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The finished pack, without giving up the client.
Small UK practices have three usual ways to get year-end working papers done. Here is where PaperHQ fits, and when one of the others is the better choice.
Updated
| Silverfin | Balance | Outsourcers | PaperHQ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You keep the client | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| A finished pack, not software to work in | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| No migration: output in your own Excel | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Per file, no minimum or annual contract | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Client names never reach an AI model | n/a | No | n/a | Yes |
From each company's published pricing and positioning, October 2026.
PaperHQ vs Silverfin
Silverfin is a working-paper platform: your team works inside it, on its templates, under a per-file annual licence with a minimum number of files and a 12-month contract. It suits mid-size and larger firms that want to standardise every file on one system. If you already use Silverfin, you probably do not need PaperHQ.
PaperHQ is for the firm that does not want a platform. It hands back the prepared pack in your own Excel template, priced per completed file, with no minimum. There is nothing to migrate and nothing for the team to learn beyond reviewing the exceptions.
PaperHQ vs AI-native firms such as Balance
AI-native accounting firms do the work themselves and sell it to the business owner. That can be a good deal for the business, but for a practice it means the client relationship moves to them. PaperHQ prepares the pack for your firm; you review it, sign it and keep the client.
PaperHQ vs outsourcing
Outsourcers, often offshore, sell hours: a team prepares the file and sends it back, with turnaround measured in days and a price set by time spent. PaperHQ is software, so a pack is back in minutes and each file costs less than an outsourcer charges. Many outsourcers are a good fit for PaperHQ themselves: it does the preparation, their people do the review.
What PaperHQ does not replace
PaperHQ sits between the bookkeeping export (Xero, QuickBooks or Sage) and your accounts-production software (one import layout today; TaxCalc and BTCSoftware layouts to follow). It produces the mapped, proven trial balance those tools start from, and the working papers behind it. You still produce and file the accounts in the software you use now.