AML compliance is becoming an increasingly important consideration for accountancy and payroll firms. With further regulatory changes expected later this year, now is the time to review your processes and make sure your firm is prepared. 

For many accountancy firms, anti-money laundering compliance has long been part of the day-to-day responsibilities of running a practice. Client due diligence, identity checks, risk assessments, ongoing monitoring and record keeping are all familiar requirements. 

But the AML landscape continues to evolve. 

As regulatory expectations develop and more businesses come within scope of AML requirements, firms need to think beyond simply completing individual checks. They need to consider whether their overall AML processes are consistent, proportionate and robust enough to support the way their practice operates today. 

For payroll providers in particular, changes expected from November 2026 make this an important area to understand now. 

Why AML should be on your agenda in 2026 

AML compliance isn’t simply about responding to a regulatory requirement. Effective processes can help firms understand who their clients are, identify potential risks earlier and create a clearer audit trail around important decisions. 

For growing practices, however, maintaining those processes can become increasingly difficult. 

Client numbers increase. Teams grow. New services are introduced. Different people become responsible for different parts of the client journey. 

Without clear processes, AML checks can become another source of manual administration. 

A client may provide information during onboarding, only for the same information to be requested again later. Risk assessments may be completed differently by different members of the team. Records can end up spread across emails, spreadsheets and separate systems. 

Individually, these may seem like small issues. Across hundreds of clients, they can create significant administrative overhead — and make it harder to demonstrate that your firm’s AML procedures are being followed consistently. 

What’s changing for payroll providers? 

One of the key areas firms need to understand is the anticipated AML changes affecting payroll providers from November 2026. 

For businesses that may be affected, the important question isn’t simply “What are the new rules?” 

It’s also: 

“What do we need to change in our business to comply with them?” 

That could mean reviewing existing client onboarding procedures, updating AML policies, assessing training requirements and considering how checks and records are managed across the practice. 

The earlier firms understand what the changes mean for them, the more time they have to identify gaps and make changes without having to overhaul their processes at the last minute. 

Does your AML process stand up to scrutiny? 

A strong AML framework should extend well beyond an initial identity check. 

Firms should consider the complete compliance journey, including: 

1. Business-wide risk assessment

Your firm’s risk assessment should reflect the nature of your business, your clients, the services you provide and the markets you operate in. 

It’s not a document that should simply be completed once and forgotten. As your practice changes, your assessment may need to change with it. 

2. Client due diligence

Client onboarding is one of the most important points in the AML process. 

Firms need appropriate procedures for establishing and verifying client identity, understanding the nature and purpose of the relationship and identifying any factors that could increase risk. 

3. Ongoing monitoring

AML doesn’t end once a client has been onboarded. 

Firms need to consider how they will identify changes in circumstances or information that could alter a client’s risk profile. 

The challenge is making ongoing monitoring practical when a practice is managing a large client base. 

4. Record keeping and audit trails

It’s important to be able to demonstrate what checks were carried out, when they were completed and what decisions were made as a result. 

A clear digital audit trail can make this considerably easier than relying on disconnected records and manual processes. 

5. Training and accountability

Everyone involved in the relevant client processes needs to understand their responsibilities. 

As firms grow, this becomes particularly important. New employees and team members need appropriate training, while managers need confidence that processes are being followed consistently. 

The technology question 

Technology can play an important role in making AML compliance easier to manage — but simply adding another piece of software isn’t necessarily the answer. 

The bigger question is how AML fits into the wider workflow of the practice. 

For example, if client information is collected during onboarding, can the relevant checks be completed as part of that process? 

Can identity verification and screening be carried out digitally? 

Can risk assessments be managed consistently? 

Can the firm maintain a clear record of the checks that have been completed? 

And can the people responsible for managing clients access the information they need without constantly switching between systems? 

These questions become increasingly important as practices grow. 

The aim should not be to create more technology for the sake of it. It’s about using technology to reduce repetitive administration while creating more consistent and transparent compliance processes. 

Don’t wait until November to review your processes 

Regulatory change can often feel like something that needs to be dealt with when the deadline arrives. 

But AML is different. 

If your firm’s processes need to change, you may need to review policies, update workflows, train staff and consider how technology can support the new requirements. 

That takes time. 

Starting the conversation now gives firms an opportunity to understand what’s changing and identify what, if anything, they need to do differently. 

And even if your current AML processes are already robust, reviewing them can highlight opportunities to make them more efficient, more consistent and easier for your team to manage. 

Join Capium and Veriphy: AML 2026 — What Payroll & Accountancy Firms Need to Do Before November 

Want to understand what the upcoming changes could mean for your business — and what you should be doing now? 

