About Evidentia
A practical AML compliance interface for small accountancy firms.
Evidentia was created to help small UK accountancy firms turn recurring AML review work into clear, organised, and supervision-ready records without adding another heavy system.
Founder story
Why we built Evidentia
Evidentia was founded because of the ever-increasing gap between AML expectations and the day-to-day reality of small UK accountancy firms. Solo practitioners, owner-led firms, and micro practices are expected to keep AML records current, clear, and defensible, but the responsibility often sits with one busy owner or senior person who is also trying to run the practice and serve clients. The key challenge is that AML upkeep has become an intermittent, stressful, and non-billable burden.
While most firms understand that AML matters, the hard part comes after onboarding, when existing client files need to be reviewed, updated, and explained over time. A periodic review, a change in ownership or services, or an unusual development can all require the firm to revisit the client’s AML position and create a record that still makes sense months later.
In many small firms, AML records are spread across templates, spreadsheets, email threads, Word notes, reminders, memory, and the client file. Each piece may make sense in that moment, but over time, the review trail becomes fragmented. Decisions, evidence references, rationale, and follow-ups end up sitting in different places, making it harder to show a clear AML upkeep history when the file is reviewed later.
Evidentia is deliberately narrow. It is not a full AML platform, an onboarding tool, or a replacement for professional judgment. It sits alongside a firm’s existing setup and supports the recurring AML upkeep work they need to evidence clearly: guided review prompts, concise rationale capture, evidence references, open issue tracking, chronology, and file-ready outputs.
The aim is simple: to help small accountancy firms make their AML files easier to defend, review, and explain. By giving firms a clearer way to record periodic reviews and changes in client circumstances as they happen, Evidentia reduces the last-minute scramble when a supervisor, reviewer, or professional body asks to see the AML file.
Post-onboarding AML compliance
The Money Laundering Regulations demand ongoing monitoring, up-to-date records, and clear evidence of review.
Designed for small-firm reality
Structured around AML obligations, but built for firms without a dedicated compliance team or heavy admin capacity
Records that explain the decision
Capture what was reviewed, what changed, the conclusion, referenced evidence, and why the decision was reasonable.
Easy to start, easy to keep using
Evidentia provides one-to-one onboarding to help firms set up their workspace and use the product confidently.
FCA supervision will change AML standards. Small firms must prepare.
The FCA transition raises the importance of clear, defensible AML records. Evidentia gives small accountancy firms a practical way to keep AML upkeep organised and supervision-ready without adding another heavy system.
Supervisory evidence
The weaknesses are already showing up in AML reviews.
Public supervisory material points to the same practical problems again and again: incomplete CDD, weak ongoing monitoring, thin rationale, unclear evidence, and controls that do not always operate in practice.
AAT supervision
reviewed firms found non-compliant
AAT reviewed 327 supervised firms and found almost one in four non-compliant. Its breach findings included weaknesses in initial CDD, ongoing CDD, policy reviews, and PSC checks.
Source: AAT AML annual report →HM Treasury supervision report
non-compliant in PBS firm sampling
HM Treasury reported that PBS sampling of medium and low-risk supervised firms still found non-compliance, including inadequate CDD, weak client risk records, and firm-wide risk assessment issues.
Source: HM Treasury supervision report →FCA transition
AML supervisors are being replaced
The current AML supervision model spans 22 professional body supervisors plus parts of HMRC supervision. The reform moves professional services AML supervision toward one FCA-led public supervisor.
Source: HM Treasury reform response →What supervisors keep finding, and how Evidentia responds
Evidentia is designed for the operational weak points that create the most pressure for small firms: knowing when to review, writing the rationale, linking the evidence, keeping follow-ups open, and producing a clear answer when the file is requested.
HMRC
Changed client facts can require a CDD refresh
HMRC’s supervision manual says certain changes can “trigger a review of CDD”. That supports the point that CDD is not just an onboarding exercise.
Source: HMRC supervision manual →How Evidentia helps
Change events are routed into structured review workflows
Periodic reviews, ownership changes, new directors, service-scope changes, unusual developments, and other AML-relevant events can be handled through a guided review/update flow.
HMRC
Supervisors care whether controls actually operate
HMRC says supervisors should test whether what firms describe in policies, controls, and procedures is actually “happening in practice”.
Source: HMRC supervision manual →How Evidentia helps
Completed records show the AML work was actually done
Evidentia turns reviews and updates into completed records that capture the trigger, review area, outcome, rationale, action taken, evidence references, and resolution notes.
ACCA
Rationale is often too thin or missing
ACCA’s common findings refer to records that “lacked sufficient detail” and cases with “no supporting rationale”. That is exactly where many small firms struggle.
Source: ACCA AML supervision report →How Evidentia helps
Rationale support removes the blank page
Sentence starters, full examples, and reusable rationale patterns help users explain what they considered, why the conclusion was reasonable, and what action followed.
ACCA
Weak evidence trails keep appearing in reviews
ACCA highlights the need to “retain clear evidence”, while AAT uses “insufficient evidence” when firms cannot show that AML controls are effective.
Source: ACCA AML supervision report →How Evidentia helps
Evidence references stay connected to the review
Users can reference the material relied on, such as existing CDD, Companies House checks, AML tool results, client explanations, internal notes, or other supporting material.
AAT
Unresolved AML issues can lead to further action
AAT reported 7 follow-up reviews, with 4 firms failing and being terminated. That shows unresolved AML remediation can quickly become a serious supervisory issue.
Source: AAT AML annual report →How Evidentia helps
Open AML matters stay visible until resolved
Records awaiting evidence, clarification, or further action remain open until the follow-up is completed and recorded. Completed records preserve the outcome rather than overwriting unresolved work.
FCA transition
A more formal AML supervisor means small firms need clearer evidence.
The move toward FCA supervision is expected to bring more consistent oversight, stronger information-gathering powers, a more formal registration model, and greater pressure to show that AML controls work in practice.
For small accountancy firms, that means AML records need to be easier to retrieve, easier to explain, and easier to evidence before a supervisor asks for them. Evidentia is built for that reality: structured reviews, clear rationale, open follow-ups, and file-ready outputs that help firms respond with more confidence.
