“Physician, heal thyself”

This old taunt is about people who offer advice to others whilst not taking it themselves.

In my own case, I can advise anyone on their golf swing whilst having broken 100 once only.

But when it comes to business advice, I can hold my own, given 32 years consultancy experience and of running my own business throughout.

And all the accountants whom I know can hold their own on compliance given their professional training and experience.

But the great challenges of the day for consultants are how to advise on any aspect of a business credibly and affordably. And without the benefits of professional training (there is none) and assistive technology (very little available) they are not able to ‘heal themselves’.

And the great challenge of the day for accountants is how to reconcile compliance work with business advisory work so they can diversify their services into business services practice. The 2 disciplines (accountancy and consultancy) are superficially similar, but practically very different. And as people who also run their own businesses, how can accountants ‘heal themselves’?

Well, for me it starts with a definition of ‘business advisory’ about which there is so much misunderstanding in the accountancy world. I simply cannot believe the sheer volume of products and services on offer that claim to turn accountants into business advisors. But do not.

Why?

Because none of it provides practical solutions to any problem or ambition that a business owner has nor enables them to immediately implement them.

The consultant’s definition of business advisory is to ‘help a business to improve its future performance’. Scary, because the future is an unknown place, so any strategies they propose have no guarantee of success, and that comes with consequences. But their classic personality profile (high D/I) enables them to deal with that, and not lose sleep.

And here is the dichotomy…

Accountants, steeped in the ways of historic analysis, double entry bookkeeping and accurate compliance of company records against laid down regulations are dealing with what has already happened. That is the environment in which they have trained and worked for years so a 180-degree pivot into the client’s future takes them to an uncomfortable place, especially if they have the classic (high S/C) profile.

So how does this get resolved?

Important, because it’s holding so many accountants back from making this ultimately essential transition.

Well, here is the model we have evolved with the brave accountants who are doing it and it works very well for them:

Turning Your Accountancy Practice into A ‘Whole Business’ Advisory Centre

It’s a matter of redefining what the practice exists to do eg:

“Our Mission is to help business owners solve problems and realise their ambitions”

And…

“Our vision is that we will be the first port of call for every local business owner with an unresolved problem or ambition by 2026”

The above diagram sets out everything that the practice exists to do which involves every single aspect of any business client and a readymade solution with skilled support to implement it.

That means the business-facing people in the practice start from a new place with every prospect and client. A mindset that wants to learn “what’s this business about, where is it now, where does the owner wish to take it and when by?”

Classic consultant questions but laced with the objectivity of the accountant to see how that translates from numbers now, to numbers in the future.

Confidence for the accountant to ask such questions in the first place and then proceed into a client partnership to help achieve it all profitably comes from training in the human skills of consultancy backed by technology that provides detailed answers and implementable solutions.

All very well but how will these new clients be found?

It is the big remaining question that stops most accountants getting started. From a lifetime of acquiring new clients by referral and introduction to suddenly becoming a marketing and sales wizz is more like a 270 degree turn and highly disconcerting. It’s a very serious point because being salesy conflicts with the accountant’s professionalism, the need to be respected as the expert who is consulted because of his / her reputation and standing.

This proposition has the more dramatic solution of reorienting the practice to be about the provision of professional services that solve business problems and help business owners to achieve true value.

The marketing needs to be educational, getting local businesses conditioned into an understanding that every problem has a solution and that its analysis and diagnosis is uniquely free and impartial. Thus, trust is built that the practice is not a sales organisation, but a reliable source of professional advice backed by fairly priced support, if they choose to buy it.

It is a process that takes 12 months to show serious results and then keeps growing. That is as it should be, given the absolute need establish a long-term enterprise of quality at the hub of the business community.

Practices that undertake this transformation (as all must ultimately) need training in the analytical and systematic skills of marketing and the psychological skills of soft-selling. But accessing a readymade kit of marketing resources designed for promoting ‘whole business;’ advisory resources gives a flying start as the skills develop into self-sufficiency.

Is it easy?

No. But neither is it difficult.

It’s about learning and applying processes systematically which works well for accountants, accustomed as they are to training and process.

So, it’s a matter of convergence between accounting and consultancy disciplines to deliver holistic and enjoyable services that range across the whole of a client’s business.

By Duncan Collins

Founder of Runagood.com Ltd