The Accountant of the Future
Accountants have one of the greatest business opportunities of the next decade.
They can multiply profit, grow in revenue and increase the value of their business using their unique advantages.
This is achieved by taking a more active role in helping clients succeed in improving the profit, growth, and value of their businesses.
Best of all, Accountants can create a bright future without having to be afraid of automated software and cheap outsourced labor devastating their business.
This article outlines what the Accountant of the Future looks like and why it is the next logical step after offering tax, compliance, accounts, and regular advisory services.
The Opportunity
There is the opportunity to provide a sustainable and profitable business, by providing clients with a more valued service - a service we loosely call the ConsultX Business Consulting or Advanced Advisory methodology.
ConsultX Methodology
We partner with Businesses Owners to improve the Profit, Growth, and Value of their Businesses. The aim is to work with the owner and management team over the long term (depending on the size of the business) to guide them toward their business vision, and ultimately the personal vision that their business helps to deliver.
The methodology uses a 3-phase process – taking the client from where they are now, to where they want to be over the long term.
The 3-Phase ConsultX Methodology.
Phase 1 - Client Acquisition
The first phase is based on discovering the potential for a Business Owner to become a Business Consulting client. This is achieved by discovering the tangible challenges and opportunities within the business, diagnosing the profit leakage and future business value potential. Finally, you’ll have all of the information and data to compile a valuable and profitable agreement for both parties.
Phase 2 - Plan Building
Once you’ve got a client, you’ll work with the business owner and management team (depending on size) to analyze the whole business, then completely re-engineer it. You’ll work to produce a comprehensive business plan that is broken down into manageable tasks and milestones to take the business from where it is now, to where it’s going in 3-5 years.
Alongside the business plan, you’ll look for avenues of the business to ‘Boost Profitability’, improving their situation and covering your cost very quickly.
Phase 3 - Ongoing Performance Management
With a clear direction and the wheels of profitability moving, you're ready to manage the performance of the business and implement the business plan on an ongoing basis. Each month you’ll meet with the owner and management team to manage performance and drive the business toward the long-term vision.
This implementation is critically important to achieving the Business Plan and personal vision that will result. It’s also the aspect that is almost always under-achieved by the Business owners and managers. As a Consultant, you’ll be in charge of facilitating the implementation to bring the business vision to life.
You can review the entire ConsultX Business Consulting and Advanced Advisory methodology here.
An Accountant’s unique advantage
Accountants have a competitive advantage over most other individuals, or firms who want to enter the world of Business Consulting, Coaching, and Advisory.
You’re already a Trusted Advisor
Business Owners regard Accountants as 'Trusted Advisors'. There is an aura around the profession that gives you a level of authority that other professionals would dream of. This makes getting business consulting clients easier than normal, with clients respecting and acting upon your consulting advice.
You already have clients
With a long list of accounting clients, you already have a huge pool of consulting prospects that already trust your Accountants and your firm. It's as simple as picking up the phone and booking a meeting to get the client acquisition process started. It's easier to sell to existing customers than it is to find new ones.
You already know how they're performing
Even better than having clients at the ready, as you know which of your clients require the most help. Your ConsultX Advisor will help you to pick out the businesses that need the most help while being able to afford a win-win consulting agreement.
You know Business
ConsultX has trained a huge variety of professionals to become business Consultants, with all sorts of experience. Coming from the accounting field gives you an insight into how businesses work and experience across many more companies than most others who have succeeded in this field.
The accounting profession is changing
Profits are dropping*
Accounting firms and financial publications around the world are reporting that accounting firms are losing revenue and profits. Affordable and easy-to-use accounting packages are taking hold and giving end-users the ability to cut costs and access financial reporting. Cheap overseas labor is further slashing the costs of accounting services, leaving accounting professionals in a race to the bottom, where profits are non-existent.
Technology is stealing revenue
Modern accounting software and add-on apps are taking work and revenue from Accountants at an alarming rate. Technology is rapidly advancing with artificial intelligence and blockchain becoming more affordable and accessible, which are adding fuel to the fire. Even compliance work has an uncertain future as many tax departments have indicated their potential to synchronize directly with major accounting software.
