At Sprint Enterprise, we came across something that’s been bothering us for a while. There’s a data problem lurking in advisory firms that most people don’t see coming.
It’s contributions and withdrawals data, those crucial inflows and outflows that everything else depends on. Client reviews, suitability reports, the lot. The trouble is, this data is often incomplete, wrong, or missing altogether. And because it’s tucked away in practice management systems, firms naturally assume it’s all tickety-boo. It’s not.
What we found was a bit of a shock
We decided to dig into this properly, so we looked at 14 advice firms – over 10,000 policies and 200,000 transactions. The results were worse than we’d expected:
- A third of policies weren’t showing in the advisers back-office system at all
- Even when they were there, only 40% had contributions and withdrawals that actually matched
- Some firms were seeing reconciliation accuracy drop below 20%
Now, the firms we spoke to weren’t naive; they knew there would be some gaps. But this scale? Nobody saw that coming. And here’s the thing: when these mismatches work their way into annual reviews or cashflow calculations, they’re directly undermining the advice process. It’s a simple question: if the contributions and withdrawals are wrong, how can the client’s report be right?
This isn’t just a numbers game
Different firms handle this data differently. Some use it mainly for annual reviews, others push it directly into their financial planning tools. But here’s what they all have in common: they need this data to accurately reflect what’s actually happening with their clients’ money. Especially now, with Consumer Duty breathing down everyone’s necks around transparency and fair outcomes.
The problem is, plenty of firms are writing reports and making recommendations based on data that bears no resemblance to what’s actually sitting on the platform. Nobody’s doing it on purpose, but that doesn’t make the consequences any less real.
So, we built something to fix it
That’s where the contributions and withdrawals app comes in.
Transact commissioned it, and we developed it in the intelliflo office practice management software. What it does is pretty straightforward; it spots the differences between what’s on the investment platform and what someone’s manually keyed into their back-office system.
It’s been launched on the intelliflo store with the idea to give advisory firms a simple way to compare and sort out these discrepancies without creating yet another long-winded and complicated process to manage. We didn’t want to just point out the problem, we wanted to actually help solve it.
It comes down to trust
Here’s how we see it: sorting out this data isn’t really about technology; it’s about looking after clients properly.
These days, advisers need to back up their recommendations with solid data. They need to explain performance using data. They need to create personalised strategies that are actually based on what’s real. So, when the contribution and withdrawal records you’re relying on don’t match what’s actually happening, your advice isn’t just less helpful, it’s vulnerable.
Getting this right starts with having data you can actually trust.
Find out more about the contributions and withdrawals app.