Join Capium and Veriphy on Wednesday 23 September at 11:00am BST for a practical one-hour webinar exploring the evolving AML landscape and the anticipated changes affecting payroll providers. 

We’ll cover: 

• What’s changing: The latest AML developments and what firms need to know  
• November 2026: What the anticipated changes could mean for payroll providers  
• Practical compliance: Risk assessments, KYC, client due diligence and ongoing monitoring  
• Common challenges: Where firms can encounter gaps in their AML processes  
• Technology: How digital tools can help streamline checks, improve consistency and reduce administration  
• What’s next: Practical steps firms can take to prepare for continued regulatory change  

You’ll also have the opportunity to put your questions directly to our AML experts during a live Q&A. 

Don’t just understand the changes — understand what they mean for your practice. 

Wednesday 23 September 2026 | 11:00am–12:00pm BST 

GET AML READY – REGISTER NOW

This webinar is intended to provide general information and practical guidance. Firms should consider their own circumstances and obtain appropriate professional or regulatory advice where necessary. 

The post AML 2026: What Payroll and Accountancy Firms Need to Know Before November appeared first on capium.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance has always been a legal obligation for UK accountancy firms. But as regulatory expectations continue to increase, many practices are realising that simply “ticking the box” is no longer enough. 

Today’s firms need AML processes that are efficient, consistent, and capable of standing up to regulatory scrutiny whenever required. 

The question is: would your practice be able to confidently demonstrate every AML decision if you were reviewed tomorrow? 

AML Is Becoming a Practice-Wide Challenge 

For many firms, AML is still managed through a mixture of spreadsheets, paper records, disconnected systems, and manual reminders. 

While these approaches may have worked in the past, they often create unnecessary risks: 

• Inconsistent client due diligence  
• Missing or incomplete audit trails  
• Time-consuming manual record keeping  
• Difficulty evidencing decisions during inspections  
• Ongoing monitoring becoming an administrative burden  

As client numbers grow, these challenges become even harder to manage. 

Rather than supporting compliance, AML can quickly become one of the biggest operational bottlenecks within a practice. 

From Compliance Burden to Business Confidence 

The most efficient firms are beginning to view AML differently. 

Instead of treating it as a standalone compliance task, they’re embedding AML throughout the client lifecycle; from onboarding and identity verification to ongoing monitoring and risk reviews. 

This creates several important benefits: 

• Faster client onboarding  
• Consistent compliance processes  
• Stronger audit trails  
• Better visibility of higher-risk clients  
• Greater confidence during regulatory inspections  

When AML becomes part of everyday workflows, firms spend less time chasing paperwork and more time serving clients. 

What Regulators Want to See 

Whether you’re supervised by HMRC or a professional body, regulators increasingly expect firms to demonstrate more than simply completing identity checks. 

They want to see: 

• Documented risk assessments  
• Evidence of ongoing monitoring  
• Consistent client due diligence  
• Clear decision-making processes  
• Complete and accessible audit trails  

Having the right technology and workflows in place can make responding to these requests significantly easier. 

Discover a Smarter Approach to AML 

To help firms strengthen their AML processes, Capium has partnered with Veriphy for a practical live webinar focused on building a more efficient, audit-ready approach to compliance. 

Rather than covering theory alone, this session will demonstrate how integrated AML workflows can reduce administration, improve consistency, and help firms stay prepared for regulatory reviews. 

What You’ll Learn 

During the webinar, you’ll discover: 

• Why AML is becoming an increasing priority for UK accountancy firms  
• Common compliance gaps regulators frequently identify  
• How to streamline client onboarding and due diligence  
• Best practice for ongoing monitoring and risk reviews  
• How stronger audit trails can reduce inspection risk  
• Ways to simplify AML through integrated technology  

You’ll also see a live demonstration of how Capium and Veriphy work together to support: 

• Identity verification  
• AML screening  
• Evidence collection  
• Audit-ready record keeping  
• Ongoing client monitoring  
• Who Should Attend? 

This webinar is ideal for: 

• Accountants  
• Bookkeepers  
• Practice owners and partners  
• Compliance managers and MLROs  
• Firms preparing for AML reviews or inspections  
• Practices looking to improve onboarding and compliance workflows  

Join Us Live 

AML doesn’t have to be an administrative burden

With the right processes and technology, it can become a structured, efficient part of your practice that reduces risk, improves consistency, and gives you greater confidence when regulators come calling. 

AML Beyond Compliance: Building a More Confident, Audit-Ready Practice 

📅 Wednesday 15 July 2026
🕚 11:00am BST
🎥 Live Webinar + Q&A 

Register today and discover how Capium and Veriphy can help your practice build smarter AML workflows and stay audit-ready. 

