You hear it a lot...

“The future of the profession is advisory work”

Really?!

There are firms who have been successful at selling and delivering advisory services for years (decades in some cases).

Talk to some senior (in years) partners and they’ll say their career in accountancy was founded on advisory work.

Advisory is far from new.

However, a focus on selling accountancy services has seen the relationship work and advisory work play ‘second-fiddle’ in recent times. Selling QuickBooks, Xero and other products has turned services into products, but with a valuable upside – more contact and more dialogue with business owners and their teams.

The technology shift we are witnessing is seeing advisory work come to the fore again.

The eventual move to quarterly reporting for MTD will see an even bigger shift to ‘Advisory 1st Accountancy’.

​Meet 2 advisory accountants at Accountex on Thursday 2nd May at 1pm in the ‘HOW TO’ theatre...

Sagars are a successful 8-partner firm in Leeds. As well as their partners having advisory conversations with their clients, they have enabled their team of client managers to hold advisory discussions also. Paul Lodder (partner) is joining me on stage at Accountex to discuss their approach to advisory work. We’re joined by Luke Smith of Purpose.

Luke Smith runs a small accountancy firm with an average fee in excess of £20,000. His average fee is high because his firm leads with advisory and provides accountancy as the natural follow-on services. Luke runs an ‘Advisory 1st Accountancy’  firm.

Both Paul and Luke will be sharing what works and what doesn’t work for them so that you can learn the lessons at their expense, and short-cut your route to higher-value advisory work.

You won’t hear theory, just proven processes that underpin the success of their firms. Proven processes you can build into your own firm.

If you haven’t already got your ticket for Accountex you can get a free ticket here https://www.accountex.co.uk/london/

Who’s the third advisory accountant?

Nikki Adams is one of the owners of Advalorem in High Wycombe. Nikki sees the future of their multi-million-pound accountancy firm connected to stronger client relationships. I’m interviewing Nikki at the AdvanceTrack conference the day before Accountex on Tuesday 30th April.

If you have an invite to the AdvanceTrack conference you’re in for a treat, there are several valuable speakers, but having interviewed Nikki already I reckon you’ll get value from just hearing about Advalorem. See you there.

Do these days out really matter?

Yes. Taking a day out of the normal routine of running your practice is essential.

How else will you get to see a different view, a better way, a new insight to secure a bright future for your firm?

Eric Hoffer (philosopher) once said:

“The learners inherit the earth”

And the research I did for my book – The Business Growth Accountant – clearly showed that there’s a commitment to life-long learning by the successful ‘Growth Accountants’.

Attend Accountex and/or the AdvanceTrack conference and you’re in the ‘learners’ camp – you too could inherit the earth!

Hope to see you there.

Paul

https://www.accountex.co.uk/london/