 |
Welcome to August 2006, the mid point of the first quarter of the 2007 financial year! This month’s newsletter focuses on a key area of responsibility for Partners of accounting firms. We have had a number of our firms that have had success in ‘getting their own house in order’ before working closer with clients and through our coaching & training process we have been able to focus the team on the core processes, which has created idle capacity and therefore a plan for the Partners to work closer with their clients, the right type of clients! Ask yourself this question. Have you completed the arduous task of classifying your client list? Are you aware of where 80% of your fees are coming from? This month’s newsletter has something with a unique twist, which I have labelled ‘Accountant or Strategist?’ It’s an insight to where I believe the Accountant (Partner) can allocate his or her time by providing value added services that I believe your clients are crying out for. And finally, it’s time to promote our signature event for the year which more than 200 accounting firms have attended over the past 2 years. Leadership 2006 – Advance Practice Management Workshop is back on the Gold Coast where the ‘12 essentials of leadership’ will be shared together with a host of guest speakers on various topics over our 3 day event to advance the management and leadership of your accounting firm. Enjoy the read and continue to live the dream!
I believe for a number of accounting firms throughout Australia the biggest fear of creating idle capacity for the Partners or Sole Practitioner is, “What will I do now?”… It’s the mindset that has to change as the industry changes and accounting firms and Partners in particular need to focus on value adding to existing clients to build further awareness of the services an accountant can supply to the market, not just compliance! This is where I believe the role of the ‘Accountant’ can turn to the ‘Strategist’ and the role of the Partner can move to the role of the ‘Pseudo CFO’. The Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO) role has become an integral part of a company’s strategic and commercial objective. The fact is, not many company’s in the SME market place can afford to pay a CFO upwards of $120,000 p.a. therefore a real opportunity exists for Partners of accounting firms to become more aware of their clients needs from a strategy and commercial point of view. I believe this is a combination of technical, commercial and strategic knowledge in tandem with mentoring skills. As $120,000 plus benefits could be a stretch for most SME’s a Partner of an accounting firm should be viewing this as a massive opportunity to increase the average fee of your client within your own client base and view this as your role to play within a company. A number of GPL Network firms that have adopted this mindset have already seen benefits in setting a strategic plan to become this person within your clients business. This has seen the increase in the average fee from $5,000 to $50,000, and still a significant saving to your client. In listed companies the CFO now plays the crucial communications role to inform the markets and stakeholders. In the past handling the monthly management accounts for the general manager or CEO has gone and a new era has entered for the CFO to play more of an intimate relationship for the CEO and be there as a sounding board. CFO’s are in the hot seat as they ensure their company/organisation (your clients in this case) is fully compliant with all relevant laws, regulations and guidelines. As a result the demand and real time opportunities exist for compliance & commercial demands of your clients. If you can provide this service I believe a lot more of your clients will have a greater handle on their numbers. It will be your role of the Partner to ‘Ask why’ when acting in this role. So, where do I start I hear you say?
LEADERSHIP 2006 – ADVANCED PRACTICE MANAGEMENT 
|
 |
GPL's Top Performing Accounting Firms Steven Jones –
SRJ (Brisbane) Richard Munro Jason Cunningham
– The Practice (Melbourne) Bernadette Pitcher
– BMP Accounting Services (Melbourne) Michael Papandrea
– Wilson Watt Papandrea (Canberra)
|
|||||||||
| ©GPL Network Pty Ltd 2005 All Rights Reserved You received this email because you are a client of GPL Network or requested information about our Products or Services. We hope you find our mailings useful. However, if you'd like your name taken off the mailing list, please follow this link:Un-Subscribe |
|||||||||||
