Making Tax Digital · Accountants
Monitoring MTD filing progress across an accountancy practice
ONLY£15A MONTHA useful practice dashboard answers a precise question: which business update is complete, and what is preventing the next one from progressing?
A useful practice dashboard answers a precise question: which business update is complete, and what is preventing the next one from progressing? A single green indicator beside a client's name can hide missing work where that client has more than one business.
Define statuses by evidence
Use distinct stages for records requested, records complete, queries open, reviewed, approved, submitted and accepted. Define what qualifies for each status. “Submitted” should not silently mean “a team member intended to send it”.
Track the person, business, tax year and period together. Separate the sole trade from UK or foreign property where required. If your software does not provide the exact view needed, use a controlled practice workflow rather than claiming an unverified product feature exists.
Make exceptions actionable
Assign an owner and next step to missing records, access problems and review questions. Record the last meaningful action and the dependency blocking progress. Repeatedly changing a due date without resolving the dependency creates a misleading sense of movement.
Limit access to appropriate client information. A practice-wide progress view rarely needs detailed personal transactions or sensitive documents displayed in the task title.
Worked example: a misleading completion total
A practice has ten clients, two of whom each need two business updates. That creates twelve relevant updates. Ten accepted updates do not necessarily mean all ten clients are complete.
The dashboard should show which two obligations remain and why. Counting clients alone can conceal a missing property submission while still producing an apparently impressive completion percentage.
Make responsibility visible at each stage
An effective practice process identifies who supplies the records, who resolves queries, who reviews the figures and who submits. Record those responsibilities in the engagement and workflow. Do not rely on the assumption that somebody else has completed the final step.
Agent authorisation is also separate from client consent to a commercial service. Use HMRC's correct MTD authorisation process and the agent's own access. A client should not hand over their Government Gateway password simply to make the process more convenient. HMRC explains how to authorise an agent.
Track each relevant business and period. A green client-level indicator can hide an outstanding property update if the sole-trade update has been completed. Store the approved figures and acknowledgement against the correct record.
For recurring work, use a short exception list rather than sending the client every transaction again. Give each question a reference, amount and clear request. Access controls and a secure reply route matter, especially where the same practice handles several family members or businesses. Good workflow design reduces repeated questions without replacing professional judgement.
A review that checks more than the total
Start with coverage: the correct person, business and period, plus all relevant accounts and cash records. Then look at completeness. A feed can be connected today while still missing an earlier week. Confirm the earliest and latest transactions against the source.
Next, inspect unusual items. Large transfers, loan receipts, refunds, net settlements and private purchases often need more context than a bank description provides. Check for duplicate imports where a statement overlaps a live feed. An automatic warning is useful evidence to investigate, not proof that the entry must be removed.
Finally, review category totals. A category unexpectedly showing zero, a large increase or a negative amount deserves an explanation. You do not have to make every annual tax adjustment at this stage, but you should understand the records behind the summary you approve.
HMRC explains what quarterly updates contain. Keep the approved version and the resulting acknowledgement together. If something later changes, correct the source record and use the software's supported update process so you can explain which figures are current.
Share the information needed for the task
Tax records need to be useful without containing unnecessary personal detail. Keep payment references sufficient to reconcile the accounts, and hold sensitive client notes in the appropriate restricted system. Financial software should not become a second, informal store for clinical notes or identity documents.
Use individual accounts and the access controls available for the service. Remove access when a working relationship ends. A secure product can still be misused through shared sign-ins, forwarded access links or files sent to the wrong person.
For Open Banking, distinguish account-information access from payment initiation. Read the consent screen and check the authorised provider. Account-information permission does not itself authorise moving money, but Open Banking as a whole also includes separately authorised payment services. The FCA explains these different services.
If you need an assurance about encryption, hosting, retention or security testing, ask for the current documented answer. Terms such as “bank-grade” do not tell you which controls apply to a particular service. Choose a workflow whose permissions and responsibilities you understand, and protect the email or phone account used to recover access.
Review the exceptions as a team
Use a short recurring meeting to resolve ownership and dependencies. Confirm accepted outcomes before closing tasks and retain the supporting version. Measure rework and unresolved queries alongside volume so the practice can improve the process after the deadline.
Take the next step
Avona.app offers a self-service route from £15/month. Bring your records together, review the figures and choose a workflow that fits your business. For professional help, discuss the scope and total price of Avona Concierge, managed by chartered accountants, before choosing a service.