Driving Accuracy, Efficiency and Advisory Growth with XBert
James Goulsbra - GTA Accounting
Company Overview
GTA Accounting is a general practice based between Portsmouth and Guildford. The firm delivers accounts, tax returns, VAT, payroll, management accounts, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and more. Their client base spans construction, recruitment, software developers, HR, legal, sports organisations, gyms, catering businesses, CICs, charities and specialised sectors. This range strengthens their technical capability and ensures they are not limited to one niche. Clients consistently highlight their personal service, responsiveness and honest approach.
GTA Accounting chose to explore XBert as part of their commitment to advisory services. They believe advisory only works when compliance is accurate and timely. They needed a way to speed up reviews, ensure data accuracy, and remove repetitive manual checks so the team could dedicate more time to higher value conversations with clients.
In this case study we sat down with James Goulsbra ACCA of GTA Accounting, who uses XBert daily across compliance reviews, VAT checks and advisory workflows.
“XBert gives us reassurance that the work is right, or it flags something the team might have otherwise glanced over.” – James Goulsbra
Challenges
Before integrating XBert into GTA Accounting, the firm faced some delivery and operational challenges across data accuracy, team efficiency and client reporting.
Challenge 1: Limiting capacity and restricting growth
Manual checking stages restricted the firm’s ability to scale. Senior staff were spending time revisiting earlier steps instead of focusing on advisory and client conversations. They needed a solution that allowed greater efficiency, capacity and scalability.
“We were restricted because we kept having to go back over work. Now we are far more on top of things.”
Challenge 2: Difficulty assessing prospective clients and pricing work accurately
Prospects often believed their books were in good order, but underlying errors created hidden workload. Without precise insights that XBert could deliver, scoping and pricing new clients was challenging.
“It blew their minds. They thought everything was in a good place because they were paying an accountant, but XBert showed the reality.”
Challenge 3: Time-consuming review processes and data quality
The team often found themselves reviewing work repeatedly, uncovering issues later in the process or discovering data inaccuracies during reporting. This slowed advisory work and created a back-and-forth with clients. So a solution was needed to ensure data accuracy every time.
“When you review your own work, you naturally assume it is right. XBert gives us that independent reassurance, or it highlights issues we might otherwise miss.”
Solution
In 2023, GTA Accounting implemented XBert to overcome these challenges.
The firm saw rapid improvements in data accuracy, reporting speed and their ability to deliver advisory conversations with confidence. XBert removed unnecessary review stages, flagged errors earlier, and improved oversight across VAT, aged debtors, aged creditors, director loan accounts and forecasting scenarios.
“XBert has allowed us to operate at a completely new level, which is exciting to be honest.”
Streamlined reviews and real-time accuracy checks
XBert flagged issues before work reached senior reviewers, allowing the team to correct errors earlier. This improved accuracy and reduced double-handling.
“XBert checks the data upfront, so when we go to report, we know it is accurate, current and clean.”
Increasing capacity and freeing senior staff for advisory
Reduction in manual checks translated directly into capacity gains for senior management.
“We are saving around 20 to 25 percent of our time on reviews.”
Accurate scoping, pricing and expectation setting for new clients
XBert’s health reports revealed the true state of prospective clients' books, enabling transparent pricing and eliminating under-quoting.
“It helps us manage expectations with no hidden surprises, so we can price the work accurately without discounting just to win the client.”
Results
The adoption of XBert brought about significant improvements in efficiency, data accuracy, capacity, advisory capability and pricing confidence at GTA Accounting.
Faster reviews and a 20 to 25 percent reduction in time spent
XBert cut checking and review time significantly, giving the team more availability to take on additional work.
“That saving is massive. It gives us the capacity to take on additional work elsewhere.”
Greater confidence in advisory and reporting accuracy
With data validated early, senior leaders now spend more time speaking with clients instead of rechecking work.
“We are confident that the data is right. We now spend far more time talking to clients, and that is where the real value is.”
More accurate pricing and improved revenue generation
By identifying the real state of client records, GTA Accounting priced new engagements appropriately and uncovered new revenue opportunities.
“It helped the client, and it also generated additional revenue for the firm.”
Future Outlook
With XBert supporting compliance, forecasting, alerts and VAT checks, GTA Accounting plans to continue expanding its use. They will apply more custom alerts for specific clients, explore deeper forecasting scenarios, and strengthen their advisory proposition with cleaner, faster insights.
Conclusion
XBert enabled GTA Accounting to improve efficiency, strengthen accuracy, increase capacity, scope new clients effectively and elevate their advisory services. It has become an embedded part of their workflow and a key driver in helping the firm operate at a higher level.
James highlighted the transformative impact of XBert on their efficiency, advisory capability and accuracy.
