Audience research
Part of Accounting services audience research: a practical method
A consistent way to research rival accounting firms, from entity checks to pricing
Research accounting service competitors in England with a consistent checklist for entities, scope, evidence, pricing, claims and customer routes.
What to take away
- Build one checklist, apply it to every firm on the same date, and save the evidence before you compare.
- Verify identity at Companies House, designations at ICAEW, ACCA or CIMA, and audit registration separately.
- Compare scope line by line, then normalise price for the same entity, transaction band and headcount.
- Refresh fees and personnel claims every six months, and statutory filings on their own cycle.
Fix the field and the evidence rules
Set the customer, service, English geography and decision before opening any website. Write the review date and the source hierarchy at the top of the file.
- Name the customer type, service, geography and decision under study.
- List direct, local, remote, specialist and self-service alternatives.
- Separate a practice from a software supplier, a directory and a referral platform.
- Record why each firm entered or left the sample, and fix the cut-off date.
- Rank sourcesfilings, registers, proposal terms, website, review sites.
ONS business activity, size and location data shows industry and regional structure, not provider competence.
If the buyer is still a guess, researching who actually buys accounting services names the customer before you shortlist.
Define the research field
- State customer, service, geography, decision
- Include direct, local, remote, specialist alternatives
- Record why each organisation entered or left
- Separate practice, software, directory, referral platform
- Fix review date and evidence hierarchy
Verify identity, designations and audit registration
Start with the Companies House register for the legal name, company number, registered address and filing history. Then check designations in the live directories of ICAEW, ACCA or CIMA, because "qualified accountant" is not a licence.
| Check | Where to verify |
|---|---|
| Legal name, company number, filing history | Companies House |
| Chartered status and practising certificate | ICAEW, ACCA or CIMA member directories |
| Statutory audit registration | The firm's recognised supervisory body |
| Money-laundering supervision | HMRC or the firm's professional body |
| Awards, partnerships, software certifications | The awarding body's dated page |
Statutory audit sits under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and the FRC's Key Facts and Trends series separates professional bodies from statutory-audit recognition. Money-laundering supervision sits with HMRC or the firm's professional body, and says nothing about service quality.
Verify identity and claims
- Capture legal and trading name, number, address
- Check professional designations in live directory
- Verify statutory-audit registration separately
- Identify money-laundering supervisor
- Save dated evidence for awards and certifications
- Mark unsupported statements and contact firm
Compare scope, then normalise price
A navigation menu is not a service list. Ask for current proposal terms, then record scope on a fixed template.
- Included entities, tasks, periods and deliverables.
- Exclusions, referrals and specialist-review conditions.
- Records, approvals and deadlines you must supply.
- Whether clean-up is assessed before routine pricing.
Compare the same entity, transaction band, headcount and scope. The bands below are illustrative for a small England limited company, not market averages or quotes.
| Service | Illustrative band, excluding VAT | Main drivers |
|---|---|---|
| Annual accounts and CT600 | from around £300 to £900 a year | turnover, bank accounts, record quality |
| Bookkeeping | around £25 to £60 an hour, or £150 to £400 a month | transaction volume, software, catch-up |
| Payroll | around £5 to £15 per employee a month, with a monthly minimum | headcount, pensions, CIS |
A price without a scope is not a comparison.
Separate recurring fee, onboarding, clean-up, software and out-of-scope charges, and note VAT treatment and contract length. Record an undisclosed price as undisclosed.
Hold the bands beside your own numbers in a budget template covering fees, VAT and contingency.
Example: a Leeds practice through the checklist
This example is an illustrative composite, not a profile of one named practice. The subject is a three-partner limited company in Leeds, incorporated in 2011.
Companies House shows one active director and accounts filed on time. The website claims "chartered accountants" and "audit ready". The ICAEW directory confirms two members, and the recognised supervisory body's audit register shows no registration, so "audit ready" stays unverified.
The published price page quotes £750 for annual accounts and £220 a month for bookkeeping, excluding VAT. CIS returns and pension auto-enrolment are absent from the scope, so both stay out of scope.
Refresh, correct and keep the language symmetrical
Set short review periods for fees, staff claims, software partnerships, regulatory status and service pages. Company filings and archived terms stay as historical evidence with their original date.
Build a source log with URL, retrieval date, page, claim, scope and a saved copy. Give each finding a confidence level and expiry, and have a second person reproduce a sample.
Send material factual points to the firm before publication and record the reply, while keeping editorial independence.
Audit your wording for symmetry: if one firm is criticised for an undisclosed price, every firm with the same absence gets the same treatment. Where evidence is missing, say it was not found by the cut-off.
Turn findings into action using the channel choices tested against customer evidence before copying a competitor feature.
Common questions
How should I handle a firm that does not disclose its price?
Record it as undisclosed and treat it the same as any other silent firm. Compare scope and inclusions, then ask for a written proposal covering clean-up, software and out-of-scope work.
Which registers should I check, and what does each one prove?
Companies House proves identity and filing history, while ICAEW, ACCA or CIMA directories prove membership. The recognised supervisory body confirms audit registration, and HMRC confirms money-laundering supervision only.
How often should I refresh the evidence?
Review fees, staff numbers and software claims every six months. Company filings and archived terms stay as historical evidence with their original date attached.
