Are Your Clients Being Served?

A number of surveys over the last 15 years have identified that small/medium enterprises want more services than just taxation from someone – without really specifying who the “someone” is!

There is no guarantee that “someone” is the SMEs current accountant or advisor.  This is because many SMEs have a belief that their current accountants are only interested in preparing annual accounts, income tax returns and superannuation.  Many SMEs do not appreciate that their accountants may be interested in offering a broader range of commercial services to assist their clients to add value to their businesses.

The challenge for accountants/business advisors is to “educate” clients on the full array of services that your firm is able to provide.

My recommendation is that you should be communicating with your clients and giving them examples of some of the additional work that you can undertake for them.

The examples could include the following:

• For a client interested in purchasing a business you could send a sample checklist on matters to be considered in the purchasing of a business
• For a client who has previously operated a business who is proposing to commence a new business you could send an overview of matters relative to commencing a business, including comments on a lease agreement, employment of staff, negotiations with suppliers.
• For a client who is an experienced business manager you could send that person articles on the benefits of preparing a business plan and how businesses can use business plans to guide them during their operations and the benefits of preparation and use of budgets and cashflow forecasts.
• Most SMEs have dealings with banks or other types of financial institutions. Accountants could send articles on negotiations with banks and monitoring of bank agreements to SMEs so as to assist SMEs in their understanding of banking procedures.
• Business planning is very important for all types of businesses. Accountants can assist in an SME's understanding of the business planning process by forwarding an article outlining the various processes involved in the preparation of a business plan.
• Corporate governance is very important for companies and is very applicable to businesses that are contemplating raising capital as crowd sourced funding companies or early stage innovation companies. Accountants can assist company directors by distributing information on director's responsibilities and duties.