Why you never hear from your accountant?

"I never hear from my accountant!" This is a common complaint we get from new clients and one we hope our clients never have to say about us.

But, at the risk of defending the industry too much (and our peers)… let’s run through why so many accounting firms struggle to stay engaged with their clients.

Lack of capacity - when a firm is lacking capacity, this means they have more clients than they have time to deliver the work. This leads to the focus always being on workflow and completing the next job… leaving little time for the soft skills needed to maintain relationships with clients

Compliance focused - this dove tails into the above reason because when a firm is solely focused on compliance only, they fail to set their clients up with time to chat and time to ask more questions.

Not interested - probably the worst reason, but let’s be honest here, some accountants are not the most engaging people when it comes to human interaction. Many accountants are still happy for their clients to be seen once a year and prefer to avoid human interaction where possible.

Labour Shortage - Yes it is true, the industry is in a state of high turn over and loss. Not only are accountants leaving the industry, but very few are signing up to become accountants. This is a major concern and is the main reason you might be seeing such an increase in in fees these days.

Undercharging - Accounting firms who offer cheap prices and constantly promise to be the most cost effective, are usually flooded with low value, yet high maintenance clients and little consideration or effort is made to build relationships as the focus is on volume, not quantity. The less you pay, the more you’re treated like a number.

You don’t want to - We cannot always blame the accountant. The fact is, some clients do not want to be too friendly with their accountant and are happy to have a transactional relationship. This works fine if both parties are aware and happy with such an understanding.

Over the last 2 years especially there has been a dramatic rise in accounting charges and the reasons above are why.

The onus is on accounting firms to now deliver more value, be more engaged, offer more than just compliance and this means charging far more than has been seen since Xero launched.

The best way for accounting firms to hang onto staff is to pay them more, provide more time off and create a working environment that is fun and exciting to work in.

Especially in todays market, where the younger breed coming through are wanting work/life balance immediately and the old school days of “Doing the hard yards” simply does not work.

We are lucky as we have capacity and while we are not the most expensive accountant in town, we do feel our rates are relative to the level of service we wish to deliver and the outcomes we want our clients to receive.

“You get what you pay for” is still an accurate saying. If you pay nothing, you often will get nothing.

If you're ready to experience a higher level of service and engagement with your accounting needs, contact us today to see how we can help you achieve your financial goals.