Accountant's Minute

It’s sad, but true. Tax compliance work alone isn’t going to keep your practice running in the years to come. Recent research amongst the Top 100 accountancy firms (Australian Financial Review) clearly shows that accountants must start looking for alternative income streams, if they’re going to survive in the 2020s. Financial Review Top 100 Accounting Firms 2018 (Click here) 2018...

How often do you stay in contact with your SME clients? Is it just once a year to remind them it’s tax time again, or maybe, every three months for their quarterly BAS? Well, if that’s the case, then here’s the big question. Why aren’t you keeping your clients ‘top of mind’ and contacting them whenever any new development that might help them comes across your desk? SME clients...

Have your clients, as part of their New Year resolutions, asked themselves….  “Am I getting everything I should be getting from my accountant?” When you hear of new, innovative ideas in the world of accounting, is your first reaction to say “Oh well, my clients wouldn’t be interested in that”? Do you really know your clients as well as you think you do? It’s a fair...

When you hear of new, innovative ideas in the world of accounting, is your first reaction to say “Oh well, my clients wouldn’t be interested in that”? Do you really know your clients as well as you think you do? It’s a fair question for everybody in business. For accountants and other professional advisors, who know some of their clients’ more intimate secrets, it’s even more...

If so, have you claimed Crowd Sourced Funding Advisory Services as one of your specialities?  If you have… congratulations, but not many accountancy firms have done this, at this stage.  Would you be happy with this objective? “Your accountancy firm will have “ownership” of the Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising preparation tasks by proactively implementing a Crowd Sourced...

According to Kate Carnell, the Australian government's Small Business Ombudsman, more than 25% of small and medium enterprise loans are being supplied by the parents of small and medium enterprise owners. The “Bank of Mum and Dad” is being forced to fund more than 25% of small and medium enterprise loans because of the credit crunch which is being worsened by fallout from the Banking Royal...

Advisory work is on the increase for accountancy firms as indicated by the 2018 Top 100 Accounting Firms Survey conducted by the “Financial Review”: “Number Crunchers Follow the Big Four into Advisory”. The report indicated that the top 100 accountancy firms “grew by an average of 11.5%, thanks to their surging consulting divisions even as growth in core compliance work has...

Medium-sized companies, turnover $2 million to $25 million, are a prime group of clients to whom accountants could consult relative to their directors’/management’s vision for the future to determine whether they're interested in raising capital as a Crowd Sourced Funding company. These companies could be interested in “scaling up” their businesses to the next level, or even beyond but...

Do you want to help your clients to grow, or are you just happy doing their compliance work? If you want to take a more serious role, as a trusted business and financial advisor to your clients, then Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising could be the opportunity you’re looking for. Newly legalised here in Australia, Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising could create a new specialisation and a...

Are you looking for a way to retain your clients by helping their businesses to grow? Then this, could be just what you’re looking for. As accountants, we all know that running an accountancy firm is getting tougher and tougher these days. Margins on compliance work are shrinking, but costs…….. just keep going up! You’ve no doubt worked hard to build your client base and now you...

Frustrated with the way that your team is responding to the challenge to provide a broader range of professional services – known as commercial services? Can’t get everyone to see where you want to take your accountancy firm and your clients into a whole new era of business related services? Want to develop a growth plan for 2019 incorporating your accountancy business and your...

At long last Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising for Private Companies is available from 19 October 2018. Do you envisage that your accountancy firm will proactively promote the opportunity for some of your clients and prospects to raise capital from the public and in so doing create a new income stream for your accountancy firm? If so, why not identify the prime group of clients for you to...

What do you want your accountancy business to look like in 1 to 2 years’ time? The same as it looks at present or have you developed a strategy for the future or are you thinking about a strategy for the future? What are your firm’s Key Performance Indicators – have you compared them to other firms who are offering diversified services? Are you satisfied with your firm’s...

If you want your accountancy firm to be differentiated in the marketplace and recognised as a market leader, then offering a proactive service on the new Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising for private companies will assist your accountancy firm to: earn a higher average fee per client create new client generation improve your client retention, rather than lose clients who are seeking...

The Senate passed the Corporations Amendment (Crowd Sourced Funding for Proprietary Companies) Bill 2017 on 12th September 2018.  The legislation will be operational 28 days after Royal Assent.  This means the legislation will be operational from approximately 15th October 2018.  The legislation withdraws the requirements in the original legislation that a private company had to...

Would you be happy if your accountancy business was able to achieve the following within the next 2 years? “Accountancy firms with new income streams, higher average fee per client, complying with many SME expectations and providing varied and interesting work which will assist in team recruitment and retention”. To achieve this, you’ll need a minimum of a 30/70 split of non-compliance...