Accountancy & Financial Services

Accountancy & Financial Services 

Five anonymised engagements across accountancy and financial services firms show what Lean thinking finds in a sector where the ‘product’ is information. 

€167,070 

Combined savings identified 

100% 

Right First Time achieved (Case 2) 

54 

Days of capacity recovered per year 

5

Engagements completed 

The ‘product’ is information: getting it in, processing it accurately, and getting it out to the right place on time. 

– Jigsaw Better Business 

SECTOR

Accountancy & Financial Services 

ENGAGEMENTS

5 completed projects 

SERVICE

Lean for Business  

REGION

Munster & Leinster 

In their own words

Sector Overview

Across five accountancy and financial services firms, the same pattern shows up again and again: seasonal workload peaks that go unexamined year after year, compliance treated as unavoidable downtime rather than schedulable work, inconsistent client onboarding, software stacks that have grown without review, and meeting cultures that consume time without producing decisions. All five engagements below are anonymised. 

The Challenge

Each firm faced a different version of the same underlying problem: process variation and inconsistency that had never been formally examined.

•  Accountancy practice, Killarney — high process variation across a multi-staff team, with no standard way of working 

•  Financial planning brokerage, Dublin — a 65% first-time rejection rate on submissions to financial institutions, and unstructured annual review scheduling 

•  Financial brokerage, Carlow — a growing team without office systems to match, and redundant paperwork slowing the day down 

•  Financial brokerage, Dublin — workflow stoppages from part-time staff handovers and unproductive meetings  

•  Accountancy practice, Carlow — a traditional practice that had never formally reviewed its processes, carrying compliance risk as a result 

Our Approach

We worked one-to-one with each firm over a series of half-day sessions, applying Lean tools suited to information-based, professional-services work: Standard Work, 6S, SIPOC mapping, Poka Yoke error-proofing, DILO analysis and structured daily stand-ups – adapted to each firm’s own processes rather than applied as a fixed template.

The Outcome

Every engagement produced a measurable result:

•  Killarney accountancy practice — standard work, digital payroll forms and VAT process mapping delivered an estimated €102,000/yr in efficiency gains 

•  Dublin financial planning brokerage — error-proofing checklists took first-time submission accuracy from 65% to 100% Right First Time; a second engagement on review scheduling and virtual meetings generated €36,750/yr 

•  Carlow financial brokerage — office 6S, dual monitors and removal of redundant check sheets freed up €14,100/yr and 19 days of capacity 

•  Dublin financial brokerage — structured stand-ups, handover routines and meeting redesign delivered €11,220/yr and 35 additional days of capacity 

•  Carlow accountancy practice — a client onboarding checklist and software stack audit mitigated compliance risk and saved €3,000/yr, with further improvements ongoing