Referring Clients: The Partner Programme

Accountants are the most trusted advisors in the small business world. When you recommend a piece of software to a client, that recommendation carries more weight than any advertisement, review, or comparison website. It carries the implicit endorsement of a professional who understands the client's needs and has evaluated the options.

Accounted's partner programme is built around this reality. Rather than paying for advertising to reach sole traders one by one, we work with accountants who recommend Accounted to their clients. In return, the programme offers tangible benefits: revenue share on referred clients, volume pricing that reduces costs as your practice grows, and practice tools that make your job easier.

This post explains exactly how the partner programme works, what you earn, and how it fits into your practice's commercial model.

How the Partner Programme Works

The programme is straightforward. There are no complex qualification criteria, no minimum commitment, and no exclusivity requirement. Here is the structure.

Eligibility

Any accountant with a practice portal account is automatically enrolled in the partner programme. There is no application process, no annual fee, and no minimum client threshold. If you have a practice portal account (which is free to create), you are a partner.

Referral Tracking

When you invite a client to Accounted from your practice portal, a referral link is generated automatically. This link tracks the client's sign-up and attributes them to your practice. The tracking is persistent — the client remains attributed to your practice for the lifetime of their subscription, so your benefits continue as long as the client remains on the platform.

You can also share a generic referral link (available in your portal's partner section) via email, your website, or social media. Any client who signs up through this link is attributed to your practice.

Revenue Share

For every client who signs up through your referral and maintains an active subscription, you receive a revenue share. The share is calculated as a percentage of the client's monthly subscription and is credited to your partner account monthly.

The revenue share rate increases with your total referred client count, mirroring the volume pricing tiers:

| Referred Clients | Revenue Share | |---|---| | 1-9 | 10% | | 10-24 | 12.5% | | 25-49 | 15% | | 50-99 | 17.5% | | 100+ | 20% |

These percentages apply to the client's subscription after any volume discount. So if a client is paying £20 per month (after volume discount) and you are in the 15% revenue share tier, you receive £3 per client per month.

Volume Pricing

In addition to revenue share, referred clients benefit from volume pricing that reduces their subscription cost. This is the same volume pricing structure that applies to all clients connected to your practice portal. The two benefits stack: you earn revenue share on the client, and the client pays less because of the volume discount.

This creates a positive dynamic in the client conversation. You are not just recommending software — you are recommending software that costs the client less because of your practice's volume.

The Economics in Practice

Let us work through the numbers for a practice at different scales to illustrate how the partner programme economics play out.

Small Practice: 15 Referred Clients

At 15 clients, you are in the 12.5% revenue share tier, and clients receive a 10% volume discount.

If the standard subscription is £25 per month:

• Client pays £22.50 (after 10% discount)
• Your revenue share: £22.50 x 12.5% = £2.81 per client per month
• Total monthly revenue share: £2.81 x 15 = £42.19
• Annual revenue share: £506.25

At this scale, the revenue share is a modest bonus. The greater value is the volume discount you can offer clients and the efficiency gains from using the practice portal.

Medium Practice: 60 Referred Clients

At 60 clients, you are in the 17.5% revenue share tier, and clients receive a 20% volume discount.

• Client pays £20 (after 20% discount)
• Your revenue share: £20 x 17.5% = £3.50 per client per month
• Total monthly revenue share: £3.50 x 60 = £210
• Annual revenue share: £2,520

At this scale, the revenue share contributes meaningfully to practice income. It also offsets any administrative cost of managing the platform (though given the practice portal is free, the cost is minimal).

Large Practice: 150 Referred Clients

At 150 clients, you are in the 20% revenue share tier, and clients receive a 25% volume discount.

• Client pays £18.75 (after 25% discount)
• Your revenue share: £18.75 x 20% = £3.75 per client per month
• Total monthly revenue share: £3.75 x 150 = £562.50
• Annual revenue share: £6,750

At this level, the revenue share is a significant income stream. Combined with the time savings from AI-assisted review and the capacity to manage more clients, the overall economic impact on the practice is substantial.

Beyond Revenue Share: The Practice Benefits

Revenue share is the most tangible benefit, but it is not the only one. The partner programme includes several practice-level benefits that become more valuable as your client base grows.

Free Practice Portal

We have covered this extensively in our dedicated post, but it bears repeating in the context of the partner programme. The practice portal — with its review queue, workpaper generation, deadline tracking, and multi-staff features — is free at every tier. There is no threshold to reach before you access the full feature set.

