Advisory needs time, not job titles
Emma Reid, partner at Cottons Group, has watched enough firms talk about advisory while their teams stay buried in compliance work. Her diagnosis: advisory fails when there's no time for it.
The fix starts with workflow, not strategy decks. Manual processes and duplicated data keep teams looking backwards. Cloud platforms matter because they free people from low-value tasks, not because they're trendy. Advisory becomes possible when reconciliation stops eating hours.
Protect time deliberately. Tighten processes, standardise checklists, fix repeated data issues. Automate the admin that adds no value. If you can't create capacity, advisory becomes unpaid work that nobody wants to bill.
Price it or lose it
Pricing kills advisory faster than bad software. When advisory is treated as an add-on, it becomes "extra help" that feels awkward to charge for. Cottons moved away from effort-based pricing and learned to articulate value clearly.
Be specific about what clients get. Define scope, link it to outcomes (cash flow planning, margin review, forecasting), not tasks. If you can't explain it clearly, you can't price it confidently. Advisory that isn't scoped properly becomes a goodwill write-off.
Build the skill early
Technical excellence is baseline. Advisory demands communication, commercial awareness, and the confidence to challenge clients. Cottons gives early-career staff exposure to real client discussions with a clear role, then coaches afterwards.
In reviews, add one prompt: "What does this mean for the client?" Advisory capability has to be grown. It doesn't appear when someone hits senior.
The context
Cottons was acquired by Oslo-based VIEW Group on 13 January 2026, VIEW's third UK deal. The combined UK operation now has 190 staff serving 8,000+ clients, with Cottons retaining its brand and tech-led advisory focus. As an MGI Worldwide member, Cottons accesses 8,800 professionals across 100+ countries for cross-border work.
The shift from compliance to advisory is real across UK firms. But integration risks from acquisitions could dilute the personalised service that makes advisory work. Tech-led models sound good. Whether they actually enhance value over traditional expertise is the question CFOs should ask.