Over the past year, we’ve been working through the Companies House director verification process here at DNA Accountants.
Like many accountancy practices, we knew it was coming. We read the guidance, understood the requirements, and made what felt like a sensible decision at the time:
We would let clients complete the verification themselves, and we would provide support where needed.
In hindsight, that decision didn’t quite play out as expected.
What We Thought Would Happen
We assumed most clients would:
- follow the instructions
- complete the process independently
- and only contact us if they got stuck
We expected a few queries, perhaps the odd technical issue, but nothing unmanageable.
What Actually Happened
In reality, it was far more hands-on than we ever imagined.
We encountered:
- Clients without the correct ID
- Clients with ID… but not with them when they came to the office
- Phones that wouldn’t download the app
- Verification links that didn’t work
- Emails that never arrived
- A mix of iPhones, Android devices, and tablets, each behaving differently
- And a lot of understandable confusion
What looked straightforward on paper turned into a complex, people-heavy process.
The Reality Behind the Scenes
Behind it all was our Practice Manager, Sharon.
Over the past year at DNA Accountants, she has:
- sat with clients in the office, guiding them step by step
- run video calls to walk people through the process
- troubleshooted every type of device and operating system
- found workarounds when things simply wouldn’t work
She has, quite literally, seen every possible scenario.
One recent example sums it up perfectly.
A 70-year-old client needed help completing the process. What should have been simple turned into a 1.5-hour phone call. In the end, the solution involved using her husband’s phone to complete a WhatsApp video call with Sharon just to get it over the line.
And throughout it all, Sharon remained calm, patient, and supportive, never making the client feel like a burden.
The Scale of It
We started with almost 400 companies to work through and we’re now down to 7. That progress hasn’t come from systems or automation, it’s come from consistent, hands-on support.
What We’ve Learned
This experience has taught us a few important lessons:
- What seems simple to us isn’t always simple for clients
Even well-designed processes can become complicated when technology, ID requirements, and individual circumstances are involved. - Guidance isn’t always enough
Sometimes clients don’t just need instructions, they need someone to walk through it with them. - People make the difference
Processes and systems are important, but it’s the people behind them who make things work.
Looking Ahead
If we were making the decision again, we would probably approach it differently.
What this process has shown us is that even when something is designed to be “self-service”, many clients value, and often need, a more hands-on approach.
At DNA Accountants, we’ll be thinking much more carefully about where we guide and where we take care of things entirely on behalf of our clients.
Because sometimes the best service isn’t pointing someone in the right direction, it’s walking the journey with them.