Podcast Interview – Blunt Advice for Accountants Wanting to Make a Difference

In this interview you will learn…

• Compliance for accountants is becoming a smaller proportion of accounting firm income
• Accountants have NOT been listening over the years, both to what their clients are wanting and what the market is driving
• Clients see little value in compliance, which is why it’s becoming a commodity
• Many accounting firms are unable or unwilling to give their clients the direction and advice they need
• Most accounting websites have the same buzz words – integrity, honesty, professionalism, reliability, so where is the differentiation?
• Most accountants have lied, bent the rules, committed things if they answer honestly
• The vast majority of accounting firms have not changed over the years and are not open to change
• A picture of what will happen to accounting firms who cannot or refuse to change and really listen to their clients and their own staff
• The younger accountants coming through to replace the older generation are more empathetic and ask better questions of clients
• One possible reason why accountants don’t listen and ask good questions of clients is that they’re supposed to have all the answers
• Dashboards, graphs and charts are easy for accountants to produce, but this is not what business owners are looking for
• Most accountants are doing well from a revenue and profitability point of view but are not thinking long term and will suffer in coming years
• What separates the good accounting firms from the great ones
• Commercially minded accountants are few and far between, and many are not open to this coachable skill
• The difference between the good and great accountants is offering strategic advice
• Why accountants should not Simon Sinek’s ‘start with your why’ as that’s not why clients buy from you
• Values are completely misunderstood in all companies – accountants should properly use them for better impact and differentiation
• A business cannot have a set of values – it’s an inanimate object and not a human being
• Values are better phrased as priorities or philosophy when it comes to representing your accounting firm
• Almost all accounting firms are seeing huge downward pressure on fees and a huge increase in salaries, and economics says these two lines will cross
• Accountants are a 6 or 7 out of 10 when it comes to time management and productivity
• Accountants can put all manner of new business systems and processes in place, but if they don’t change human behaviour, they won’t succeed
• Very few business coaches and consultants who serve accountants do not invest in learning and so dish out the same information and methods.

Click here to listen to the podcast.