ACCOUNTANTS IN PRACTICE SIG

SIG Co-Chairs

The Accountants in Practice (AiP) SIG is co-chaired by Stuart Miller, Director, Product Compliance & Industry Engagement (UK) at Xero and Kevin Sefton, CEO at untied.  

The AiP SIG is designed to bring together software developers, accountants and accountancy bodies, and representatives from the regulatory bodies such as HM Revenue & Customs, HM Cabinet Office, Companies House and even Members of Parliament themselves.

The Accountants in Practice SIG is currently engaging with:

Meeting quarterly, AiP discusses matters affecting the software products that firms of accountants use and, by extension, their clients. At each meeting, we aim to invite a member from the regulatory bodies to present on future plans and to provide a channel to give feedback and engage on the various matters arising.

Being part of AiP provides an early introduction to matters in the regulatory and compliance environment, many of which have serious strategic impacts upon software developers, their customers, and their customers’ clients.

Current Agenda and Successes

To date, AiP has raised issues on the following:

• Digital Tax Accounts – the group has met with HMRC already to discuss how this might manifest themselves within computer software used by accountants and their clients.
• Identity Assurance and Government Gateway – the body is kept up to date on matters concerning Identity Assurance (now also know as GOV UK Verify) and the continuing lifecycle of the Government Gateway.
• HMRC APIs – the group meets to determine what APIs, as an industry, are required of HMRC and then lobbies when opportunities arise.
• Agent Online Self Service – the group is kept updated by HMRC on the development of AOSS.
• Richer Payments – the group met with a representative of the Payments Council to discuss future additional information to be included with electronic payments, such as payroll information, remittance advice and so on.
• Penalties Regime – the group has provided detailed feedback on research being undertaken by HMRC as to the further automation of the penalties regime.
• Post BREXIT issues including rules for now dealing with trade between the UK and the EU which have been exacerbated by the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) that has caused significant problems for Businesses in the UK.

To get involved with the Accountants in Practice group, contact marketing@basda.org.