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MYOB has found that clients are looking to their accountants for several unmet advice needs – an opportunity that the software provider feels is ripe for the industry.
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MYOB reveals ‘unmet’ accounting advice needs
08 February 2017
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11 minute read
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Speaking at a Sydney event, MYOB practice and partner marketing manager Tracey Foster said recent MYOB research showed that seven out of 10 unmet client needs fell within the advisory sector, providing opportunities for accountants to deliver greater value to clients.
“There is no doubt about it, [accountants] as a trusted adviser, with your compliance relationship throughout the year, have that trust and you’re in a position to use it,” Ms Foster said.
“In this recent research that we've done, we asked clients what are their unmet needs? What are the biggest things that they don’t believe accountants and bookkeepers are offering them today? And in fact seven out of 10 of those unmet needs were in the advisory space. What an opportunity for us [and] for you.”
According to the research, the top unmet client advisory needs included: tracking performance on financial goals; detecting financial issues that could adversely affect business; estimating future revenue and costs; understanding expected future cash positions; developing plans to achieve new business goals; advice on improving profitability; and advice on growing their business.
Ms Foster said the research illustrated that clients want more from their accountants.
As the industry shifts towards the use of real-time data, Ms Foster said having accurate data is a critical component of giving effective advice to clients.
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“You need to be absolutely sure [the data is accurate] because you’re doing this in real time now, [so] when [clients] ring up and they say, 'Do I want to buy that ute?’, whatever it is, that you can feel like everything is up to date and you can give advice that can be trusted. That absolutely underpins what we do,” Ms Foster said.
“Many of you are already moving to a board-like position, a sounding board to be able to help clients as they set their goals for their business, [and clients] want to work with an external person to test that. [Accountants] are a really important part of that.”
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