On today's deep dive bonus episode, Rob Brown of the Accountants Influencers Podcast interviews Mike Dean of WhisperClaims on the opportunities research and development or R&D gives accountants.

Mike Dean is a co-founder of WhisperClaims, which helps accountants deliver an in-house research and development (R&D) tax service using the best possible tools and support. He has a 15 year commercial career mostly working with tech businesses and public sector business support programmes, and was a board member at Marconi. An assignment with one of the larger R&D tax consultancies exposed him some of the challenges facing the industry. WhisperClaims' white label technology saw that the market was commoditising and recognised a need to streamline processes provide support for businesses to prepare their claims much more quickly and easily, whilst ensuring compliance.

Key shownotes from the whole interview include:

◆ How government incentives encourage companies to do more research and development

◆ Examples of R&D projects and why innovation has so many different forms

◆ Which sectors struggle to innovate and which ones thrive in R&D

◆ The commercial benefits for companies of innovating and investing in R&D

◆ The 2 main eligibility rules for businesses to make tax claims for R&D

◆ The importance of science and technology to drive progress in business

◆ Why governments need to get involved in R&D rather than just leaving it to individual businesses

◆ How R&D incentives operate in most countries to deliver economic value

◆ The role accountants and CPAs play in the R&D tax claim process for businesses

◆ The main options for businesses who seek external help in putting together R&D claims

◆ The similarities between the R&D market in different countries

◆ Who dominates the R&D tax world and how they make their money

◆ How R&D is a lucrative advisory based non-compliance service for accountants

◆ The advantage for accountants of using R&D software to avoid them having to be an expert in this area

◆ The drawbacks of a contingent-based pricing model vz fixed fees for R&D tax claims

◆ The importance of a business model in R&D that puts the accountant at the hub of the client relationship

◆ The problem for many accountants and business clients in understanding R&D tax without dedicated time and resource

◆ How WhisperClaims R&D tax software works for accountants to help their clients

◆ What accountants should know about what is coming up in the unregulated R&D tax space in coming years

◆ Best advice for accountants who want to add value to their clients with an R&D tax service

Outside of work, Mike has grown up twin boys, a passion for cycling. After a stellar amateur velodrome and road racing career, a mountain bike accident means he now cycles for leisure and enjoys camper van holidays with his wife Fiona.

WhisperClaims website: https://www.whisperclaims.co.uk/

Mike Dean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedeanwhisperclaims

NOTE TO LISTENERS:

This is a full-length interview (usually 20-30 mins long) from which the highlights show earlier in the week was taken. You can listen to this on a previous episode.

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