LONDON, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IRIS Software Group, a leading global software provider of accounting, edtech, payroll and HR solutions, today released the results of its anonymous poll of UK-based accountants, conducted during February and March 2024. Accountants responded to 13 multiple-choice questions pertaining to pricing, AML compliance, and cybersecurity confidence.

How much do accountants charge across the UK?

• Tax returns: 90% of respondents charge between £126 and £400 for a tax return. The remainder charge £400 to £600 with 1% charging over £600.
• Bookkeeping: 84% charge between £25 and £40 for bookkeeping per hour. The remainder charge more than £40 per hour.
• Set of accounts: 78% charge between £500 and £1000 for a set of accounts, with 22% charging more than £1000.
• Advisory services: 38% of accountants offer advisory services are part of their compliance work. 60% charge separately and 2% do not offer advisory services.

Process and efficiency
63% of survey respondents indicated that they need to strengthen their efficiency, yet 56% still use paper-based processes to handle anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, 72% have not mapped out and documented their processes in over 18 months, and 53% still monitor and manage workflow tasks in spreadsheets.

Cybersecurity preparedness

• High cybersecurity confidence: The majority of accountants feel confident that their firms are protected against potential cybersecurity attacks, with accountants in the North West feeling the most confident (77%) and accountants in the Midlands feeling least confident (46%).
• Multi-factor authentication: Accountants in Scotland are more likely (62%) to utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA) than those in Northern Ireland (35%). For accountants in the North West, the Midlands and the South East, MFA usage was split down the middle, with 55%, 48%, and 45%, respectively.
• Reliability: Only 6% of respondents in Northern Ireland experienced ‘slow downs’ in the speed of their internet connection during peak times of usage, compared with 36% in Scotland.

Commenting on the research, Mark Chambers, Managing Director for Accountancy at IRIS said: “Digitisation and automation not only help accountants work smarter and spend less time on manual tasks and compliance obligations, but also free up capacity to take on higher-value advisory roles. This said, in a landscape of cybersecurity threats, it’s essential for accountancy practices to adopt multi-factor authentication and conduct rigorous evaluations of technology suppliers. The Government’s Cyber Essentials self-assessment and certification is a strong benchmark and standard to adopt.”

Notes to editors:

The anonymous IRIS poll received 139 responses.  The full dataset is available on request.

About IRIS Software Group
IRIS Software Group is a global provider of mission critical software and one of the UK’s largest privately held software companies. IRIS provides software solutions and services for finance, HR and payroll teams, educational organizations, and accountancy firms that takes the pain out of processes and lets professionals focus on the work they love. Through simplifying, automating and providing insights on everyday mission critical tasks for organizations of all shapes and sizes, IRIS ensures customers can look forward with certainty and confidence.

IRIS is the largest third-party online filer with the UK Government. Ninety-three of the top 100 UK accountancy firms use IRIS software. One in six of the UK’s workforce is paid by IRIS payroll offerings, and globally, six million employees receive their payslip via IRIS software every month. More than 850,000 UK employees are managed by IRIS HR solutions. Over 12,000 UK schools and academies use IRIS, with four million parents and guardians using IRIS apps to connect with their children’s school; 300 million messages are delivered between schools and parents each year, and over £15 million transactional payments are processed every month. IRIS is certified as a Great Place to Work® and recognized as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality in 2023. IRIS is also recognized as one of the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing, one of the Best Workplaces in Tech and one of the Best Workplaces for Women.

To see how IRIS helps organisations get things right first time, every time, visit www.iris.co.uk or follow IRIS Software Group on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

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LONDON, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, leading embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, OpenPayd announces its partnership with Wirex, a prominent Web3 money app, to provide named virtual IBANs to its customers across the UK and European Economic Area (EEA) strengthening Wirex’s core mission to provide easy, fast and secure payment methods to its customers.

The partnership will see OpenPayd issue virtual IBANs to Wirex customers in 30+ countries across the UK and EEA. Customers will have access to the Faster Payments network in the UK and Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant payments for Euro-denominated deposits and withdrawals.

The service will be fully embedded into Wirex’s infrastructure via OpenPayd’s single, developer-friendly API. Wirex customers will receive a unique, named IBAN, enabling them to seamlessly transfer EUR and GBP between their Wirex and bank accounts. Payments across OpenPayd’s SEPA Instant and Faster Payments rails take place in real-time, 24/7, 365 days of the year, leading to a significant improvement in customer experience.

