Planning beats ‘hackwork’ for accountants
More accountants will conclude they have to expand their value proposition and diversify their revenue in order to hang on to existing clients and win new ones, according to the co-founder of GPS Wealth, Certified Practising Accountant, Greg Holman.
More accountants will conclude they have to expand their value proposition and diversify their revenue in order to hang on to existing clients and win new ones, according to the co-founder of GPS Wealth, Certified Practising Accountant, Greg Holman.
Holman believes that despite the relatively slow take-up of licensing by accountants, they are nonetheless being compelled by digital disruption to scale back the amount of traditional "hackwork" that they are doing.
He said this would ultimately drive an increasing number to get qualified and licensed to provide a broad range of financial services in order to stay relevant and survive.
Holman's comments follow on from those of Premium Wealth Management chief executive, Paul Harding-Davis, who said he believed accountants had been acting rationally in not rushing towards seeking full licensing and, instead, opting for authorised representative status with an RG 146.
However, Holman said accountants had little choice but to get licensed given their role was rapidly evolving to include helping clients protect their assets, grow business revenue, and build their wealth in addition to standard tax and structuring advice.
"The hackwork traditionally done by accountants around preparing and lodging BAS and tax returns is increasingly being done in-house by bookkeepers using cloud-based accounting software like Xero and MYOB, which means accountants must expand their value proposition in order to combat digital disruption and build sustainable businesses," he said.
"In the future, the most valued and valuable practices will be those that not only help clients legally minimise their tax but help them to protect their assets using different company and trust structures; grow business revenue and profitability; and maximise their wealth."
Holman said the first step for accountants who wanted to build a modern, streamlined business was to become qualified and licensed to provide a range of financial services.
"Whether accountants move quickly to become qualified and licensed to provide advice, spurred by regulatory reform, or choose to act later, forced by digital disruptive technologies, it's highly likely many more accountants will conclude that they must expand their value proposition and diversify their revenue in order to hang onto existing clients and win new ones," he said.
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