SMEs tend to place a huge amount of trust in the relationship, expecting they can concentrate on serving customers and growing their business while their accountant manages the money.
As an accountant, often what you perceive your clients want and what you actually deliver can be different things. The best way to work with your SME clients is simply to identify their priorities and concentrate on those for the best results. Here we take a look at 10 accounting priorities for small business owners.
1. Doing tax right
Predictable perhaps, but for most SMEs this is their biggest priority. Your clients often don’t understand tax so they rely on accountants to get it right and they prefer not to have issues with a tax authority, let alone be investigated.
2. Being proactive
SMEs rarely have time to sit back and think about how to make their business better. They want their accountant to monitor and alert them to things that can help. This is often hard for accountants that have 500-plus clients, but there is great online accounting software available that makes this monitoring easier.
3. The ‘wow’ factor
Everyone loves an unexpected service or result. As accountants, we have to think of ways to ‘wow’ our clients. It can be anything from remembering their child is playing in an upcoming football tournament to inviting them to a one-on-one breakfast for a catch-up. Remember that in the professional services game, the relationship is everything, and this takes work.
4. Being available and returning calls
This may sound like very basic advice, but it is vital to communicate with clients in a timely manner. If you don’t, no matter how good you are, they will get frustrated and start looking elsewhere. Make this a priority every day.
5. Improving cash flow
The adage that ‘Cash is king, and the lifeblood of any business’s is still true. Yet cash is generally the scarcest resource SMEs have. Anything accountants can do to help clients better understand how cash moves through their business, and ways to improve this, will benefit them.
