Recurring revenue for accountancy practices — beyond the monthly fee letter

Every practice knows the arithmetic. Fees are a function of work, work is a function of hours, and hours are finite. You can raise prices; you can automate; you can hire. Each helps, each has a ceiling, and every one of them adds workload or risk before it adds profit.

There's exactly one income stream available to a practice that requires no additional chargeable hours: being paid for introductions you were already making.

A one-off fee for referring a will is pleasant. The economics get interesting with ongoing advice. When a referred client stays with a financial adviser for years — and they typically do — the adviser's ongoing fees continue, and a properly structured introducer arrangement shares in that for as long as the relationship lasts. One introduction in 2026 can still be paying in 2031.

A caveat worth being honest about: ongoing amounts vary with the value of the client's investments, so nobody serious will promise you a number. What can be promised is the structure — and a statement showing exactly what arrived, when, from which introduction.

Three things separate a real introducer arrangement from a handshake: written terms (rates, when you're paid, what happens on clawback), tracking (every referral evidenced, every commission reconciled to a client reference), and disclosure tooling (because your professional body expects it, and doing it manually gets skipped). If any of the three is missing, the income is a favour that happens to pay — and favours stop.