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Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started My Own Accounting Firm...
I often get asked by clients that I work with to help them establish
their own accounting firm, ‘what are they main things you wish
you knew when you started your own practice?’
What a great question! So, I thought, this issue, I’d share with
you 31 things I wish I knew when I first started out in public accounting
all those years ago:
1. Start with the end in mind. How are you going to exit public accounting?
By selling the practice? Then you’ll need to build a practice
that you would be happy to buy.
2. Clients don’t
want an accountant – they want someone who will help them build
a better business. Always be creative and try to help you clients to
be more successful, then you too will become more successful.
3. Clients don’t
care how many hours you spend on their file, so why bill them that way?
4. Clients will
pay for value, so what value are you providing to yours?
5. It’s really
lonely running your own business. Most of your clients will not have
anyone with a financial background to talk to, so they’ll want
to use you as a sounding board from time to time, if you don’t
scare them off by charging by the hour.
6. The more you
talk with your clients, the better you’ll understand their businesses
and their goals. The more you understand what they want to achieve,
the more you’ll see other ways in which you can help them –
for a fee.
7. The more you
help your clients, the more value they see in what you can do for them.
8. The more value
clients see, the more they’ll use you. The more they use you,
the more reluctant they will become to ever change accountants!
9. Good clients
refer more good clients.
10. Bad clients
are a pain in the ass and need to be fired. If they’re related
to good clients and you’re reluctant to fire them, pass them down
the chain of command and let someone else serve them.
11. Cash is king.
Get paid up front or monthly.
12. If you look
at how many months WIP you carry you might have a heart attack. Look
on the floor in your office. How many unbilled files are laying around
awaiting your sign off before they can be billed? Invest in technology
to reduce WIP and improve cash flow. It will pay for itself.
13. Success breeds
success. Don’t be afraid to buy a fabulous house, wear a Rolex,
drive a really cool car and take exotic vacations etc... If you turn
up in a car that cost less than your client’s suit, what will
they think of you?
14. Join a club.
If you want to develop a reputation as a leader in a particular field
and build a niche market, get involved in those industry trade associations
that your key clients belong to. Embrace the role of treasurer that
will often come your way – it gets you on the executive committee.
15. On the executive
committee will likely be the editor of the trade’s newsletter.
Get to know them well and eventually, when you have a good relationship,
offer to submit some articles. That could turn into a regular column
for the trade press of your key clients. Good idea or what?
16. Get a web site.
Get a good web site. No cookie-cutter solutions please, that’s
just darn lazy. Get a web site that is uniquely you.
17. Get a newsletter.
Get a good Newsletter. Not a cookie-cutter newsletter, that’s
just darn lazy. Get a newsletter that is uniquely you.
18. Speak up. Seek
out opportunities to speak at business functions. If you’re a
bad public speaker, practice, get training and become a good public
speaker. Opportunities abound. Seize them.
19. Write. Write
often and well – for your own client newsletter, your web site,
your blog, your clients’ trade publications, local newspapers,
whoever will take your articles. It builds credibility like nothing
else, and the publicity you’ll get will be worth the effort.
20. Embrace technology.
Scan everything, do away with filing cabinets. Become a ‘Less
paper’ office. Green is good.
21. Use new and
social media to build a brand, get your message out there and generate
new business.
22. Hire smart.
Surround yourself with bright people. Give them ‘stretch goals’
and new and exciting work. Promote from within and build your own successors.
23. Never be afraid
to say ‘no’. Some jobs or clients are just not worth it.
24. We have to do
the right thing, even if nobody else is looking.
25. Be generous,
both with your time and with your contacts. Good karma has to start
somewhere, why not with you?
26. Bill what you
believe you are worth and stick to your guns. ‘Sell’ the
bill to your clients by reminding them in the invoice itself the value
you have added during the period.
27. Make it easy
to get paid. Accept credit cards, online direct deposits as well as
cheques and cash.
28. Think outside
the balance sheet. Business is not all about debits and credits –
that’s just how we keep score. Think about everything you do from
the clients’ perspective and then make your decisions.
29. Reward your
staff well. The better you take care of your people, the better they
will take care of you. Small things can make a huge difference. Take
your female staff shoe shopping after tax season ($xxx per person to
spend, from the firm) and then dinner after. Take the guys golfing or
to an event of your choice that you know will be appreciated and be
of similar value to the female staff. Make pancakes for the team every
February. You can be creative. Give some thought to what your staff
would want, and try to give it to them. This investment will often yield
the biggest return.
30. Find a local
practitioner and make a ‘Locum deal’. Should one of you
meet an untimely death, or critical illness the other will divert resources
to help run the practice in the interim.
31. Encourage
all of your clients to:
a) Make a will
b) Review their life insurance/key man/critical illness cover
c) Write a business plan every three years at least
d) Prepare and update cash flow forecasts regularly
e) Prepare monthly or quarterly financial statements for you to review
and discuss
f) Put money to one side for a rainy day (and to pay their taxes)
© 2003-2011,
Steve McIntyre-Smith. All Rights Reserved. |
