Going to work for a client

Working as an employee alongside running a practice

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I am a sole practitioner and recently asked about taking on an FD role for a client. Due to the level of responsibility for this client, it feels more like an in-house role.

Have any other practitioners gone in-house, as an employee say 1 day a week, for a client while maintaining their practice on the other days and how has it worked out? 

This is is just another option to put to the client so should be grateful for any thoughts.

Thanks

 

 

Replies (14)

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By Kevin Kavanagh
16th Aug 2017 10:08

I've done this in the past for a couple of larger clients - but only for a limited amount of time to assist them during a difficult or transitional period.

Personally I wouldn't recommend it on a long term basis; you are almost bound to be compromised either in your relationship with the 'client / employer' or, and possibly more importantly, with your other clients.

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By lesrobinson
16th Aug 2017 10:34

I accepted a similar role with a high tech start-up, but only on an equity basis and only because the main drive of my practice is international tax planning (with only a couple of dozen general accountancy clients remaining). I think that unless the role is purely interim, or your practice has limited general accountancy work/clients then you could find it causes problems down the line

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By bernard michael
16th Aug 2017 11:15

I've done it several times and found that if you clearly agree the parameters of the job and stick to them it can work . What generally happened was the role outgrew the available time and I advised the client to employ a full time FD

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
16th Aug 2017 11:22

Agree with both of the above posts.

I have done consultancy work on a similar basis and it does impact on all of your other work - the client will see you as an employee and will expect you to respond/work on non-designated days.

I have a similar offer at the moment and while it could potentially be very rewarding financially the short/medium term effect is detrimental to the running of my practice as a whole.

As a result something has to give:
1. You work more hours to accommodate the needs of all.
2. You subcontract/outsource some of your other client work.
3. Take on staff - more time taken up with training/supervision etc (move away from being a sole practitioner?).
4. You establish strict guidelines/terms with the (FD) client - this could potentially sour the relationship if it doesn't meet your client's needs.

Think carefully before you commit - offering FD services is very different to being the external accountant offering business support.

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By gilderda
16th Aug 2017 13:02

As a "virtual" FD, how likely is something to come up that will wait a week for your attention? If you say to the client that you'll devote every Monday to them and the bank start knocking at the door about their overdraft on Tuesday, is the client going to be prepared to wait until next Monday for your input?

Might a better arrangement potentially be to take on a virtual FD role, but say that you'll invoice the client on a time spent basis and that deadlines for work will be agreed between you at the outset?

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By mrme89
16th Aug 2017 13:19

As an employee, you will get dragged into managing staff and other non-accountancy tasks. This could take up a lot of your time without getting your contracted work done.

You need to be clear what your job entails, and bat back anything outside of your remit. That might be difficult if you are seen as an employee and not trusted adviser.

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By tom123
16th Aug 2017 21:05

"non-accountancy tasks" tends to cover almost the whole of my job :)

In fact, I am almost expected to hide the accountancy stuff so it just "happens" and then fit in all the rest..

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By andy.partridge
16th Aug 2017 13:28

I suspect your goodwill will soon be heavily leant on. You know the kind of thing - unpaid extra hours, set an example by getting in early before the others, being the last to leave, be on call over the weekend. You remember how it was before you had your own practice.

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By tom123
16th Aug 2017 21:08

Out of interest, what other finance staff does the client have.?

If he has, say, a CIMA finalist or similar working full time, then you could usefully offer value added stuff one day a week, confident that the day to day would not be [***].

If, on the other hand, there would only be you and a p/t bookkeeper, there is more chance of you getting dragged in.

If there is a whole team, then in fact, you could probably make one day a week work - with perhaps email contact in between;.

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By Matrix
17th Aug 2017 19:09

Thanks for all the very helpful replies. I did not put this option forward to the client in the end.

Instead I am redrafting the engagement to include the different responsibilities (while dealing with the overseas advisers I have excluded any liability for overseas accounts/tax). I am also charging a fair fee for providing the figures to the overseas accountants. This means that I feel better about the additional responsibilities/tasks but can do the work in my own time. I also think they will sell in a few years so I can't put all my eggs in one basket.

Tom - there are no admin or bookkeeping staff. The UK Director does everything for the UK company but the overseas accountants have no interest in extracting data to prepare the overseas accounts/sales tax returns etc, so I am now doing it. The client treats me as if I am in-house but I wanted to make sure the terms reflect the reality.

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By Piglett
18th Aug 2017 10:06

I've done it successfully for 17 years and really benefitted from being part of a larger organisation as well as having my own business. The directorships have been under PAYE (your gut feel it is an employment because of the responsibility is right) and totally separate from my accountancy practice. The important thing is to set expectations at the beginning eg can you take calls from other clients when you are at your other job, will it be a set day a week or will it vary, etc etc.
Good luck!

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By Julian Stafford
18th Aug 2017 10:23

I agree with all the other replies. I did this quite a long time ago and the problems they have identified will undoubtedly come to pass. It is tempting to have a regular income, possibly share options of some sort and also the Kudos but there is always a price to pay. Also bear in mind that, if you don't have any options, there is no growth prospect. conversely, every new £1,000 client you get will put £800-1,200 onto your practice goodwill value.

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By Paul FD
18th Aug 2017 10:52

For the past 7 years my practice has been based on providing a range of services to a small group of SME's. The input can be 1 day - 8 days a month. But, and it's a significant point I work entirely under my own control. Much of the work can be done remotely (yes I provide cloud accounts systems) but the clients generally have their own staff and it was worked very well. I work on a fixed fee basis which takes a lot of the strss out for both sides. I do not take on any executive responsibilities/directorships albeit that I do carry trusted adviser status - mainly due to the on-going and regular contact. The big downside is, as has been pointed out, you can't expand your practice easily but having been there and done it these arrangements suited me well - but to be fair it's covered a period up to semi-retirement so growth wasn't an aim. Similarly if there is a change of circumstances (client sale etc) you are left with a big hole. I am on-call to all of my clients - it's part of the role but with a small group it works. They generally respect weekends. If you would like to do it make sure your engagement letter excludes executive responsibility - it's still the client's busienss, not yours, don't get involved in staff management. Have a chat with the client about the role but my advice would be avoid titles like FD/CFO - if that's what he wants then tell him to get one. Some people can't operate wihtout someone to shout at in the adjacient office. Otherwise the other respondants have covered the points to think about - I would be happy to chat this off line if you want to message me if you would like further input.

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By buttercup books
20th Aug 2017 11:13

We don't know what sort of practice our OP has. I think it depends entirely on what your own business is like.

If you have a small business with bookkeeping as a routine part of it with a limited number of smaller accounts and SA clients - 1 day a week in an office might suit you. - Without being sexist, the sort of business a working mum might run or a semi-retired bookkeeper/accountant.

Then actually it might be great for you.

1 day a week you earn enough to keep your NI record up to date - (although if you're in receipt of child benefit you are probably covered anyway.

One day a week you get out of the home office and mix with other professionals. You give high quality service to a company that doesn't need a full time FD. You get to network with a variety of prospective clients and you keep your feet in the real world.

It really depends on where you are now and where you want to go.

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