Why your clients need a financial check-up once a year

Posted by AccountingWEB PM | on Mon, 09/03/2009 - 12:08 2690 3 comments

Brian Hamilton, CEO, ProfitCents explains how keeping in regular contact with clients can work to your advantage.

The best business people I know are always ahead of the financial data they possess. The shrewdest people who run businesses have an inherent understanding that good management decisions are always based upon what is going to happen rather than on what has already happened. I have worked with hundreds of people who run businesses, and the logic and approach that they take often makes no sense to the rest of us.

Continued...

What planet are you on Brian?

Ray051 | Sun, 22/03/2009 - 12:46 | Permalink

I agree with the general idea that Clients expect more from their Accountants than just accounts produced perhaps 18 months after the start iof the reporting period. To think that half an hour once a year is going to be helpful to the Client is absurd in the extreme. To give help in a meaning ful way will require at least 2 hours per month (for the smallest business) and needs to be tied to accurate transparent management accounts. Clearly Brian you must have superhuman abilities if you can understand the issues facing a business and advise on them in 30mins. And all done presumably with the aid of accounts at least 14 months out of date and in a drastically changed economic environment.

In order to try to keep your Clients in business and enjoy future earnings from them, should priority not be given to establishing whether they are now trading above breakeven and help them to stay or get back into the black. Not a 30min job I fear.

I Agree

barry131 | Wed, 11/03/2009 - 18:26 | Permalink

I do wholly agree that we (us accountants) should do much more with our
core product - accounts preparation. And profitcents seemed
to fit the bill, however, that said, my initial excitement ebbed away when
the online video / demo proudly said that their data was based on companies
across North America.

Does anybody agree that such USA data might not be good or relevant
to benchmark UK companies. Or. am I being too British?

Great article

AnonymousUser | Mon, 09/03/2009 - 15:39 | Permalink

Very interesting - the difference between (and relationship between) past and future thinking is critical.

I have just written an article dealing with the same issue from an economic and game theory point of view, prompted by the debate about whether to fire the top executives of Lloyds HBOS. If you're interested in reading it, please follow the link below:

http://www.knowingandmaking.com/2009/03/should-lloyds-executives-be-sacked.html

Aside from this philosophical point, the idea of an annual checkup is an excellent one and gives you lots of opportunities to sell more services to your clients. I'd fully endorse Brian's recommendation.