FCA obligations — and a partnership manager who does the heavy lifting with you.