The post AML Beyond Compliance: Is Your Practice Ready for Greater Regulatory Scrutiny? appeared first on capium.

Companies House have contacted all their stakeholders this morning urgently, to inform us that both the xml gateway and their online webfiling is currently unavailable since Friday ant 7:45pm and will not be available today.

They are hoping this will be fixed by tomorrow morning, but there is a chance it could continue further into this week.

Companies House have informed us you will not be penalised for late filing, however they are keeping the original receipt date so filings so transactions will be given the original date.

Some accounts filing may receive a penalty and this will have to be appealed.

Companies House will inform us will let us know once it’s fixed and then any filings sent after 7:45pm on Friday evening would need to be resubmitted.

We will inform you when we receive this prompt. There are currently 100,000 filings now queued, so once they are ready there will be a backlog to consider also, the backlog may take a few days to resolve. We will be updated again at 4pm today and will update you all here after that call.

Companies House have advised to visit this website: About our services – Companies House – GOV.UK 

The post Important Notice: Companies House Filing Services Unavailable – Filing Delays Expected appeared first on capium.

Charities are at the heart of local communities, supporting the causes that matter most. But behind every charity is a financial system that must run smoothly, clear records, SORP-compliant reporting, controlled funds, and increasing regulatory expectations. 

That’s why thousands of UK charities turn to accountants every year. 

And for accountancy firms, charity services are not only meaningful, but they are also becoming a powerful new revenue stream. 

With regulation rising and reporting complexities growing, demand for specialist charity accountants is only increasing. If your firm has been considering expanding into this sector, now is the perfect time to explore it. 

Why Offer Charity Accounting Services? 

Specialising in the not-for-profit sector can help your practice: 

• Diversify your portfolio beyond traditional client types 

• Attract highly loyal clients with recurring annual engagements 

• Meet a growing compliance-driven need in the market 

• Open advisory opportunities reserves planning, fund oversight, budgeting 

• Strengthen community impact while growing your bottom line 

It’s a service that delivers both commercial value and meaningful work. 

The Challenges Charities Face and How Capium Solves Them 

Charity finance isn’t the same as small business bookkeeping. You need specialist tools to: 

• Manage separate restricted and unrestricted funds 

• Produce compliant SORP financial statements 

• Track donations, grants, and Gift Aid 

• Provide audit-ready records to trustees and inspectors 

• Keep data secure and accessible from anywhere 

Capium’s Charities Module is designed specifically for accountants supporting the not-for-profit sector, whether you’re entering the market or growing your existing charity portfolio. 

Capium Gives You Everything You Need: 

✔ SORP-compliant reporting
✔ Full fund accounting
✔ Gift Aid tracking and reporting
✔ Grant and donation management
✔ Cloud access for teams, trustees and auditors
✔ Seamless integration with Capium’s full compliance suite 

It’s built for accuracy, transparency, and trusted collaboration, all while reducing manual admin. 

Why Now? 

Charity clients are some of the most stable, loyal and rewarding relationships a firm can build. 

And to make it even easier to get started… 

This festive season, Capium is offering 20% off our Charities Module so you can:

1. Add a high-value service to your practice.
2. Support organisations who change lives.
3. Grow your advisory impact in 2026 and beyond. 

Ready to Make a Difference for Your Firm and the Community? 

• Book a demo today
• Activate your 20% discount
• Confidently offer specialist charity accounting services in 2026 

Your expertise can empower charities to do even more good, and Capium is here to support you every step of the way. 

Click here to get on the waiting list for a call back to claim your 20% discount.

The post Support the Sector That Supports Others: Grow Your Firm with Charity Accounting appeared first on capium.

Most firms agree that accounting services fall into three main levels: compliance, performance and advisory. 

Compliance sits at the foundation; it involves offering the necessary services to keep clients compliant with the law. The majority of accountancy firms still operate at this level, providing services like tax, financial reporting and bookkeeping. 

The second level on the pyramid, performance, focuses on monitoring the health of clients’ businesses. It involves assessing profitability and providing the underlying narrative behind the business’ financials. 

It’s about looking at the “here and now” of the business, and in this sense performance can be seen as a stepping stone towards true advisory.

Moving towards an advisory proposition

The top of the pyramid, advisory, relates to firms who offer strategic services to clients. 

These firms don’t just provide performance analysis but advise on the best next steps in terms of financial strategy. 

The shift within the accountancy sector from compliance towards an integrated advisory proposition is well documented and discussed. 

