* Accountants might be out of touch with pricing and value (client feels they can get better value, not necessarily cheaper fees) up the road

* Get the phones answered – people get very frustrated with permanent voicemail or call answering if they just have a quick question or need a quick chat. Sounds basic but this is right up at the top of our list at the moment from people who feel that they are just not important enough to have a good level of service.

One more thing I would add to the article above is telling clients in advance how much the charges will be. Accountants should have different price structures to suit businesses that have different needs.

One easy way to be proactive and promote your clients is to have a blog with useful articles, tax tips and news. Also have a monthly newsletter and feature one of clients and their services to other clients and subscribers.

We wrote two articles on what to expect from your accountant.
http://news.solidlimited.co.uk/2011/02/choosing-an-accountant.html
http://news.solidlimited.co.uk/2011/05/what-to-expect-from-your-accountant.html

Your article really struck a chord with me.

Our accountant is always out of office when we email him, takes too long to reply and supply information, has never passed a referral, and takes too much pride in blowing his own trumpet.

We feel we are too small a company for him and he has bigger fish to fry and shows little interest in us. Well maybe it’s time for this little sprat to swim to another accountant who will help us grow into a bigger fish??

We don’t ask for much, but when we ask, the least we can expect is a timely response, If i treated my clients like this, they would soon be leaving and I would be out of business.

Just get on with it basically.

Spot on chum! Been saying (and doing!) this for ages. Some good stuff here that we’ll be nicking 🙂

Totally agree that businesses should expect more than just numbers from their accountant, that’s the philosophy I’ve gone into practice with. I’m working with a person as well as their business and that’s the way I like it.

Perhaps this person should learn to interpret what they read before posting such a daft post.

Seems more and more are thinking/realising the same: to prevent becoming a dinosaur service, accountants need to change their habits a “life-time”

We did this study last year, results and comments are below.

It’s the same story.
This may also come across as preaching to the disgruntled person above, but like yours, it’s all in the spirit of improving relations between accountants and their clients, and that can only be a good thing.

http://bloggertone.com/finance/2010/02/23/accountants-what-a-client-wants-what-a-client-needs/

Aileen

Will

Being pro-active is probably the biggest thing for me – tell me when the rules are changing and I could be affected for better or for worse, get in touch with me in plenty of time when it is coming up to the year end, know the specifics of my business and tailor your suggestions appropriately.

Being available by e-mail is another important factor for me – I don’t always have time to come in for a chat or even ask a question on the phone, so e-mail can be a life saver – particularly as it lets me write it at 1AM when I finally finish everything else I have to do. Plus, sometimes things are just expressed better in writing with appropriate time to compose the facts and figures.

Sorry to have offended you.

a) it’s not meant to be preaching

b) it’s not words from us but from other business owners

c) we’re not selling to Sage

and d) assuming this is a marketing exercise then it’d be aimed at those accountants that aren’t yet our salesforce.

It wasn’t meant to be patronising, so I’m sorry that it came across that way to you.

Get some contacts for complimentary service providers that you work with (or could work with) that might be useful to me, test them out, etc… and recommend as you feel appropriate.

Or in other words: be pro-active towards your clients. (Like mine does, all of the above ;-))

@sidmooremanc