Generally business owners work with accountants to meet the necessity for compliance, yet more and more business owners are now speaking out and stating that what they really need from an accountant is to give them the support their businesses really need.
There is some very good feedback and data online with regards to what clients say about how their needs are being met by their accountants. A snap shot of the top two surveys is summarised below:
Sage Exchange (sage-exchange.co.uk) recently posted a summary of from their survey where they asked businesses what they would like more from their accountants:
1 Getting to know clients – Scheduling regular meetings, spending time understanding their business, their issues and their desire for the future.
2 Prompt replies -No matter how small they are, clients want to feel like one that is valued, and timely communication is important to them.
3 Being proactive – The vast majority will be pleased that their accountant is taking an active interest in their business. Regularly reviewing customers’ financial positions and seeing if there is any way in they can help either develop their business, or make savings in areas like tax and overheads.
4 Keeping up to date with technology – Businesses – new and established – are becoming more technology focused. SMEs expect their accountant to keep up. Clients see their accounts as experts and it’s important they are up to date with the technology that’s applicable.
5 Offer more value-added services – It’s not enough these days for an accountant to offer just accountant services. Small business owners don’t have the time to shop around for different areas of business advice; they often ask the accountant for help in areas such as employment law and marketing. Without the need for being an expert on everything, yet being able to referring client enquiries to trusted and recognised sources and bodies can help them enormously.
On a statistical level; Clearbooks (www.clearbooks.co.uk) have posted some great data with regards to what people want from their accountants:
50% of small businesses had only ever worked with one accountant throughout their business., 37% worked with two accountants, 10% worked with three accountants and 3% worked with 4 plus accountants.
Reasons for changing accountants fell into four categories: – Ability 35% – Services offered – 35% Cost – 21% – Other 9%
The most important considerations when choosing an accountant were:
Communication 28%, Price 21%, Personality18% , Location 13%, Knowledge 9%, Qualifications 8%, Online presence 3%
The areas that business owners ideally want help with from their accountant were as follows:
32% – Business Strategy, 24% – Budgeting, 14% – Payroll, 10% – General,
9 % – Business Service, 7% – Nothing, 4% – Tax.
Here at Keen Dicey Grover, due our close working relationship with our clients, we make it our business to know their businesses. We can therefore ensure that financial information is created in a way that is suitable to their business and industry. This helps us to conduct relevant reviews of the business and its performance and take our time to understand the owner’s needs in order to support them and their business.
With over 40 years of experience, we work hard to provide visibility, eliminate the unknown and ensure our clients feel confident and informed about the status and future of their businesses.
Keen Dicey Grover
We care…………..we really care
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