Compliance is changing — should accountancy firms still offer company secretarial services?

For a long time, company secretarial work has been one of the jobs done quietly in the background of many accountancy practices. It’s not flashy, but it’s familiar, makes clients’ lives easier and is an easy bolt on to the core services. But with regulatory changes kicking in and the costs of non compliance climbing, this side of the business is starting to look less like a safe extra and more like a growing risk. The new rules brought in through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act are raising the bar. From autumn 2025, directors and people with significant control will need to verify their identity with Companies House, and there’ll be tighter
rules around anti-money laundering, due diligence and general transparency, aiming to make the UK a safer place for businesses to work. There are signals that a new era is beginning, where company secretarial work is higher stakes – regulated activity with serious consequences for getting it wrong.

For accountancy firms, the shifting landscape raises a bigger, more strategic question around whether continuing to offer company secretarial services in-house is still the right call.

There are obvious challenges. Complying with the new regime takes time, headspace and resources. It means investing in better systems, specialist staff, training and often external consultants just to stay on the right side of the rules. It’s not particularly exciting, let’s be honest. And unlike other parts of an accountant’s workload, this kind of compliance work isn’t high-margin. It’s detailed, repetitive and increasingly expensive to get right.

Bigger firms may be able to absorb the cost and keep the service running. But for smaller practices, the return might not be enough to justify the risk. A recent strategy conversation with a corporate services provider summed it up well: to make this work profitable, you need scale. A handful of clients adding it as a bolt on won’t cut it. You need proper infrastructure, streamlined systems and a business model built for volume.

That’s not how most firms are set up. Company secretarial work has often been treated as an add-on, something you do alongside the core offer. It’s been manageable, because the rules have been relatively light and clients don’t ask too many questions. But that’s changing fast. With tighter oversight, more scrutiny, and increasing expectations from both regulators and clients, the risk-reward balance has shifted.

This is why we’re likely to see the market become more concentrated. As the compliance demands rise, many  firms – both legal and accounting – are stepping away, passing their clients to trusted partners who do this work full-time. This isn’t about losing business. It’s about protecting it. Good relationships depend on trust, and sometimes the best way to honour that trust is to bring in a specialist.

Outsourcing to a corporate services provider doesn’t mean giving up control. It means knowing where your strengths lie. It means focusing your time and energy on the work that delivers the most value – whether that’s advisory, strategic planning, tax guidance or growth support. Most clients don’t want to worry about the logistics of a director change or a confirmation statement. They just want it done properly. If someone else can do that faster, better and more reliably, it makes sense to let them. Plus it’s not the kind of work you as an accountant want to be doing. It’s not what people dream of their career revolving around when they are studying. They would rather focus on the high value, knotty problems that get them fired up.

Technology will help, but it won’t replace the need for expertise. Yes, there are apps and automation tools out there to support AML checks and ID verification. AI will no doubt streamline some of the more mechanical processes. But even with the best tech, you still need the right people, the right training and clear internal systems. The most important thing isn’t dazzling innovation. it’s not messing it up. It’s making sure filings are correct, deadlines are met and your clients don’t hear from Companies House for the wrong reasons. No one wants a letter dropping on their mat.

So what’s the decision? For many accountancy firms, especially smaller ones, stepping away from company secretarial services is less of a retreat and more a smart, strategic pivot. It’s a way to reduce risk, free up resource and double down on what you do best. But it does depend on having the right partner. That needs to be someone who knows the landscape, gets your business and can look after your clients the way you would.

So rather than thinking about abandoning a service line, consider it to be evolving with the market. Compliance work is getting more complex, not less. Clients will still need help – and probably more of it – but that help might be better delivered by people who live and breathe this every day.

In the end, it’s about focus and playing your strengths. And it’s about recognising that in a world of rising expectations, the safest move might be stepping back – not because you can’t do it, but because you’ve got something more valuable to offer instead.