When I ask accountants what they would like to be different in their practice, one theme is more common than any others. They frequently express the desire to have better quality clients, to increase their average fees and to be doing more interesting work. One sole practitioner accountant expressed this quite succinctly.
The ten mistakes I share below are based on the lessons I have learned from personal experience during which I was wearing one or other of the following four hats: 1 - A partner (in the past) in two large firms of accountants where I was responsible for writing pitches and fronting
If you've been thinking about blogging, or you've been advised you should do it (or to pay someone else to do it for you) you may find this interview of interest. I was approached to share my views on the subject by a journalist who had seen my blog was highly ranked
What is the real reason you are in practice as an accountant? This is a question many accountants struggle to answer when I ask them. Why do you do what you do? What is the first thing that comes to mind as to your motivation to be in practice as an accountant?
During my talks about the future for accountants I sometimes share a famous quote from Bill Gates. Before repeating it here, let me just offer some context. There has long been a tendency to over-hype new ideas and initiatives. Some accountants jump on the bandwagon early which is great. I don’t do
I know that my own career success owes more to the development of non-technical skills than it does to my knowledge and application of accounting and tax law. How do we gain our technical skills? No one is born a great auditor, tax adviser or accountant. We learn by working alongside experienced
I had mixed emotions when I read Della Hudson's book, The Numbers Business. On the plus side it is a superb guide to growing a successful cloud accountancy practice from scratch. I also felt a degree of envy and frustration. There's a part of me that thinks I should just stop offering
A Thomson Reuters survey of 350 UK accountants in June 2018 revealed six key areas to consider "as you step into the next decade". I have added my own commentary and views to the headline topics below: 1. Accept business model change The accountants believe that compliance will continue to sit at
Another day, another commentator bemoaning what they perceive as accountants’ resistance to change. I don’t see it that way at all. Busy accountants running busy firms have to prioritise. And preparing for the future is not a priority (yet). The accountants I talk with are tightly focused on keeping their best clients
This is another piece in the series of what to do when clients want help with something that goes beyond your level of knowledge and experience. Imagine you've had a business client for some time. The owner trusts you and appreciates your advice. They tell you that they have received an offer
Think about ten top accountancy brands. Or at least the ones you can remember. How many of those do you think your typical client would be able to name - or would even recognise? Once you move outside of the accountancy and finance professions, brand awareness drops off very fast. Even the
When you need additional help with client work in your office, do you look beyond the idea of simply recruiting a new member of staff? Many of the smaller accountants I speak with are struggling to do everything themselves. And those who have regular help, want more but are reluctant to take on
When we go to see a local GP we expect them to fulfil 3 primary roles. We need them to diagnose our problems, to prescribe solutions and to care for us. There is a direct parallel with the role of accountants. There is also a similar prospect of patients/clients adopting AI solutions to address
What are you selling as an accountant? This is a simple enough question, and knowing the right answer could make a profound difference to the success of your practice. Let’s start with what you’re NOT selling. As I explained in a recent blog post, You’re not selling your time. And you’re not
Many of the accountants I speak with ask me the same question. How can they best attract new clients? I will rarely offer advice however until I have found out enough about the accountant, their firm, their services, their likes and dislikes and what they have tried previously. The simple reason is
There is an old adage that says if your practice fails to grow it will stagnate. Is that true actually? I think, it depends on what one means by ‘grow’. Grow the client base? Turnover? Profits? Range of services? Efficiency? I prefer the word 'evolve' as I'll explain below. Many years ago
This is a good question to ponder. In most cases I think your reply should be ‘yes'. Where you set your minimum fee is up to you of course. I have been asking accountants this question for years. It grew out of the annual fee comparison masterclass I run for Members of
Maybe you still use timesheets. Many accountants have moved on but plenty continue to record the time that they and their staff spend on client matters. Throughout my years in practice I diligently recorded my time. Initially this was on monthly, then weekly and, finally, daily time sheets. In most of the
One of the most common issues for accountants is how can they stop getting caught out doing extra little bits of work for free? This has become more of an issue since they started quoting fixed fees. The issue comes up less often for those traditional accountants who still claim to charge
A while back I attempted to relate my advice for accountants to my hobby - magic (conjuring). I had a fanciful idea I would build a talk around the idea. I never did. But the analogies still work if you want to increase your profits. As I often point out, you need
It seems I've not updated my generic advice on this blog about accountants' websites for ten years. This is because I routinely say pretty much the same things to almost every accountant I talk with. And few of my views have changed. If anything I was ahead of my time and others
Most general practitioner accountants I talk with (and I talk with a lot of them) are, obviously, generalists rather than specialists. They started out as general practitioners and stay that way as their client base has always been quite disparate. Many of those who specialise do so only because they originally trained
I've addressed the subject of Networking many times before on this blog. I make no apology for returning to the topic as it's a key business skill for accountants who want more clients. And also for those seeking their first clients too. Networking is not something covered by our professional training. But it has
Lots of accountants I work with used to struggle to charge what they feel they're worth for the work they do. Sadly I can't just wave a magic wand to change things. Mostly what's required is an increase in confidence and improved communication. It sounds easier than it is in practice. One
Most smaller practitioners are focused on offering a compliance focused service to clients. Lots of people are saying you must start offering advisory services; and plenty of accountants think they already do this to a degree. In my talks I often reference 5 types of non-compliance service and how it will take
