What else can we do for the Client?
Accountant's Minute 327
This was the question posed by Mark Holton, Director of Smithink, in the ESS BIZTOOLS podcast this week talking about the problem confronting accountancy firms and many other businesses relating to attraction and retention of talent.
Mark Holton suggested that many young accountants are not going to be as patient as the older generation were and are saying, “I’m not going to sit here forever doing tax compliance work every day”.
Should your team be asking the question, “What else could we do for our clients?”
Last week’s edition of Accountants Minute discussed “Want to know more about the Accounting Revolution?”
A key component of the events that created the accounting revolution in the USA is that some accountants were objecting to the extremely long work hours that they were having to perform in the preparation of taxation returns.
“Couldn’t we spread this work out over the full 12 months and offer clients some more services during the year?”
The keynote presenter in the webinar which we organised with Adam Hale, Partner of Summit CPA, said, “The clients were enthusiastic about the concept of been able to access accounting services that would help them run better businesses throughout the year”.
Over a period of time, this led Summit CPA to creating their principal service built around Financial Forecasting based on:
- an understanding of the business of the business
- a business plan for the client so that their vision could be easily documented
- incorporating the financial implications of that vision into budgets, cash flow forecasts and projected balance sheets.
This gave the client an overview of what their overall financial position would look like if they were able to implement the strategies.
The next key component of this strategy was the monitoring of the business’ performance week by week and month by month, exactly what would happen if the business employed a full-time Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
On a monthly basis, the financial accounts are prepared for each individual business unit and a comparison to budget report and KPI analysis for discussion and review at the monthly business review meeting, attended by the business’ leadership team and the accounting firm’s nominated CFO.
Why not discuss this concept in your team meeting and analyse the clients that you could offer this service to start the process?
This will answer the “What else can we do for the client?” question and assist with the attraction and retention of talent within your firm because your firm will be performing interesting and challenging work!
If you want to discuss this concept with us please do not hesitate to contact Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS, on 1800 232 088.
ESS BIZTOOLS – Podcast
Mark Holton, Director of Smithink, joined Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS, in this week’s podcast, to discuss the challenges confronting accountants in 2022/23. Click here to access the podcast.
Latest Social Media Posts
ESS BIZTOOLS has presented a series of posts over the last week. Click on your preferred topic to access:
- Are you aware of the Export Market Development Grant?
- Interested in financial forecasting?
- Want to be the financial storyteller?
- Do you have a “checklist for cash management”?
Free Webinars
You are invited to participate in the following webinars, free of charge. Click on your preferred webinar to register your attendance.
A service package that could revolutionise your accounting firm and add significant value to your clients! This webinar will be presented on Wednesday 31st August 2022 at 11.30am AEST.
Introduction to Virtual CFO Delivery
This webinar will be presented on Thursday 15th September 2022 at 11.30am AEST.
Grant Update
Click here to access a sample of the latest grants, instigated by the Australian government.
ESS BIZGrants helps identify Federal, State and Territory government grants that suit the business activities of individual clients. To find out more, visit www.essbizgrants.com.au.
Want to know more?
Visit www.essbiztools.com.au. You are also welcome to visit www.essbizgrants.com.au, a website that can assist in the identification of government grant(s) suitable for your clients.
If you would like to have a discussion about how this concept of virtual CFO services can be supplied by Australian accounting firms please ring our Managing Director, Peter Towers, on 1800 232 088 and we will arrange a complimentary 45 minute Zoom meeting to discuss your firm’s position and to give you our advice.
We believe that this is the blueprint for the delivery of an enhanced range of services by Australian accounting firms to assist SME businesses to add value to their businesses and to assist accountants not only to attract but to retain outstanding talent who want to be involved in the delivery of real accounting services.
