Accountants must lay outdated notions to rest
Accountants must lay to rest preconceived notions of financial services groups if they are to maker a dent on the financial planning business.
Accountants must lay to rest preconceived notions of financial services groups if they are to maker a dent on the financial planning business.
That was the clear message from high profile accounting and superannuation figure Robert MC Brown as he wrapped up the main issues of the recent Institute of Chartered Accountants financial planning conference in Fiji.
Brown says accountants must put behind them their distrust of financial institutions and their dislike of the concept of commissions if they wanted to stay in touch with the financial planning market.
“There is a huge change going on in the financial services market,” he says. “Ac-countants are in an ideal situation to capitalise on thew market. If we don’t grab the opportunity, other people will.”
“Accountants must realise that institutions are not the ogres they think they are. They must realise the legitimate role institutions have to play.
“And accountants must realise that commissions and trails are not dirty words but a legitimate part of business.”
Brown says the inherent advantage accountants have in the financial planning mar-ket is the strength of their bonds with their clients.
“That is why the big financial institutions want your businesses,” he says.
“Groups like American Express want to buy your businesses for the quality of your clients and the trusting relationship you have with your clients,” he says.
Brown says accountants must realise they are no longer in the accounting game but in the advice business.
“Railway workers in the nineteenth century did not realise they were in the trans-port industry and so their role became irrelevant. Accountants risk the same thing happening to them.”
“You must act as the hub of the wheel for the provision of all your client’s finan-cial needs. The primary relationship with the client must remain with you.”
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