“High-growth digital assets businesses need reliable, scalable banking and payments partners to deliver a seamless user experience without incurring delays or prohibitive fees,” said Iana Dimitrova, CEO of OpenPayd. “Wirex is a trusted, established and growing player in the digital assets market. Our reliable platform, with 99.99% uptime, will support Wirex in its mission to make cryptocurrency more secure, accessible and available to everyone.”

“At Wirex, we strive to bridge the gap between the traditional and digital economies, so it’s vital that our customers can easily make and receive payments via SEPA Instant and Faster Payments. OpenPayd’s tech stack is not only state of the art and easy to integrate, it’s also proven at scale – processing millions of transactions monthly,” said Pavel Matveev, CEO and Co-Founder of Wirex. “Named IBANs offer our customers an improved user experience and an even more personalised service. They also enable our teams to completely automate back office account reconciliation. OpenPayd is the perfect partner to facilitate the instant, accessible and secure payments our customers need.”

About OpenPayd

OpenPayd builds embedded finance and banking-as-a-service infrastructure that powers business growth. With OpenPayd’s financial services infrastructure, innovative companies can build new products, streamline their operations and manage their payments on a global scale.

The OpenPayd platform delivers a full suite of banking and payments infrastructure: accounts, FX, international and domestic payments and Open Banking services – all via a single API. With a growing network of licences across the UK, Europe and North America, OpenPayd is providing the banking infrastructure digital businesses need to thrive.

For additional information on OpenPayd, please visit https://openpayd.com/.

About Wirex 

Wirex is a prominent UK-based digital payments platform with over 6 million customers spread across 130 countries. It offers secure accounts, making it easy for users to store, purchase, and exchange multiple currencies seamlessly. 

As a principal member of both Visa and Mastercard, Wirex goes beyond traditional services, embracing the evolving trends of Web3 to provide mainstream access to digital finance and wealth management.

Having processed transactions totalling $20 billion, Wirex aims to contribute to the adoption of a cashless society by facilitating straightforward transactions in various currencies worldwide. Wirex is simplifying digital payments, making it more accessible and convenient for people across the globe.

For additional information on Wirex, please visit https://wirexapp.com/

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ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Infinity Recycling (“IRC”), a growth capital platform dedicated to investing in circular economy solutions, is delighted to announce the successful final close of its Circular Plastics Fund I SCSp (“CPF”). The final close exceeded the fund’s €150 million target, securing a total of € 175 million in committed capital from institutional investors and value chain partners from across the world, giving it an unique position as an accelerator in the transition to a circular economy.

IRC has had the privilege of welcoming an impressive group of institutional investors since the fund’s last close in December 2024 including Dutch insurance group ASR, Danish philanthropic association Realdania, ING Sustainable Investments, the sustainable Investments arm of ING, Danish investment and holding company KIRKBI, and the impact investment initiative of Swiss company Après-demain.

The CPF, an Article 9 ‘dark green’ impact fund under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, was established to help accelerate the world’s transition to a circular economy of materials. It does this by supporting advanced recycling technologies with the scaling up of their technology and the strengthening of their business propositions. The tremendously successful fundraise is testament to the growing enthusiasm amongst institutional investors for impactful investment opportunities in the circular economy.

This important milestone for IRC coincides with the recent passing of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (‘PPWR’), itself paving the way for advanced recycling to be counted as recycling. By valorising residual waste streams into primary commodities used in the production of new materials, CPF’s investments plays a pivotal role in fostering sustainability and decarbonization of the chemical industry.

To date the CPF has gained significant momentum, investing in five portfolio companies (Pryme N.V., Itero Technologies Limited, Clariter S.A., DePoly S.A., and Ioniqa B.V.) deploying over EUR 45 million and with a strong pipeline of transactions. IRC’s unique ability to provide both capital and operational expertise has enabled long-term value creation, generating promising returns while making a tangible impact on sustainability.

Jan Willem Muller, Managing Partner at Infinity Recycling:

“The support for new technologies and their scaling up is paramount in enabling additional capital to enter the market and support the transition towards a circular economy. By fostering innovation and scalability, we unlock the potential for greater investment, accelerating our collective journey towards a more sustainable future”

Jeroen Kelder. Managing Partner at Infinity Recycling:

“The strong interest from institutional investors, keen to make an environmental impact, is a clear endorsement of our mission: catalysing the world’s transition to a circular economy of materials. We are thankful for the confidence of the Limited Partners in our unique investment focus and quality of execution”

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