Firm Snapshot

Altitude Advisors provides accounting and compliance services to small and medium-sized businesses. The practice runs around 20 compliance jobs, or 35 tax returns, every week across a team of nine: two partners, three senior accountants, two accountants and two admin staff.

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At that volume, compilation was never just an admin task. It was the step everything else waited on, and the bottleneck the whole firm felt. It is also where Abby fits, software created by a Chartered Accountant who still actively runs an accounting practice, one of Altitude's own partners. That is why it is designed around real compliance workflows and the practical day-to-day needs of accountants, and why the team was ready to adopt it.

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Before: The Old Workflow

What Compliance Looked Like

Before Abby, Altitude outsourced the compilation work. The outsourced team prepared the accounts and sent them back ready for review. It took the processing off the accountants, but the trade-off was a process that ran on someone else's timeline.

Where It Broke Down

Missing information was one of the biggest frustrations. Jobs would come through for review incomplete because information had been overlooked. Quality was inconsistent too, and senior accountant Corlia often had to send jobs back to the outsourcing team for corrections. By the time the updated version returned, one or two weeks later, she had to spend additional time getting familiar with the client again. Admin requests and outsourced compilation could take weeks, depending on the outsourcing team's availability.

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"Missing information was one of the biggest frustrations. Jobs would come through for review incomplete because information had been overlooked." - Corlia, Senior Accountant, Altitude Advisors

The Trigger

For Corlia, the doubts went back to the start. From the time she joined Altitude Advisors and was introduced to outsourcing, she felt it was not the right long-term solution. Abby presented an opportunity to bring the work back in-house while improving both quality and efficiency at the same time.

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It was a combination of factors rather than one moment: the chance to increase capacity for growth, reduce the need for additional staff, bring compliance work back in-house, improve quality through automated checks against external source documents, and improve client turnaround.

The Decision

For Corlia, the key must-have was simple. Quality of work. Staying with the outsourcer, hiring more staff or building templates in-house were all options on paper, but none held up against the chance to bring the work back in-house with Abby, and the team was very excited to do exactly that.

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What settled it was confidence. As a reviewer, Corlia wanted to know the underlying work had been done properly before it reached her, so her time went on judgement rather than rechecking.

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"Abby gives me confidence that the work has been thoroughly checked. As a reviewer, I can focus on variances and higher-level review points rather than spending time rechecking basic processing work." - Corlia, Senior Accountant, Altitude Advisors

During: The Rollout

How They Made the Change

Altitude made a clean break from outsourcing because the team believed strongly in Abby and its ability to support the workflow. There was no drawn-out hybrid period, and adoption was not a problem.

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"The transition was very natural because Abby's workflow closely matches what accountants are already used to. After two or three jobs, the process becomes straightforward and easy to follow." - Corlia, Senior Accountant, Altitude Advisors

The New Workflow

The roles simply changed shape. Abby now effectively replaces the compiler role: it completes the reconciliations, compares information to external source documents, and prepares draft journals for items such as IRD penalties and interest, accruals and stock. Corlia's role as reviewer is now focused on checking and approving rather than redoing work, with the detailed preparation already handled by the time a job reaches her.

After: The Results

By the Numbers

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What Changed

The change shows up the moment a job lands for review. As a reviewer, Corlia saves significant time because all the supporting information is already there, Abby handles much of the detailed work, and she can focus mainly on variances and review points.

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"The reduction from 6-8 hours down to 1.5-2 hours matches our experience depending on the size of the job. If the bookkeeping in Xero is accurate, I have completed jobs in under 45 minutes from start to finish." - Corlia, Senior Accountant, Altitude Advisors

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The saving starts at the front of the job too. Once client information is received, loading into Abby takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to reach review stage, where the same step used to mean waiting weeks on the outsourcing team. Where the processing is accurate, Corlia has done multiple reviews in under an hour depending on the size of the entity.

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The effect carries through to clients and the team. Turnaround times are much quicker, workpapers are more professional, and Abby even creates meeting agendas for client discussions, so the overall client experience has improved significantly. It made for the smoothest year-end the practice has experienced, with far less stress because jobs were completed on time. The only jobs not completed were the ones where clients had not yet provided their information, which is out of the firm's control.

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"The biggest improvement for me is confidence in the output and peace of mind knowing the figures have been properly checked." - Corlia, Senior Accountant, Altitude Advisors

Bottom Line

Altitude Advisors did not just speed up compliance. It removed the missing information, the inconsistent quality and the long waits that came with outsourcing, and replaced them with a workflow the whole office can run. Asked what she would tell a senior accountant weighing up whether to keep outsourcing or bring the work back in-house, Corlia does not hesitate.

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"Without hesitation, I would recommend bringing it back in-house with Abby." - Corlia, Senior Accountant, Altitude Advisors

What's Next

Abby is embedded in how Altitude works, and the development is ongoing. The next improvements include clients uploading their information directly into Abby and further IRD integration, which will reduce the admin workload again. As Corlia puts it, Abby is already delivering significant value, and as development continues, further refinements and additional functionality will make the workflow even stronger.

See How Abby Prepares Compliance Work Papers

Understanding how compliance work papers fit together is one thing. Seeing the process in action is another.

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If you’d like to see how Abby generates a full set of work papers.From gathering client data through to review,  we’re happy to walk you through it.

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Book a demo and we’ll show you how the workflow runs in practice.

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Timing and figures described qualitatively by Altitude Advisors and based on their direct estimates. Results may vary.