The Challenge
For the first five years, flinder used IRIS Desktop for accounts production and tax compliance, self-hosting the system on AWS to keep costs down and maintain flexibility. It worked, but only just.
The software itself was a persistent frustration.
"IRIS was clunky and antiquated. We also had to dial into a virtual machine that we had to set up and manage ourselves. We could have hosted it with IRIS, but it was an expensive solution."
The infrastructure overhead was one thing. The lack of a meaningful supplier relationship made it worse.
"I never really felt that I could get the support we needed. We didn't have a relationship there, I didn't have any personal connections at all, it left me with a feeling of not being listened to."
By 2023, with the firm growing and the demands on the team increasing, the decision was made to find something better.
The Solution
Luke did what any well-connected firm leader does, he asked around. The answer came back consistently from across his industry network.
"Everyone suggested TaxCalc. We didn't even look at others like CCH. After a couple of demos it was obvious that we had found our new software."
Today Ascendant uses TaxCalc for personal tax, corporation tax and final accounts. Three things made an immediate difference.
Ease of use. The contrast with IRIS was immediate and significant. "TaxCalc is just so easy to use. It's far more intuitive than IRIS. We did minimal training, most of the team just picked it up while using it."
CloudConnect. The infrastructure headaches that came with their self-hosted IRIS setup disappeared entirely. "CloudConnect is really solid and reliable. All I care about is being able to use the software without worrying about how it's delivered, and that's exactly what we've got now."
The migration. Moving away from a legacy system is often the thing that holds firms back from making a change. For Ascendant, it was not an issue. "TaxCalc brought across the underlying client records and the transition was about as painless as it could be."
The Results
The impact of switching from IRIS to TaxCalc has been felt across cost, productivity and culture.
50% reduction in software costs. Ascendant now pays approximately half what they paid for IRIS, despite supporting significantly more clients and users than when they made the switch. "When we looked at the pricing structure we quickly realised nothing else could come close."
Faster adoption across the team. With minimal training required, the team was up and running on TaxCalc quickly. The intuitive interface meant productivity was not disrupted during the transition.
Reliable support, consistently delivered.
"We've had no complaints at all. Whenever we have a problem they respond really quickly."
For a growing firm, that reliability matters.
A relationship that works both ways. Perhaps most importantly for Luke, TaxCalc has delivered something IRIS never did, a genuine working relationship.
"The TaxCalc team has a lot of industry experience and I've built a really good relationship with our account managers. I feel we are listened to and our feedback is genuinely taken on board."
For firms still weighing up a move, Luke's advice is clear. "The value for money is huge. But just as important is the relationship."
