A referral income guide for bookkeepers: from introduction to commission statement

Nobody sees a client's money more often than their bookkeeper. The accountant visits the accounts once a year; you reconcile them every month. Twelve touchpoints, not one.

That means you notice things first. £80,000 sitting in a current account earning nothing, month after month. A director's loan account creeping upward. A large invoice from a business sale landing in the feed. A client mentioning, mid-query, that they have no idea what their pension is worth. Each of these is a moment where regulated advice could genuinely help — and each is invisible to everyone except you.

You cannot give that advice. AAT and ICB members are not authorised to recommend investments, pensions or protection, and straying over the line risks both your licence and the client. But spotting the need is not advice. It is observation. And a structured introduction turns observation into something the client thanks you for.

The path is short. You mention what you have noticed and ask whether the client would like an introduction to a regulated adviser. If yes, you pass their details across with consent — verbal is a start, written is better. The adviser does the fact-find, the risk profiling and the suitability report. If the client proceeds, the adviser charges their fee, and your agreed share comes back to you.

Expect the whole cycle to take six to ten weeks. Expect the introducer share on an initial fee to sit around a fifth to a quarter, sometimes with a small ongoing element while the client remains advised. And expect a commission statement that itemises the case: client name, product area, fee, your share. If a network or adviser cannot produce that itemisation, walk away. A payment you cannot trace to a specific introduction is a payment you cannot defend.

Three rules keep a bookkeeper's referral activity clean. First, disclose. Tell the client in writing that you may receive a fee for the introduction — a two-line email does it, and platforms such as SmartPeer generate a disclosure letter for every tracked referral. Second, never characterise. Saying an adviser is vetted and regulated is fine; saying their pension recommendation will be right for the client is not your call. Third, record. Date of introduction, consent, disclosure copy, outcome.

Why the caution? Because the FCA's perimeter is unforgiving about who may advise, but genuinely relaxed about who may introduce — provided the introducer sticks to introducing. Stay on the right side of that word and referral income is one of the safest revenue lines a bookkeeping practice can add. Cross it once and the exposure is entirely yours. The paperwork takes ninety seconds per case. Do it every time.