Wednesday 21 November 2007

"I love my Accountant"






The last few weeks I've been working with and talking to accountants of all shapes and sizes... most have loved what I have to say but some have found it a little too challenging. I did an interview (Accountancy Age interview - 25 minute interview on "What accountants should be providing to their clients)

My one-liner:
Accountants can be... should be... and, in fact, must be... fantastic for your business...

FIRST, they help you obey the law (all the compliance stuff), but more importantly they add real value to your business:
- they can help you pay less tax,
- they can help you to grow the business faster and more profitably.
Who wouldn't want someone like that on their side?

SECOND, if you think your current accountant is underperforming then sack them - get one that who you do trust and that does add real value to your business.


I do understand why this approach has ruffled a few feathers, but I must quote The Animals...
"I'm just a soul whose intentions are good:
Oh Lord! Please don't let me be misunderstood ..."




RELEVANT LINKS
What do Today's Entrepreneurs want from their Accountants? - 25 minute interview with Accountancy Age (Nov 2007).
Accountants - Know Me, Know My Business - Accountants have still got to learn that the customer is king. (In Practice, 2005).



18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert

Listened with pleasure (and many times smiling) to the interview. Recognised your former (type of) accountant you hate as well as your new (type of) accountant you love.
(Or by extreme coincidence you had the same terrible accountant we had before and switch to the same excellent, magnificent accountant/advisor we're with for the last few years.)

Like I told you almost two weeks ago during the excellent Bright Marketing seminar by your good self in Ashford Kent, our business this year is (again) growing at a 50% rate. We work hard/smart for that, but do know it is also down to the constant and relentlessly driving us forward by our accountant who not only knows our business very well, but also knows us pretty darn well - knows what makes us tick, knows how to challenge us etc.
Wouldn't be where we are today without him ;-)

And you can be sure I'll forward the link to the interview to him, might make his day ;-)

Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

Damian said...

Robert
Thanks again for taking part - it was a really good session. You might be interested to see some of our award winners this year - http://www.accountancyage.com/2203415/ - accountants who are doing the very things you advocate.
Regards
Damian Wild
Editor in chief
Accountancy Age

Damian said...

Perhaps the best example of a small firm using technology to engage with existing and potential clients is here http://accountancymatters.accountancyage.com/2007/11/accountancy-age.html#more
Damian

Rob W said...

Your brand new website means the links no longer works.

Phil (employ 25) said...

this has just bee brught to my attention.

Will you be at the CIMA conference next week? they need to hear this...

Unknown said...

Yes - I was at The CIMA conference and I think they heard me loud and clear.

Harry Venables said...

But essentially we accountants have got trapped in a no-mans-land not knowing what to do next. Are we just accountants? or marketiers? or entrepreneurs? All very confusing.

James said...

We are accountants. Why pretend to be anything else. Do what it says on the tin.

Anonymous said...

Saw this. Controversial but probably right. We are not marketers/marketeers but we don't always do a great job at selling ourselves. After all we are not salesmen. It is not good enough.

David Lewis said...

As an accountant I have the following observations:

• As in all other walks of life there are good and bad
• Accountancy in its broadest sense covers tax, bookkeeping, accounts, auditing, fund raising, business planning, systems development, buying and selling businesses to name but a few
• Often clients hire an accountant when they are in starting up purely to deal with tax and the year end accounts. As businesses grow and become more complex their needs change.
• If businesses who have grown but stayed with their original accountant reviewed their requirements (as if from scratch) then many would change

I believe that there is a lack of appreciation in the small business community that there are different types of accountant, just an expectation that one accountant should be able to meet all your needs and there are only good and bad accountants. For the smallest of businesses this may be (mostly) true, however as businesses grow this may change.

Last year I was working on the acquisition of a small business, the person selling the business used a solicitor who was a family friend (who was primarily a matrimonial lawyer) – his lawyer handled things badly and this resulted in increased costs for both sides and the deal nearly falling through. Conversely, many corporate solicitors I meet complain about how poorly some high street accountants deal with business acquisitions.

What you get from your accountant is influenced by their own experiences – not all accountants are the same and sometimes it may even be appropriate to use more than one accountant!!

Out of interest a recent headline AccountingWeb an accountant’s web site said ACCOUNTANTS FAILING CLIENTS AS RECORD FRAUD LOSSES ANNOUNCED. How many clients would expect their accountants to automatically advise on fraud and how many have actually received advice on it?

Unknown said...

David

Thank you for your comment. All very clear indeed.

Robert

RD@GT said...

No excuses. No defences. We are just another business service. Time to stop being defensive. Time to demonstrate what we do with our actions. Not our words. Or die a slow painful death. Your choice.

Unknown said...

see Monty Python on the subject
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMOmB1q8W4Y

Robert Craven said...

David

Thank you for your comment. All very clear indeed.

Robert

David Lewis said...

As an accountant I have the following observations:

• As in all other walks of life there are good and bad
• Accountancy in its broadest sense covers tax, bookkeeping, accounts, auditing, fund raising, business planning, systems development, buying and selling businesses to name but a few
• Often clients hire an accountant when they are in starting up purely to deal with tax and the year end accounts. As businesses grow and become more complex their needs change.
• If businesses who have grown but stayed with their original accountant reviewed their requirements (as if from scratch) then many would change

I believe that there is a lack of appreciation in the small business community that there are different types of accountant, just an expectation that one accountant should be able to meet all your needs and there are only good and bad accountants. For the smallest of businesses this may be (mostly) true, however as businesses grow this may change.

Last year I was working on the acquisition of a small business, the person selling the business used a solicitor who was a family friend (who was primarily a matrimonial lawyer) – his lawyer handled things badly and this resulted in increased costs for both sides and the deal nearly falling through. Conversely, many corporate solicitors I meet complain about how poorly some high street accountants deal with business acquisitions.

What you get from your accountant is influenced by their own experiences – not all accountants are the same and sometimes it may even be appropriate to use more than one accountant!!

Out of interest a recent headline AccountingWeb an accountant’s web site said ACCOUNTANTS FAILING CLIENTS AS RECORD FRAUD LOSSES ANNOUNCED. How many clients would expect their accountants to automatically advise on fraud and how many have actually received advice on it?

Phil (employ 25) said...

this has just bee brught to my attention.

Will you be at the CIMA conference next week? they need to hear this...

Rob W said...

Your brand new website means the links no longer works.

Larry said...

I wouldn't worry about ruffling feathers. Many accountants just don't understand what it is that you are on about.