Compare this to partner programmes where you need to maintain a certain number of clients to retain your partner status and associated benefits. Accounted's approach is: the tools are free, the revenue share is earned, and the volume pricing applies automatically. No clawback, no qualification anxiety.

Co-Marketing Support

Partners at the 25+ client tier can request co-marketing materials: case studies, client success stories, and branded content that they can use on their website and in client communications. If you want to showcase your use of AI-powered bookkeeping as a differentiator, we provide the materials and support.

Early Access to Features

Partners are invited to beta-test new features before general release. This gives you an opportunity to provide feedback on features that affect your workflow and ensures you are familiar with changes before your clients encounter them.

Dedicated Support

While all practice portal users have access to support, partners at the 50+ client tier have access to a dedicated account manager who understands their practice's specific setup and can provide tailored guidance. This is particularly useful during onboarding phases when you are migrating large numbers of clients.

How to Talk to Clients About Accounted

The partner programme works best when you can confidently recommend Accounted to clients. Here are the key messages that resonate, based on what we hear from accountants who refer successfully.

For Clients Currently Self-Managing

Many sole traders are managing their own bookkeeping with spreadsheets, shoeboxes of receipts, or basic accounting software they do not fully understand. For these clients, the message is simplicity:

"Accounted handles your bookkeeping automatically. You connect your bank account, send photos of receipts via WhatsApp, and Penny — the AI bookkeeper — takes care of the categorisation, VAT, and record-keeping. I review everything through my portal, and your quarterly MTD submissions are handled as part of the service."

For Clients on Other Software

For clients already using Xero, QuickBooks, or similar platforms, the message is about efficiency and cost:

"I'm recommending Accounted because it reduces the time I spend reviewing your records, which keeps your fees lower. The AI handles routine categorisation, and I focus on the items that need professional judgement. You also benefit from a lower subscription cost through our practice's volume pricing."

For a detailed comparison to share with clients, our Accounted vs Xero guide covers the specific differences. And for understanding how to automate the routine elements of your practice alongside the referral programme, our automation guide is a useful companion resource.

For New Clients

For prospective clients who are not yet your clients, Accounted can be part of your value proposition:

"When you work with our practice, we set you up on Accounted, which handles your bookkeeping and MTD compliance. The software costs less because of our practice volume, and the AI-assisted process means we can offer competitive fees because our review time is lower."

This positions Accounted as part of your service offering rather than a separate recommendation, which many practices find more natural.

Compliance and Ethical Considerations

As accountants, your recommendations must be in the client's interest. Recommending software because of a revenue share arrangement, rather than because it genuinely serves the client, would be a breach of professional ethics.

We are transparent about this, and we encourage you to be as well. The partner programme exists because accountant recommendations are the most effective way to reach sole traders with bookkeeping software. The revenue share compensates you for the time and effort involved in the recommendation and onboarding process. But the recommendation should always be based on whether Accounted is the right fit for the client.

If a client would be better served by another platform — perhaps because they need features Accounted does not offer, or because their business complexity exceeds what AI-assisted bookkeeping handles well — the right thing to do is recommend the better option. The ACCA Code of Ethics and similar professional standards are clear on this point, and we fully support it.

Our confidence is that for the majority of sole traders, freelancers, and small landlords, Accounted genuinely is the best option. The AI-assisted bookkeeping, WhatsApp interface, free practice portal, and MTD compliance features address the core needs of this market better than the alternatives. The revenue share is a benefit of recommending something good, not an incentive to recommend something mediocre.

Getting Started with the Partner Programme

If you already have a practice portal account, you are already in the partner programme. Your referral link is available in the partner section of your portal. Start sharing it with clients, and the revenue share and volume pricing benefits accumulate automatically.

If you do not yet have a practice portal account, sign up for free. The setup guide takes you through the process in five minutes. Once your account is active, you can start referring clients immediately.

For practices considering a larger-scale migration of clients to Accounted, the combination of volume pricing and revenue share makes the economics increasingly compelling at scale. A practice with a hundred referred clients benefits from lower client costs, significant revenue share, and the operational efficiency of AI-assisted review — a combination that meaningfully impacts the practice's bottom line.

The partner programme is designed to be simple, transparent, and mutually beneficial. No hidden terms, no qualification hurdles, and no exclusivity. Recommend Accounted when it is right for the client, and the programme rewards you for doing so.

Visit our page for accountants for the full overview, or review the MTD requirements that are driving the need for compliant bookkeeping software across the sole trader market.

Accounted gives accountants a free practice portal — manage all your clients, file to HMRC, and let Penny handle the routine work. See the accountant portal →