From the kitchen table to two offices: how Neon Numbers scaled with TaxCalc and Engager

Neon Numbers was a team of eight when TaxCalc came in, a smaller group to bring along, but still no mean feat.

 "It was a Friday we were using one software, and you come in on the Monday and it’s a totally new software. But because of the ease of workflow, it was quite easy to implement the changes.”

As the firm grew from eight staff to twenty, that ease of workflow became the backbone of how Neon Numbers trains new joiners. “There’s always teething issues with growth,” Rob admits, “but having set systems for how you produce a tax return, or accounts, and so on, has given us a lot more clarity. New staff have systems, work in progress and standard operating procedures they can just come in and follow.” TaxCalc, he says plainly, is “committed to, it’s really good,” and has kept pace as the firm has scaled.

Rob wasn’t looking for new software when he attended TaxCalc’s Fusion event in London but Engager, the practice management solution that sits on top of TaxCalc, Xero, HMRC and Companies House, changed that.

 "The jump to Engager has stopped us using spreadsheets and extra pieces of software, because we can now fully trust the practice management software that all of our deadlines are going to be met.”

Even with a strong preference for TaxCalc’s interface over ███’s, Rob found Engager’s jobs page in a class of its own: “You can see who’s doing what, when, and when the deadlines are occurring. The user interface and ease of use of the software is really the selling point.”

Real clarity and real hours back

As Neon Numbers has grown, Rob’s own role has shifted from working in the business to working on it. Engager, he says, has been central to making that shift possible.

“It’s really important I can see who all the clients are being serviced by, whether deadlines are being met, which member of staff is producing which amount of work, who’s responsible for what, how much time has been spent on each job."

That visibility has a direct payoff. “It’s definitely saved me a good 10 or so hours a month in generating reports, analysing reports and then feeding back on those reports,” Rob says. “I can see, within two or three clicks, who’s working on what, when I’m expecting to receive the final work, or when the client’s going to be serviced.” Asked whether it’s paying for itself, his answer is simple: “It is now.”

Getting the data right

Rob is candid that the transition took commitment. Neon Numbers had originally been considering SmartVault for a client portal before an honest conversation with TaxCalc’s Danielle redirected them toward the combined TaxCalc/Engager upgrade instead, avoiding the need to run two separate systems.

“The guys at Engager were brilliant about telling me how important the data upload is. that’s the key. Computers make errors because the data isn’t there. So we have to make sure the data is there, and then it’s worked.”

The benefit that’s stood out most for Rob, beyond reporting, is how Engager’s “app stack” has transformed onboarding new clients, linking TaxCalc with tools like Xama, Adfin and Xero in a single process.

“In one onboarding process, we can create the client into TaxCalc with matching references and addresses, create their anti-money-laundering check through Xama with two clicks, create their direct debit with Adfin with two clicks, create their letter of engagement and proposal and send it off, create their online portal, and send a letter of professional clearance to the outgoing accountant, all from one page. I’ve done a full client onboarding in less than 40 minutes. That’s probably four or five times quicker than it would have been before.”

Rob’s senior staff are now seeing the same benefits as they take on new clients themselves and there’s more still to explore.

“The bit we haven’t finished playing with yet is the client portal,” he says. “We’ve gone down the simple road of signed tax returns, VAT returns and P60s being available in the portal, but I know there’s more we can experiment with.”

What’s next

Rob is watching closely for tighter integration between the two systems, particularly around address formatting, He’s reassured by how Engager handles feature requests.

“I know the two-way integration is on its way. What’s good with Engager is they’ve got a website where you can request features, it’ll tell you if a feature’s already been requested, that they’re working on it, and when it’s going to be released. I feel like we’re in safe hands”

 

NB: Names of competitor software vendors have been redacted at their request.