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The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a shift in the way accountants view their service proposition, according to an award-winning fintech.
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Shift in mindset needed for accountants post-pandemic
10 November 2021
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14 minute read
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Speaking to Accountants Daily, ChangeGPS chief executive David Boyar, as well as founder and executive director Timothy Munro, shared how the pandemic has created a real need for accountants to adopt a new mindset in how they service clients.
The Brisbane-based group, which recently took out the FY22 Xero Practice App of the Year for its leadership, has hosted a series of webinars since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first of which stemmed from realising a gap in the market.
“What we’re doing to ChangeGPS, helping accountants to go beyond just tax and GST, it is a mindset change. It’s something that, in reality, the professional bodies aren’t doing, but it’s something that we are fully focused on,” Mr Munro said.
“Accountants have a much greater ability to help their clients than just tax returns of financial statements.”
While accountants are “very conservative”, Mr Munro said many are in a prime position to take a leadership role throughout the pandemic and beyond.
“Accountants are, by nature, very conservative…They have a lot of empathy for their clients but it’s misplaced a lot of times in that they feel like they owe everything to their clients, and part of what we’re doing with ChangeGPS is actually helping them with what we think internally is real leadership,” he explained.
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“Back in March, people were just, ‘What [do] I do? How do I help my clients? I don’t know.’ And everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, my clients won’t have any money; I have to do it for free’. As soon as I [started] hearing that I thought, ‘No, we need to get rid of this mentality. It is wrong. We don’t do anything for free’.
“[For example], if I go ring up my lawyer during COVID, it’s not for free. If I’ve seen the doctor, it’s not for free. But why do accountants so undervalue their time and what they do and think they have to give it for free just because the client might say, ‘Oh, I can’t work’.
“So it’s all about, how can you help the accountant to really value themselves and give the tools to then explain to a client, ‘Look, while we know this is a difficult situation, we’re running a business like you and we need to keep our doors open, so we can be here for the long-term to help you, so this is what our prices are going to be’.”
Mr Boyar echoed a similar sentiment, noting that a large focus of the webinars was instilling confidence in accountants, including reiterating their value-add over competitors trying to make their way into the market.
“I think that we’ve captured a part of the audience who want this sort of affirmative support,” Mr Boyar said.
“There’s people that you can jump on Airtasker; you can get a tax return done for $68. That’s not okay. That’s going to butcher the profession. It’s going to break public trust if that becomes mainstream.
“So, we offer this sort of encouragement to accountants. Not just encouragement, the actual process, the actual skill, the actual words, the actual emails, the actual reports, the actual templates to actually do the stuff that we’re on stage beating our chests about.
“… The big trends that we think are going to happen over the next six months are going to be controlling and managing ATO repayment plans. There’s a huge amount of money that needs to be paid back to the tax office that the tax office didn’t chase up over the last two years. Being involved in that tax flow planning is going to be a critical role that accountants play.
“They’re going to soak up all their time if they just do it for free [and] don’t explain to the client the value of it. It’s effectively like applying for a home loan. And so, we’ll continue this type of work across all the different elements and key things that accountants do, and I think that’s how we’re getting that consistency to get behaviour change.”
Looking ahead
ChangeGPS’ webinars have been well received with the first hosting 1,800 accountants. Since then, the fintech has maintained a consistent approach, conducting them every couple of weeks.
“The best story I heard [was from a] call from an accountant in Melbourne. He said, ‘Dave, I thought I’d have to sack all my staff, but thanks to [the] webinar I’ve built 150 grand. I’ve already collected 50 and we’re going to be fine. Thank you’,” Mr Boyar said.
“Accountants and Australians don’t like talking about money and success, but this was about survival.”
On the feedback the group has received, Mr Boyar said: “It was unreal. We kept doing these webinars every two weeks and the gratitude that we get back; it’s properly moving for us.
“It’s certainly motivating for our team who also work pretty hard to deliver on the stuff that we put out into the world. So, I think it meant a lot to us that we were able to connect with people and help.”
Going forward, ChangeGPS has a firm strategy front of mind that revolves around equipping accountants with the knowledge and tools they need as Australia looks beyond the pandemic.
“We’re doubling down on our investment to give accountants the tools and ideas to help the Mums and Dads of Australia to be better off and have a great future,” explained Mr Munro.
“We’ve boot-strapped ChangeGPS slowly without raising capital. This meant we could focus on developing our products to do the things that matter for accountants, without the pressure to grow.
“This freedom is the reason we were able to pivot quickly and build a ‘value first’ offering to accountants, especially over the past 18 months.”
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