Beyond the brief: Where do accountants’ hidden hours go?

Alongside the agreed work sits another layer: the client question that turns into a conversation about the future of the business, the reassurance before a big decision, the software problem that lands in your inbox.

The Hidden Hours of Accountancy research from Sage found that 81% of respondents work outside their scope.

In the first The Hidden Hours of Accountancy episode, which you can watch above, Andrew and Julie Young, managing directors of Walter Dawson & Son Accountants, explore where that time goes. They go on to explain why the support that makes a client relationship valuable can also make the workload harder to contain.

What are accountants’ hidden hours?

Accountants’ hidden hours are the time spent on work surrounding their core services, some of which goes unbilled. That can include chasing information, explaining requirements, answering unexpected questions, helping clients navigate software and providing reassurance when a business decision feels difficult.

Some of this work is necessary to complete an agreed task. Some develops as clients bring more of their concerns to someone they trust. During a busy day, there may be little opportunity to consider how each request fits into the service being paid for.

In the video above, Andrew describes how closely business and personal concerns overlap for small business owners. A problem in the business affects life at home, while a family issue can influence what happens at work. An accountant may become the first person a client approaches because they already understand the business and its history.

Julie describes a similar instinct to help. Asking more questions and understanding what a client wants to achieve can reveal what they actually need from their accountant.

These conversations have professional value. They can lead to better advice and a clearer understanding of the client’s goals. The difficulty is accounting for the time they take and the responsibility they create. When the work stays hidden, it becomes easy to underestimate the time and capacity it really takes to serve its clients well.

How client support grows beyond the brief

Additional support often grows through ordinary interactions. A client asks a question, their accountant helps, and the client gains confidence in them.

Over time, this can become a continuous relationship. Clients want to discuss decisions while they still have options, and accountants have an opportunity to help before a commitment has been made.

Julie’s discussion of ongoing client relationships shows why this matters. Understanding what a client is considering gives an accountant more room to offer useful advice than discovering the decision later in the records.

But the same willingness to help can make it difficult to recognise when the service has expanded. Julie acknowledges that accountants can give valuable support away because they care about their clients and want to solve the problem in front of them.

The Hidden Hours of Accountancy research found that 70% of accountants said their fees do not reflect the support they provide. Alongside Julie’s experience, that finding raises a question about how clearly the full service is understood and recognised.

The client experiences a helpful answer. The accountant fits another conversation between existing commitments. Neither necessarily pauses to discuss whether this is an occasional request or the start of an ongoing need.

Across a client base, those decisions add up. What looks like a manageable favour in isolation can become a regular part of the working week.

The same pattern showed up at Accountex Summit Manchester. Ask the Accountant podcast host Aaron Patrick described how the first Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax quarterly update exposed work his practice had underestimated.

Having participated in the beta programme since 2022, he was confident about filing. Getting clients signed up, receiving their data on time and helping them understand the change proved more challenging.

“I had to completely and utterly rip up my capacity planning,” he said.

For the next stage, his practice was bringing engagement letters forward and setting clearer expectations about fees and what clients needed to provide. Aaron also recognised that repeated communication from his practice did not mean every client understood the change: some were still hearing about it for the first time.

His experience shows why the conversations around a service need space in the plan. Explaining the change, agreeing responsibilities and getting clients ready all take time before the submission itself.

Making that surrounding work visible gives both sides a better basis for discussing the service. Clients can understand what is involved, while practices can plan for the support surrounding the task as well as the task itself.

Why technology changes where the time goes

Technology can make information available sooner and reduce the effort required for individual tasks. It also changes what accountants need to understand and what clients may expect them to do.

Julie describes earlier access to client records as an important change in the profession. When information is available throughout the year, accountants can use it to support decisions closer to the moment they are being made.

That creates opportunities for more timely conversations. Instead of waiting for a client to bring in records, an accountant can work with information already available in the software.

In episode one of The Hidden Hours of Accountancy video series, Andrew highlights the learning involved. Accountants may need to understand several platforms, keep up with changes and help clients work through unfamiliar processes.

A practice can therefore become faster at processing information while spending more time on the activities around it. Looking only at the time technology saves on one task can miss where the work has moved across the rest of the working week.

Continuous access also raises questions about responsibility. Andrew points out that boundaries can become less clear when an accountant can see into a client’s software throughout the year.

A client may assume that someone is watching for problems. Their accountant may expect to review the records at agreed points. Both can believe the other is taking care of something unless the arrangement is made explicit.

Who maintains the records? Who checks them, and how often? What should prompt the client to get in touch?

Answering those questions helps turn shared access into a workable service. It also makes the limits of that service easier to understand.

How to make hidden work visible

A useful starting point is to look at what happens during a normal working week.

Which questions recur? Where do you repeatedly chase information? What software problems do clients bring to you? Which conversations regularly grow beyond the original request?

Recording those patterns can help a practice see where its capacity goes. It can also distinguish valuable support that deserves a clearer place in the service from avoidable administration.

1. Recognise recurring support

If the same kind of request keeps appearing, it may reflect an ongoing client need.

A regular planning conversation, clearer guidance or a defined support arrangement could serve the client better than a series of urgent requests. Recognising the pattern gives you something specific to discuss.

The aim is to understand how the relationship has developed and whether the service still fits.

2. Agree who does what

Where records and software are shared, explain responsibilities in practical terms.

Clients need to know what information they should maintain, what you will review and when they should raise a concern. Clear expectations can reduce uncertainty and give both sides more confidence in the arrangement.

These conversations are particularly useful when introducing software or changing a working process, because familiar assumptions may no longer apply.

3. Review the steps around the task

Look at the process as well as the final activity. Repeated requests for information, disconnected systems and unclear handovers can all add effort.

Aaron described how his practice was using embedded accounting with clients working in Tide.

His clients categorised payments in their banking app, with those categories coming through to his accounting system for review. This allowed them to contribute information through a tool they already used, while the practice retained the work of checking and correcting it.

For Aaron, the appeal was reducing friction in the client relationship. His example also provides a useful way to assess a connected workflow: does it make information easier to provide and review, and is it clear where the accountant’s attention and judgement are still needed?

4. Make room for judgement

Some conversations need time. Understanding a business owner’s ambitions or helping them think through a difficult decision can be central to good advice.

Making this work visible helps a practice decide how to accommodate it. It creates a firmer basis for planning capacity and discussing the service when a client’s needs change.

What would five hours back make possible?

Towards the end of the episode, the conversation turns to what getting five hours back would mean.

The question brings the discussion back to the people doing the work. Time saved has value because of what it makes possible, whether that is a more considered client conversation, space to work on the practice or an evening with fewer unfinished tasks on your mind.

The Hidden Hours of Accountancy research found that 77% of accountants struggle to switch off. That gives the discussion of capacity a personal consequence. How work is organised can affect what people carry beyond the end of the working day.

Julie would invest some of the time in thinking about her own business and how to move it forward. Helping clients can absorb so much attention that there is little space left to consider the practice’s own goals.

Their answers reveal two things hidden hours can displace: time away from work and time to plan its future. For Andrew, getting time back would mean a Saturday away from work. For Julie, it would mean space to plan the future of her own practice—the kind of thinking she helps clients do for theirs.

Final thoughts

Start with your own last working week. Identify one recurring piece of work that has grown beyond the agreed service. Is it support that needs a clearer place, an expectation that needs discussing or a process that could work better?

Use that example to begin a conversation with your team or client about what should change.

Getting time back starts with understanding where it is going. Making hidden work visible gives you the opportunity to decide what should be valued, redesigned or simply done differently.