Norwich Accountancy runs payments, chasing and late fees through Adfin alongside Xero. The share of invoices paid late has fallen by 65%, from about 1 in 5 to 1 in 15.
At a Glance
How Norwich Accountancy took credit control and reconciliation off the team
Norwich Accountancy was founded in 2010 by Jonathan Hook and now looks after 5,000-odd clients, from individuals to SMEs, from its office on Upper King Street in Norwich.
The practice met Adfin at Accountex and moved its Direct Debits across in October 2025. Adfin now runs payments and chasing alongside Xero, the software the team works in every day.
Before Adfin
With Adfin
Challenge
Credit control and reconciliation pulling staff off fee-earning work
Norwich Accountancy's admin team handles onboarding, compliance checks and credit control. Before Adfin, chasing relied on someone spotting who owed money and contacting each client, with standard reminders from the bookkeeping software that were easy to ignore. Around 1 in 5 invoices was paid late.
Reconciliation took longer still. Payments came in through Stripe and the previous Direct Debit provider, which netted its fees off each payout and charged for failed payments, so every transaction had to be matched by hand.
“We used to have staff members manually reconciling hours upon hours each day. Each day that comes by, we have to be on top of payments to know if we can proceed with work, and also for our cash flow.”
Ben Hall · Practice Manager, Norwich Accountancy
Solution
Payments and chasing that run alongside Xero
A switch clients didn't notice
The practice moved more than 200 active mandates in October 2025. The switch date was 6 October and the mandates were live on 9 October.
“Our clients didn't have to re-sign anything. They barely even noticed we had migrated. There was no effort from their end.”
Ben Hall
Customer agents doing the chasing
One agent handles one-off invoices such as annual accounts, and AutoCollect handles monthly Direct Debit clients. If a Direct Debit fails, Adfin offers the client card or bank transfer instead.
“Adfin chases clients not in a pushy manner, but in a friendly manner. Clients are more responsive. They want to pay our invoices, instead of thinking, 'This is just another automated reminder.'”
Ben Hall
Reconciliation in Xero, done for them
Adfin works as a payment method in Xero, matches payments to invoices, pays out in full and bills its fees at the end of the month.
“We get invoiced at the end of the month, we get the full payment, and it's a lot cleaner from an accounting point of view internally.”
Jonathan Hook · Founder and CEO, Norwich Accountancy
Their brand, every way to pay
Invoices carry the practice's logo and colours. Clients can pay by Direct Debit, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank transfer, and save a card for next time.
“A client can be on the train, and they can instantly press the Pay Now button and pay via Apple Pay or Google Pay. As a professional firm, we have to be able to provide a wide variety of payment options.”
Ben Hall
Late fees without the maths
Late fees are switched on for every client in Adfin. Adfin works out statutory interest from the Bank of England base rate and raises the invoice.
Results
1 in 15 invoices paid late, down from 1 in 5
In the last three months of 2025, 18.5% of invoices were paid late. From January to September 2026 it was 6.4%, a drop of 65%. Since the switch, 95% of payments have come in by Direct Debit, and the practice's mandate book has kept growing.
“We used to have one in five of our invoices paid late. Through the use of Adfin, that's now changed to one in 15. It makes our whole process more reliable. Previously, somebody in the team had to manually find out who owed us money and then add in manual chasers to them.”
Ben Hall
For Jonathan, the difference shows up in cash flow and in how little he has to think about collections.
“The increased cash flow just puts less pressure on, when we've got large accounts receivable. It just makes life a bit more manageable.”
Jonathan Hook
“Like our clients, they want us to take their problems away. Adfin takes our problems away in terms of the credit collection function. It just arrives when they say it's going to arrive.”
Jonathan Hook
Sources: Adfin platform data for Norwich Accountancy, October 2025 to September 2026. Late payments are invoices paid after their due date, measured on the same basis as the Adfin dashboard.