A better option
While the bulk of the accounting industry is in flux, we are here to show you there is a better option than the status quo. An opportunity for a brighter future. Imagine what would happen if you could help Business Owners that desperately need assistance. If your firm could offer something more than general accounting and compliance services. What if you had the opportunity to change the lives of your clients? You'd be able to get away from the technical problems that are decreasing demand. You wouldn't have to lower your prices to survive. Instead, you could increase your revenue and profit while building the value of your practice as you move toward a brighter future. Keep reading to find out how partnering with us will create a win-win situation for you and your clients by offering business consulting services.
*Many accountants have been given a false sense of security
The international COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many accountants reporting an increase in revenue and profits. Government subsidy packages for businesses and individuals have temporarily created more work for accountants, bumping income. This has bucked long-term trends and is only temporary. As an increasing number of small & medium businesses struggle and close as a result of the pandemic, it provides accountants with an opportunity to help, and the potential for profits to dive as the business community suffers.
Help your clients succeed
Business Owners need a Consultant
Business Owners need your help for a range of reasons, including:
They are still good at what their trade is but lack the tools and skills to run a business effectively.
They may have got themselves into a bad situation.
They will have quite often run out of equity in the business (through losses) and Creditors and Financiers are closing in on them quickly.
They lack business skills to be able to identify and fix the problems they may have.
Most business owners are lacking the expertise and competence required for success. Who’s going to help them?
Change the way you work with clients
A large percentage of your firm's clients are un-profitable, are underperforming, or could be better than what they currently are. Over time, too many of them have failed.
You can do something about this by offering them business consulting services. Take an active role in guiding your clients to improve the profit, growth, and value of their businesses.
You'll still provide the regular accounting work, which should be billed and kept completely separate to avoid confusion. This work usually increases as you'll provide monthly reporting to accurately measure the performance of the business.
Peter Drucker said it best: "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."
Long-term business consulting can be looked at simply:
Find out what needs to be improved and where the Business Owner wants to go.
Create a complete plan to get there.
Break down the plan into actionable tasks.
Monitor the client’s progress through these tasks as they carry out the plan over the long term.
Report and advise on the monthly performance of the business.
Assist the Business Owner and management team to adjust and achieve the plan.
You can help your clients to achieve their desired business and personal rewards while creating win-win success stories.
Find out the personal and professional goals of your client, then help them build a business that will deliver them.
Huge financial opportunity
Grow your revenue
The financial rewards for accounting firms that provide consulting services are massive, as are the rewards for businesses that you consult with.
The income you can earn will depend on the number of Accountants you have consulting, the businesses you work with, the size & growth of those businesses, and the amount of time your team devotes to this opportunity.
Consulting services are an ever-increasing income stream that will add to the accounting revenue you're already receiving.
Multiply your profit
By combining the professional experience of your team with a successful business program, it will allow your firm to help businesses to become more profitable, achieve growth, and increase in value.
You can charge a high hourly rate thanks to your professional service. Couple this with minimal additional overheads and you're left with a fantastically profitable opportunity.
How do I charge?
You'll work with each of these clients for a small number of hours per month and charge them a fair fee for the business improvement you create. Use the ConsultX Fee structure, along with our tools and systems to calculate a win/win fee structure:
The fee depends on how much time is required to work with the Client and their Management Team.
The fee system is based on a fixed fee for the first 2-3 months and then reverts to a monthly percentage of revenue.
Occasionally it is a fixed retainer that is negotiated annually. As the client's revenue increases so do the monthly fee, however, it never drops below the initial monthly fee.
Your target is to create at least a 5-to-1 return for your clients, where they pay you one dollar and you give them five in return; however we often see a 10-to-1 return.
We recommend fees are paid in advance, so you carry no debtors.
The ConsultX Fee Structure.
The challenge that most accountants have...
We talk to many accountants and financial professionals who can see this opportunity but don’t know how to make it happen.
Some simply struggle to have the conversation, some don’t have a structured methodology of helping a business to improve, others don’t know where they’d get the information required to help a business on things they’re not an expert in.
Transform your accounting practice and become a part of the fast-growing business consulting profession.
ConsultX is designed to give you a complete Advisory on rails package.
Our advanced methodology guides you through the entire process, providing structure and training your staff on how to help a business, in a manner that works.
Thanks to the powerful training system, you will get up to speed and running quickly.
The ConsultX Business Success Program has been developed over 15 years with the help of many Consultants and thousands of Business Owners. It continues to be developed through our continuous improvement process of suggestions from ConsultX Consultants in our worldwide network.
Implementing business consulting into your accounting practice is a no-brainer if you want a better business for you, your team, and your clients.