Compliance isn’t dead but we can do better.

We’re constantly being told that compliance is dead. Although those who spent late nights completing tax returns in January or who passed lockdowns calculating furlough claims would probably be the first to disagree. Whilst elements of compliance work are being automated to save us all time, there is still plenty for us to do. But we can do it better.

Automation is helping us to do our jobs faster, MTD is pushing towards more up to date information and so we can use this extra time to look for ways to help our clients further, based on better quality numbers.

This means that we can offer advisory services too. And many already do in some form.

I suspect there are very few accountancy firms that don’t offer some sort of business advice. As a profession we are usually keen to help our clients and to spot opportunities for them. Often this is done informally and is just a way of adding value for our clients but, for some firms, it can be a good income stream. If our clients’ thrive thanks to good business advice then so will we as they will need more of our compliance and advisory services.

But what is advisory? 

So many firms claim to offer advisory services but it is often only limited to tax advice or funding advice. For me business advice should CHANGE the numbers. This means that business advice can include:

• Tax advice
• Funding advice
• Strategic advice
• Pricing advice to improve profitability
• Cost control
• Marketing advice
• Sales advice
• Wealth management services
• Advice on systems and technology to make the business work more efficiently
• Credit control to improve cashflow
• HR advice and team building

Good advisory services rely on good compliance work first. Don’t put the advisory cart before the accounts horse but ensure that your compliance work is done as efficiently as possible before actively venturing into advisory services. Apart from anything else, if your own business runs efficiently and profitably, you will be a good role model for your clients’ businesses. So make your practice your first business advice client.

How to do Advisory 1-2-3 

• Watch the related webinar: What actually is Advisory?