Already under way — can you change adviser, and what gets lost

01First separate "should change" from "should say it plainly"

In these situations changing does not fix anything and interrupts progress a second time: the bottleneck is on your side (documents not supplied, signatures not returned, figures not confirmed), or the matter is simply inside the authority's normal assessment period, where chasing achieves nothing before the time limit.

In these, the sooner the better: no sources are given, progress cannot be obtained, query notices sit unanswered; a non-compliant route is being recommended, or risk is being played down; the person who knew the file has left and nobody has taken it over, so your matter is effectively unattended.

02Three things that must come back

• A complete copy of what was actually filed — not the final draft, but the version that went in, with every supporting document attached. The incoming adviser needs to know what has already been said to the authority, or the position shifts and contradicts itself.
• System accounts and authorisation status — filings increasingly run through online systems. In whose name is the account, who holds the authorisation, has it been sub-delegated. Without this the incoming adviser cannot even get in.
• Accurate status and open items — which step, any unanswered queries, the next deadline. "Nearly there" is not a handover.

The second is the one most often overlooked: accounts were put in the provider's name at the outset for convenience, and only at handover does anyone discover they cannot be retrieved. Writing "accounts and authorisations belong to the client" into the engagement at the start avoids the whole problem.

03Timing: three moments not to switch

• Inside a response window for an official query — replies are time-limited and a mid-stream change very easily overruns, which stops the matter entirely.
• With an interview already scheduled — a late change means whoever attends does not know the project.
• With a hard deadline approaching — visa, reporting or reconciliation dates are the wrong time to change hands.

The safer window is between stages: one phase just closed and the next not yet started.

04One thing worth doing either way

Whether or not you change, a current-state stocktake is worth doing: which certificates and approvals you hold, each expiry date, any application in flight, where each system account sits, and what the next required action is. Two things usually emerge from it — that the real position differs from what you assumed, and that the next step is actually quite clear.

How authorisations are transferred follows the current procedures of each authority and system. If you are weighing a change, having our advisers do that stocktake without a predetermined view first is the more rational order — decide after the count, not before.