The present landscape for accountants and bookkeepers is full of opportunity, but it’s also full of challenges — especially for practices that aren’t willing to evolve their offering.
Happily, adapting to thrive in 2019 and beyond doesn’t have to require wholesale changes to how you work with clients. Upgrading to app advisory means making a few key tweaks to your offering so that it’s tailored to your clients’ needs and goals.
Read on for an introduction to all-things app advisory. Including:
A recent survey by Accountex Network found that 85% of SMEs want strategic advice from their accountants. For an industry that’s finding attracting and keeping hold of clients increasingly tricky, that’s a compelling statistic. But the same survey reported that only 24% of those SMEs actually get advice from their accountant or bookkeeper.
There are two reasons for this shortfall. Firstly, ‘Strategic advice’, is a broad term. Clients might want you to help them adapt their processes so they can scale, sell into new markets, help eliminating stockouts or more. The list is potentially endless.
Secondly, moving to ‘full-service advisory’ is a daunting prospect that can involve adding considerable expertise. Implementing and supporting solutions, for instance, often requires hiring or retraining staff. That investment of time and money is beyond many smaller practices.
According to Xero, practices that advise on apps grow revenue 60% faster — and SMEs that use them grow 30% faster.*
Here’s a quick outline of each one. For a detailed guide, download your free upgrading to app advisory eBook.
What is app advisory?
App advisory is a service that involves recommending cloud solutions to clients. Cloud technology can revolutionise how businesses operate — but with 1000s of tools to choose from, many companies need help getting started. App advisory provides that help. Accountants and bookkeepers are best placed to take this vital role in the new landscape of SaaS-based cloud tools. You know more about your clients than any app provider does, and you know more about the cloud than your clients do. As well as giving businesses a boost, consulting on apps brings significant benefits to your practice. But before we take a look at how accountants can achieve success with advisory, let’s examine the known challenges facing the industry. Among numerous minor issues, three challenges stand out.Three challenges for accountants today
1. Automation
Back in 2015, a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicted that the accounting and bookkeeping industry would face more upheaval from automation than any other: with 97.5% of workers impacted at some point in the next ten years. That prediction is playing out, with the majority of workers probably already affected by automation in the form of cloud accounting platforms such as Xero or QBO. These apps are already easy-to-use and affordable — and only getting more so. The challenge this brings to practices is twofold:- DIY accounting is easier than ever, and getting easier. Learning the basics of bookkeeping on YouTube and setting out on your own using Xero is now a viable option, especially for SMEs
- Switching accountant is simple. Instead of organising the transfer of physical accounts in form of hard drives or paper, businesses only need to give their new accountant access to their cloud system