Business clients often describe their personal finances as "all over the place," prompting an accounting software heavyweight to tip an advice hot spot for accountants looking for new revenue opportunities and to rival the services of financial planners.
Speaking to Accountants Daily, myprosperity CEO Chris Ridd said that an untapped area of opportunity for accountants is in knowing their business clients’ personal wealth situations.
“One of the things that we’ve seen in accounting in particular is just there's new opportunities accountants are facing now in terms of how they service clients and drive new revenue,” Mr Ridd said.
“A lot of accountants actually don't realise the potential that exists there, whether it be through an accountant that's moving into wealth management with an AFSL, or whether they're referring business, or indeed whether they just want to get a more holistic view of their business clients.”
Mr Ridd said that while many clients have got their business finances under control, they’re still struggling with their personal wealth.
“We're finding more and more as we talk to accountants, they really do resonate with the comment when I say a lot of these business owners will have their business affairs in order... but their personal finances are still all over the place.”
Accountants are already in a trusted position with their clients' data, giving them the opportunity to leverage technology without too much resistance. Fear of the cloud and data security is often a roadblock for clients when handing over their data.
“The thing that's great is you've now got data feeds and the ability to get access to all of this rich data that you can keep on their personal finances in real time,” he said.
“We see that as an enormous opportunity for accountants to capture that data in real time so that when they're having conversations with a client, they can have conversations in the context of what that client owns and what they owe and provide a service that really is relevant.”
Furthermore, Mr Ridd said that personal wealth management shouldn’t be restricted to financial planners, and that accountants should get more involved in the area.
“A lot of people look at this space as being more about the financial planner but as an accountant you need to know what’s going on with your business client and need to know what’s going on in their personal wealth, because business clients are in business to develop personal wealth and to accumulate personal wealth,” he said.
“So even if you don’t necessarily provide personal wealth advice, you're able to refer that on as the trusted adviser.”
Mr Ridd will be speaking on this topic, and more, at the Institute of Public Accountants' National Congress in November.
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