Mark Lee’s discussion about accountants as business advisors resonates with me but for all the wrong reasons. Mark’s general argument is rooted in a way of thinking I’ve seen that seems specific to the smaller practice but which I believe is doomed to failure. Mark identifies four types of practitioner attitude:
- It’s a no go area: The accountant’s business experience is limited and perhaps they don’t feel that confident with the idea of providing business advice.
- Personal experience: The accountant is willing and able to share their own experiences of business over the years, perhaps drawn in part from working with other clients.
- What others say: The accountant offers advice based on what they have read in books, magazines and websites and possibly what they recall from their studies and from attending seminars and conferences. However, their level of interest in developing this area of skill is much lower than their desire to keep up to date with technical knowledge.
- A systemised approach: The accountant has bought into a programme that assists them in adopting a structured approach to the provision of business advice and either they actively promote the service to their clients or they shy away from doing so and quit the programme.
Mark says that if he was still in practice he’d like to think he’d move into the fourth category. There are many problems with this analysis but principally I believe the approach fails because it is not rooted in real life business scenarios.
While Mark is right to think that a small minority of practitioners are willing to invest in the effort to learn about advisory practice, the real problem is that professionals struggle to relate to the business owner. Most have never had to develop nuanced management skills that allow them to traverse the gamut of sales, marketing, production, HR and customer care. You only get that by being in a commercial situation. You cannot learn this stuff through case study or theoretical training. Yes, those things will give you insight but that’s all. It’s a bit like learning school boy French. You only ‘get it’ when you have to live it. That’s one reason why I like to see professionals going out into business for weeks on end to experience what really happens at the sharp end of running a company.
Much of what practitioners do is becoming commoditized. SaaS vendors are emerging that remove some pieces of the professional’s value proposition. Users are becoming more aware of the value that’s delivered (or not) and I see increasing numbers actively discussing service levels among themselves. That’s tempered by the reality that bureaucracy is burying some practitioners. It is not something that clients necessarily ’see.’
Managing this overhead doesn’t add value per see and I’m not convinced practitioners have found a good way to communicate what they’re having to do without appearing like moaning minnies. I won’t pretend it’s easy but assessing the impact of these basics is the foundation upon which practitioners can develop a trusted relationship. It is from that basis they can then move into advisory, perhaps by standing alongside clients in their business. Doing a short form MBA will not cut it.
