Northern Accountants launches R&D service with WhisperClaims partnership

Northern Accountants has partnered with WhisperClaims to deliver research and development tax services as part of its offering to clients, while unlocking new revenue streams.

Northern Accountants was established in 2008 in Leeds, and since then, has continued to grow – acquiring two offices in Liverpool and Hull, reaching almost £2m pounds GRF (gross recurring fees) and a team of 24 accountants.

The accountancy general practice provides forecasting, insights and software training. However, one missing area that it identified a few years ago was research and development.

Phil Ellerby, founder of Northern Accountants, said: “We didn’t touch research and development tax because it’s a specialist area. The team at Northern Accountants were comfortable with what research and development was and wasn’t, but the structure of putting a claim together was something that we didn’t have the expertise or the time to do – as you have to ensure that it is both tangible and viable.

“It was clear that there was a gap in our services that we could offer our clients. There were times when we weren’t prepared to submit a research and development claim on behalf of our clients because we didn’t believe that what had been produced was factual. Instead, we wanted to provide them with a streamlined research and development process where we could both prepare and submit the claims – without using third parties.”