Accountants have marked advice as the key to their sustainability, with practice owners confirming they “need to act” on falling profit margins and sluggish growth.
The shift in priorities was identified in the Bstar 2015 Accountants Research Report, released by Perpetual Private, which showed accounting partners have stressed they need to take action on diminishing practice valuation rates.
However, despite seeing the move to advice as a strategic priority, it’s also one of the top challenges in a practical sense.
One of their main concerns was how the fee mix from compliance and advice will manifest.
“Succession has moved from a strategic concern, to a high ‘need to act’ operational concern, yet more than two thirds (69 per cent) do not have a formal succession plan in place,” Grant Bloxham, Bstar chief executive said.
“The industry is changing and the threats facing the accounting profession in 2015 are very different to the common challenges accountants have had to face over the years, such as technology gaps in relation to systemising processes for client compliance advice,” he said.
The report was based on surveys of 175 accounting and financial planning principals.
