From Portfolio Review to Prioritised Client Conversations
See how CORE Insights helps your practice decide which clients need attention, understand the financial significance of performance changes, and prepare focused conversations with clear follow-up actions.
CORE Insights in practice
The demonstration follows the complete journey from reviewing a client portfolio to preparing a focused client meeting and recording the actions that follow.
What does CORE Insights do?
CORE Insights helps accounting firms assess clients consistently at portfolio level. It uses structured financial data to identify emerging risks, commercial opportunities and clients who may benefit from a conversation. Advisors can then examine the financial impact, prepare a relevant meeting agenda and record the actions agreed with the client.
What you will learn
Know who needs attention
Use a portfolio-wide review and Opportunity Cards to identify clients who may benefit from a conversation about performance, tax planning, succession or other opportunities.
Focus limited capacity
Assess whether the data supports meaningful analysis, identify financial risks and opportunities, and use readiness indicators to help prioritise your approach.
Make the numbers meaningful
Explain the estimated effect of changes in revenue, customer retention, margin and working capital so the business owner understands why they matter.
Move from insight to action
Use the VFD Agent to draft client communications and focused agendas, then record agreed actions against the relevant KPIs for future reviews.
From portfolio review to client action
CORE Insights provides a connected process. It helps the firm decide where to start, understand what is happening and prepare a commercially relevant conversation.
Configure the assessment
Choose the data-suitability, commercial-opportunity and client-readiness criteria that reflect your portfolio and the services you provide.
Prioritise the portfolio
Identify clients with advisory potential and review possible R&D, utilities, inheritance tax and tax-planning opportunities.
Understand the client
Review the opportunity cards, financial performance, working capital and the business drivers most likely to be affecting the result.
Prepare the conversation
Use the VFD Agent to summarise the financial highlights, rank the important KPIs, draft a client message and create a focused meeting agenda.
Record and review actions
Connect each agreed action to the relevant KPIs, creating a clearer reference point for accountability and the next client review.
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Why CORE Insights exists
Turn existing client data into timely insight and decide who needs attention.
Capacity, client relationships and advisory growth
How prioritisation helps compliance-led, client-focused and advisory-led practices use their time effectively.
Portfolio view and Opportunity Cards
Review the client list and filter for advisory potential, possible IHT exposure and tax-planning conversations.
Configure suitability, opportunity and readiness
Assess data suitability and set criteria for profitability, working capital and client readiness.
IHT and R&D thresholds; applying configurations
Set thresholds and apply configurations to individual clients or groups, including businesses with and without stock.
Explore an individual client and the VFD Agent
Review the supporting metrics and use the agent to begin summarising the client’s financial performance.
Quantify financial impact and prepare a client email
Estimate the effect of changes in performance drivers and turn the findings into a relevant client communication.
Build a focused meeting agenda
Select the KPIs to discuss, generate discussion prompts and identify relevant supporting reports.
Record actions and support follow-through
Link agreed actions to relevant KPIs and revisit previous discussions at subsequent reviews.
The financial framework behind CORE Insights
Understand the structured data and consistent review methodology used to prioritise risks and opportunities.
Support, commercial value and next steps
Explore the Business Overview Report, Academy resources and a repeatable approach to proactive client service.
How is CORE Insights different from a generic AI tool?
The difference is not simply the use of AI. CORE Insights starts with financial data that has already been structured consistently and applies a defined review methodology before surfacing the information that deserves attention.
| Area | Generic AI tool | CORE Insights |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A prompt and the information supplied by the user | Structured financial data from the connected client records |
| Method | The result can depend heavily on how the question is phrased | A defined and repeatable financial review methodology |
| Consistency | Users may ask different questions of different clients | The same assessment can be applied across the portfolio |
| Primary output | Information generated in response to a request | Prioritised risks, opportunities and conversation prompts |
| Professional role | The user must still decide what matters and what to do next | The platform supports professional judgement; it does not replace it |
For firms that want a more proactive client process
The session is relevant whether your immediate aim is to strengthen compliance relationships or build a more scalable advisory service.
- Practice owners and partners deciding how to use newly available team capacity.
- Client and portfolio managers who need a consistent way to identify and prepare valuable conversations.
- Advisory-led accounting firms looking to make opportunity identification more repeatable and scalable.
- Compliance-led firms seeking to make annual or periodic client reviews more proactive.
- Fractional FDs, CFOs and outsourced finance teams supporting multiple businesses.
CORE Insights webinar questions
What is a portfolio-level client review?
It is a consistent assessment applied across multiple clients to identify which businesses need attention, where risks may be emerging and where there may be an opportunity for a useful conversation. It helps the firm decide where to begin before reviewing an individual client in more detail.
Does CORE Insights replace professional judgement?
No. It helps prioritise clients and surface evidence for review. The accountant or advisor still applies their knowledge of the client, validates the insight and decides how the conversation should be handled.
Which risks and opportunities can CORE Insights identify?
The webinar demonstrates advisory potential alongside possible R&D, utilities, inheritance tax and tax-planning opportunities. At client level, it also reviews financial performance, working capital and the KPIs driving the result.
Can firms change the assessment criteria?
Yes. Firms can configure suitability, opportunity and readiness criteria, with configurations assigned to individual clients or multiple clients. The webinar also shows adjustable IHT and R&D thresholds. Tax-planning and utilities criteria are predetermined.
How does the VFD Agent help prepare a client meeting?
It can summarise the financial highlights, identify and rank important business drivers, draft an objective client communication and create an agenda with relevant discussion prompts. The advisor can then review, edit and use the output in the way that suits the client relationship.
Can CORE Insights support compliance-led firms?
Yes. The process can be used to add a focused, forward-looking discussion to an existing year-end or periodic review. Firms do not need to begin by launching a separate, full advisory service.
Explore CORE Insights with your own clients
Start a 28-day CORE Insights trial to review up to five clients, identify potential risks and opportunities, and see where your team’s attention could have the greatest impact.