A growing number of accountancy firms are adopting an advisory approach, providing business clients with access to value-added services like strategy and consulting. 

Compliance-only firms, on the other hand, face revenue squeezes as the efficiencies of technology-enabled automation create an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Until the emergence of cloud computing, hundreds of hours were allocated to time intensive tasks like bank reconciliation and data cleanup. 

Today, these tasks can be accomplished in just a few minutes by cloud accounting software. 

As a forward thinking accountancy firm, you should aim to move away from being valued for your time to being valued for your expertise by becoming a trusted advisor to your clients. 

Utilise the latest technology to eliminate time-consuming compliance tasks from your working day and use that time to help mould your clients’ strategic outlook, and create a framework for implementation so they can meet their goals. 

Kickstarting the digital journey

The rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD) by HMRC ensured that all firms had to use compatible software to manage their tax and their clients’ tax affairs.

MTD currently covers VAT submissions, however it will be rolled out for income tax and corporation tax in the years to come.

The degree to which firms have taken the opportunity to digitise beyond the regulations required varies. 

As a minimum, all VAT records must be held digitally and accountants must hold digital software capable of transferring client’s financial records across to HMRC. 

The days of piles of paperwork to sort through are past us; now, accountants have more time to focus on their role as an advisor to their clients. 

MTD provided some accountancy practices with the impetus to innovate. 

Instead of just meeting the minimum requirements, they’ve embedded their digital proposition at the heart of their firm. 

These firms are utilising digital tools to the best of their ability to meet those compliance tasks that were traditionally manual, monotonous and time consuming. 

For example, in preparation for MTD covering Corporation Tax, some firms have decided to stay ahead of the curve by implementing software that handles corporation tax returns and facilitates fast, efficient and accurate calculations and submissions direct to HMRC. 

Cloud bookkeeping software allows accountants to access clients’ financial information at the touch of a button, and use that information to automatically produce a client’s annual accounts to submit to Companies House.

Meanwhile, accountants are using cloud payroll software to automate payroll calculation and submission, as well as to automatically generate payslips and offer reporting capabilities.

Why use Capium?

The benefit of using a full suite accountancy management software package, such as Capium, is that you only have to enter your data once, saving you hours on admin. 

Let’s say you run payroll.

The data you input into Capium feeds through to bookkeeping, which then feeds through into accounts production, which also then feeds into corporate tax where applicable. 

In other words, there’s no need to waste time entering the same data across different modules. 

You can wave goodbye to spreadsheets too because Capium lets you compare reports such as P&L, Balance Sheet, Cashflow and Trial Balance easily across different time frames.

Another huge benefit is that everything is hosted in the Cloud, so you and your team can access important client data anywhere using secure two factor authentication. 

START YOUR CAPIUM TRIAL TODAY

Funding and other advisory services

By outsourcing time consuming compliance tasks to technology, accountancy firms can reallocate the time they save to more strategic, value-added work for their clients. 

Automating routine tasks like data entry and complex calculations lets you and your team do more of what your clients value most – providing insight and supporting their business ambitions to help them reach the next level. 

Through offering your advice and expertise, you have the potential to become your clients’ trusted go-to advisor. Businesses naturally require additional services and advice as they continue to grow, and by offering these you’ll have the opportunity to grow alongside them. 

When offering advisory services, it’s important to take a strategic approach that prioritises execution and implementation. 

Like everything in life, we can find ourselves setting ambitious goals without giving proper thought to how we’re going to achieve them.

As an accountant, your value lies in your ability to sit down with a client – either virtually or in-person – and guide them through how they’ll reach their goal and how quickly, whether they want to open another cafe or expand their online business. 

More often than not, companies require funding to fuel their growth plans. For example, let’s say your client is a hairdresser who wants to double their revenue. External funding can provide them with the capital that is required to expand from two salons to four. This will provide the capacity to generate that additional revenue. 

Or, if your client is a manufacturing business who has taken on a large contract as part of their expansion plans, working capital products such as invoice finance or revolving credit facilities can help protect cash flow while production is ramped up. 

Why use Funding Options?

Funding Options, work directly with businesses and their trusted advisors to secure vital business finance. Through an in-depth understanding of the business finance market mixed with technology, you will find financial solutions that fit your business needs.

From short-term cash flow loans to asset finance, joining an advisory platform like Funding Options’ Connect can help you find finance for growth on behalf of your clients.

As long as the amount your client requires finance is between £1000 up to £15M, Funding Options can help. Compare over 120 lenders specialising in different types of finance, including funding that is designed for specific sectors of the economy. 

APPLY FOR FUNDING TODAY

The post Automate compliance so you can focus on profitable advisory work appeared first on capium.