Now is the time to act.
Now is the time to make it known that you will be the financial consultant your clients need.
Now is the time to remove yourself from mundane, routine processes, and truly focus on providing the consultation small business entrepreneur’s (SBEs) so desperately need.
If you do not offer the consultation they need, they will look elsewhere. Although the word “unprecedented” has been used a lot lately, it applies to the accounting industry just as much as any other. This “unprecedented” time in history is leading SBEs towards “unprecedented” actions like searching for an accountant who can help them navigate the unknowns of 2020 and beyond.
For thousands of years, small business entrepreneurs and their accountants have had a relationship based on necessity. Entrepreneurs usually viewed their accountant like their dentist on an individual level: a necessary, valuable, boring, and best-to-avoid-unless-needed partner in their business.
This is because most accounting services for SBEs have been purely compliance-driven, with very little consultation involved. It’s a somewhat flawed perception, and good accountants have brought immense consultative value to their SBE clients. But, for the most part, this approach to and attitude towards accounting has been “ok” for SBEs and for the economy as a whole. That is, until now. A global pandemic, worldwide economic shutdowns, and a small business crisis…and the situation has changed.
SBEs always would have benefited from a great small business financial consultant. And accountants are uniquely situated to fill this role for SBEs. Yet most SBEs have believed this was a nice to have, few viewed it as a need to have, and fewer still valued it enough to invest in it. The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted that perception.
For the first time in my lifetime, and perhaps the history of the world, SBEs unanimously feel a strong need for a financial consultant. This massive inflection in belief is great news for the accounting profession, but it’s also caught the profession off guard. Despite being somewhat unprepared for such a quick shift in client demands, the industry is positioned to take advantage of this change going forward. Accountants possess the ability to be incredible financial consultants to their clients, and the technology already exists to give accountants more time to do just that.
This kind of uncharted and futurist territory may sound frightening, but I can assure you that it’s actually an incredible opportunity to retain your clients and provide them more value than ever. You must do the following things:
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Be a small business Financial Consultant
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Be an industry expert
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Communicate through media
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Use the “right” technology
Small business entrepreneurs are in the middle of something that has not been experienced in decades. The best ones will forever be changed. They will learn from the things that they wished they had been doing differently and will operate in ways to improve and be more ready for economic disruption and turmoil. For accountants, this means they will demand financials that are standardized with industry best practices, that are always accessible and cloud based, that provide benchmarking within their industry, and most importantly, they will demand industry-specific financial consultation. You are in the perfect position to increase the value of your business and to serve as a more important partner to your clients. I have never been more excited for the value accounting, reporting, and financial consultation can provide to small business entrepreneurs. If you are not doing the above things, now is the time to get started and Ceterus is here to help!
If you are a CPA ready to deliver more to your clients click here OR if you are a small business entrepreneur in search of a CPA to be your business consultant visit us here.
