The four routes open to your firm
There are four ways an accountancy firm can get financial advice to its clients.
There are four ways an accountancy firm can get financial advice to its clients.
| Refer to a local IFA | Get your firm authorised | Hire an adviser | Altro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FCA authorisation | None needed | Your firm applies, and carries it | Your firm applies, and carries it | None needed, as it sits with Equity & General |
| Cost to start | Nothing | Application, permissions, compliance function, capital adequacy | An adviser’s salary | Nothing |
| Professional indemnity | Unchanged | New cover for regulated advice | New cover for regulated advice | Unchanged |
| Who your client meets | Whichever adviser the IFA firm assigns | Your own adviser | Your own adviser | A dedicated Equity & General Account Manager |
| What you hear back | Depends on the IFA | Everything | Everything | Every introduction recorded in your portal, from first call to advice in place |
| Income to the practice | Depends on the arrangement | All of it, less the cost of the permissions | All of it, after the salary | A share in the initial revenue, with a choice of ongoing income or capital value linked to managed client assets |
| If it does not work | Stop referring | You still hold the permission and its costs | Redundancy costs | Stop introducing. No tie-in, no minimum, no exit fee |
| Time to first client advised | A week | Six to twelve months | Three to six months, plus recruitment | Depends on the arrangement |
There is no joining fee, no licence and no minimum number of introductions.
Your firm shares in the initial revenue from each client it introduces, and chooses one of two commercial models to suit its plans.
Pension and investment assets from your firm’s introductions are recorded against your firm, and their ownership is shared between your firm and Equity & General. If either side wants to sell its share, the other has first refusal at an independent valuation. If the other side declines, both go to market together.
Your firm’s model is set out in an Introducer Agreement before anything starts.
Reading and signing the Introducer Agreement, and one call to choose your commercial model. Your engagement letters and professional indemnity cover do not change.
A session for whoever runs your year-end meetings on the six moments, the approved wording and where regulated advice starts. New staff can do the training in the portal.
You raise it in a meeting you were already having, record the introduction in the portal, and the client’s Equity & General Account Manager contacts them within one working day.
The portal shows the stage of every introduction. You can sit in on the financial planner’s meetings if you want to.
What was recommended, what is in progress, and which clients the portal has listed since.
It depends on how much of the conversation the firm wants to hold itself.
One partner owns the relationship, spots the moments in their own client meetings and makes every introduction. It reaches only that partner’s clients.
The people who run year-end meetings are trained on the six moments and the approved wording, and raise an introduction when they see one. This needs the hour of training and a partner checking quality.
The portal checks the whole client list against Companies House and the filed accounts, and shows which clients have something to plan. The firm works from that list.
No. Equity & General is directly FCA authorised and is responsible for the advice. Your firm makes the introduction and needs no FCA permissions and no change to its professional indemnity cover.
Your firm. Client communications go out from your firm’s portal in your firm’s name. Your Equity & General Partnership Manager works alongside you, and you see every stage in the portal.
Your clients get financial planning alongside the accounts and tax work, a named Equity & General Partnership Manager is your firm’s point of contact year after year, and every introduction is recorded in your portal through to the advice being in place.
Consumer Duty applies to Equity & General as the regulated firm. Client communications sent from the portal are reviewed by Equity & General compliance before they can go out. The partner agreement records your firm’s role.
Yes. The introduction comes from you, Equity & General contacts the client because you asked them to, and the portal shows you what was recommended. Equity & General does not prepare accounts or file returns.
Equity & General. The suitability report is written by Equity & General, the advice is given under its FCA permissions, and its professional indemnity cover stands behind it. The partner agreement records your firm’s role as the introduction, which keeps it outside regulated activity. Your firm must not recommend a course of action, and the training and the approved wording cover where that line is.
The conversation happens in a meeting the client was already coming to, about something in their own accounts. The first meeting is with the Equity & General Account Manager and is free. No advice is given on that call. The advice comes from the client’s own financial planner, and if there is nothing to do, the financial planner says so.
Your firm’s work is seeing the client’s position, raising it with the client and recording the introduction in the portal. The fact-find, the research, the report, the compliance file and the annual review are done by Equity & General.
If you know an accountancy firm that would suit Altro, introduce them.
Refer an accountantEquity & General is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. There is no charge to your firm, and we do everything to set it up for you.