Many professions are experiencing the pressure to adapt to an increasingly digital world.
Accountancy is no exception.
In fact, the public accounting profession is being squeezed tighter and tighter by the ubiquitousness of cloud-based accounting and bookkeeping services.
Other players, including an increasing range of apps and online services, are encroaching into the traditional accounting space. Clients – that is, business owners – start to think they don’t need their accountant as much as they once did.
As a result, many clients no longer feel anchored or as loyal to their accountant as they have in the past. And for younger business owners they expect different things from their accountant compared to the previous generation.
This shift is pushing Accountants to be less reliant on the routine flow of tax and compliance work and focus more on offering advisory services that:
- Clients will value more highly than compliance work
- Give the accounting firm an opportunity to differentiate itself
- Provide a higher margin service to maintain profitability within the accounting firm
- Provide work for accountants that is more professionally stimulating
Reality Check
Most firms will find the list above to be theoretical. Why? Because many Accountants:
- Find it very difficult to “sell” (or persuasively present) the concept of providing advisory services, so clients never get the chance to value it more highly
- Use the same bland, general descriptions of their advisory services as most other accounting firms do, so there is little scope for actual differentiation
- Find that pricing and managing advisory work is more challenging than compliance work, so senior practitioners need to be involved, meaning margins may not be what was anticipated
- Actually like the number-crunching side of accounting (good for them, that’s the profession they chose), so they’re not always keen to try and undertake the nebulous sort of advisory service they’re being told they need to provide
Imagine what would happen if GP’s (Doctors) were told, “Look, so many clients are now doing their own health research online, and they can get some advice from Pharmacists or other health professionals, so to keep up with the times how about you also become a Personal Trainer and offer those services too.”
Can you ever imagine that happening?
The problem is the Doctor hasn’t trained to be a PT, and probably has little interest at a professional level in doing PT work. It’s pretty clear that trying to do both simply won’t work.
Accountants now face a similar choice… and the answer for many professionals might be to NOT try and be a business advisor as well as an Accountant, but rather to add comprehensive business advisory services that integrate with existing accounting services, and that go well beyond traditional CFO-style financial support, to help clients across their entire business.
Build or Bolt-on Advisory Services
Should accounting firms spend time and effort developing their own advisory services (build), or create a partnership with a firm who can provide their clients with an integrated advisory service with much greater impact than the accounting firm can provide (bolt on)?
Fast-track your firm’s growth and increase client retention
Accountants are conservative by nature. And rightly so when it involves managing their client’s finances. However, when it comes to fast-tracking development of their firm, such as with adding advisory services, it pays to be open to new ways of working.
‘Slow and steady’ can easily become ‘left behind’.
An accounting firm could spend many years devising and fine tuning a basic range of advisory services (and many have done that, slowly). Or they could team up with a trusted provider of business-wide advisory services to create an integrated service their clients will appreciate, and that will create new value for the firm.
What will you do?
Find out more at this FREE seminar in Brisbane
If you think your firm might benefit from exploring how you can integrate with a bolt on advisory service and how such a relationship could work, you are welcome to register for our free introductory seminar being held on Wednesday 17 July, 3.30pm to 4.30pm in Brisbane CBD.