Adfin | Spotlight of the Week: Paul Barnes from CASS

In the spotlight this week is Paul, who swapped life as a professional footballer for one in cloud accounting. He shares how CASS grew from helping friends onto Xero to supporting 200+ clients, why hands-on support beats ticket numbers, and how Adfin became a game-changer for getting paid.

Can you tell me about Cass and how it got started?
I founded Cloud Accounting Support Services (or CASS) eight years ago. We started as a response to Making Tax Digital for VAT. Initially, it was all about moving people into the cloud, primarily using Xero, but also QuickBooks and FreeAgent. Back then, Sage was charging £900 just for a software upgrade (!), so we started helping people move off that.

It began with moving a few friends into Xero. They introduced me to their accountant, and we ended up transitioning all of their clients into cloud accounting. When we trained people on raising sales invoices and capturing purchase invoices, the response was, "We don’t want to do this…do you know someone who can?" I didn’t want to go back into traditional accounting, but I saw an opportunity to help automate it. That’s when I took on an apprentice and started offering bookkeeping as a service.

That evolved into questions like, “How do we get paid?” So we implemented monthly billing via direct debit through GoCardless. We liked the Xero integration, but their model changed and they started charging for things like automatic retries. We also experienced integration issues because we were early adopters. The service became unreliable.

How did you discover Adfin?
I sent a couple of the team to Engager Labs in Liverpool who met the Adfin team. They came back and told me, “Paul, it does direct debit, on-demand payments, and still integrates with Xero. You need to explore this”. I had a Zoom call with Adfin but didn’t feel ready to make the switch, as we have over 200 clients on direct debit, and I didn’t want payment disruptions.

Eventually, I just bit the bullet. I wrote to clients explaining the switch, shared a link to set up their new mandate, and we went from there. Now, about 90% of our clients are with Adfin. The interface is smoother, everything is in one place, and support is excellent. It’s probably one of the best operational decisions we’ve made.

Have you seen resistance when asking clients to switch platforms?
We didn’t enforce it. We explained the benefits and gave them the choice. Currently, 207 clients pay us regularly, with around 170 using direct debit via Adfin. The rest will move over during their next review cycle. Eventually, we’ll turn off GoCardless and Stripe entirely.

Do you focus on specific industries at CASS?
We’re strong in e-commerce and domiciliary care, mostly because of our payroll expertise and third-party tool knowledge. But we’re more focused on client size rather than industry. Most of our clients are between £80,000 and £2 million in turnover. That’s our sweet spot: businesses on a growth journey that need regular bookkeeping and support.

We don’t take on year-end-only clients. We only do annual year end compliance if we’re involved in day-to-day operations. It gives us complete visibility and makes the year-end process smoother, more efficient and gives us more confidence when we do year end tax planning. If someone calls just for a self-assessment or accounts, we decline. That’s our model.

So you operate more like a consulting firm than a traditional accountancy?
Exactly. Our strapline is “Giving you more than the numbers.” It’s about providing tech stacks that remove unnecessary human input and offering strategic insights. We aim to be a financial conscience - an extension of our clients business who then have confidence and trust to consult with us before making key decisions. That’s one way where we we provide real value.

Who would be your dream client?
So, from a “love to work with” perspective, we’ve tendered for, but would really love to work with, a company called Aconveyancing. They’re just over the road from us. We've had some tentative conversations, but if we could win that, we know we could completely change their workflows and streamline a lot of their manual transactions. That’s my dream client. Hopefully, over the next few weeks, we might be able to secure them.

More broadly, the ideal client for us is a business owner, especially those who want more from an accountant than just compliance. We’re looking for small business owners who want a full-house finance team: from digital accounting technicians who handle data entry, through to monthly management accounts, quarterly reviews, and then advisory services. That includes support around compliance challenges that we all face.

Do you have an example of where this kind of approach made a difference?
Yes - just recently, a client we do bookkeeping for had been chasing their accountant for support for three weeks. In frustration, they rang us and asked for our help. We had a quick chat, gave them some advice, and they walked away extremely happy. That advice took us 10 minutes.

What sets your approach to client support apart from bigger firms?
I think people value quick, available support. We try to make our service really fast and really valuable. Our existing clients all have access to their own member of our team, with their working hours and we’ll always jump in and help. WE deal with 90% of queries via a 2-5 minute phone call.

There’s a human behind everything we do. Sure, we all have chatbots and AI tools, but sometimes you just want a real person who can jump in and help right away. None of that “we’ll reply in 24 hours” or “you’re now ticket number X.” That’s another benefit of working with a smaller, more agile team like ours versus a huge conglomerate.

What’s one fun fact about your journey?
I’m a former professional footballer. I played for Exeter City under Alan Ball. After football, I needed a job, and fell into accounting thanks to a neighbour who helped me get my first job as a purchase ledger clerk. I worked my way through the structure there. That led me to work with companies like Rolls-Royce and Birmingham City Council.

Do you still play or coach football?
I used to coach for years, especially when my sons were playing. My eldest was a pro at Derby and is now their full-time goalkeeping coach. When they stopped needing me as a coach, I shifted to hiking in the Lake District, which I now do every other weekend.

How do you stay ahead with tech?
I spend half a day each week exploring the New Zealand Xero app store. I’ve noticed that most apps on there eventually make their way to the UK. It helps us anticipate what's coming.

Which tech tool has had the biggest impact?
Invoicing and payment tools - especially features like “pay now” links, direct debit, and automated payments. They’ve transformed our (and our clients) cash flow and made things easier for both us and our clients.

How do you use AI in your business?
We use AI for creating documentation, analysing numbers, and streamlining tasks. It helps us save time and deliver deeper more meaningful insights. But we still use a human approach for providing feedback to our clients. AI can’t sit down with a business owner and understand their goals or challenges the way a person can.

What’s your perspective on AI in accounting?
It’s an assistant, not a replacement. AI helps automate repetitive tasks, allowing us to focus on providing strategic advice. Tools like ChatGPT are great, but only in the hands of someone who knows what to ask and how to interpret and use the output.

What’s your go-to drink while working?
Tea - English Breakfast, milk, no sugar.

And when you're not working?
Pepsi Max with lime, no ice. I don’t drink alcohol, so it’s my go-to.

If you could automate anything in your life, what would it be?
Charging my electric car. I keep forgetting to plug it in when I get to work.

Any final thoughts?
Don’t be afraid of change - whether that’s a new accountant or piece of tech or a payment provider. Change can be seamless if done right. We’ve had clients cancel a direct debit from Adfin out of confusion, but once they understood it, they reactivated it immediately. If you do it for the right reasons, it’s a win.

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Need a tech-savvy finance team who’ll actually pick up the phone and help you automate your books? … Or maybe just looking for tips on your first touch and crossing accuracy?

Either way, Paul’s your guy. Reach out to him now.

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Still waiting to switch to Adfin for better direct debits?

Join Paul and get paid faster, with less admin. Book a demo today.

Spotlight of the Week: Paul Barnes from CASS

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