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How to create a niche accounting focus at your firm

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2016 • Issue 1 4 page special edition www.advancetrack.co.uk Price: priceless information

University of Warwick Science Park, Sir Williams Lyons Road, Coventry, CV4 7EZ

www.advancetrack.co.uk | Email: advice@advancetrack.co.uk @AdvanceTrack

AdvanceTrack® selected to deliver 600 tax returns

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Xero Partner firm chooses AdvanceTrack®

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AdvanceTrack® was asked to deliver year-end accounts work for this 4-partner 2 office practice. We asked them for some feedback:

Why was Outsourcing important to the future of the firm?“The firm was bursting at the seams with little room for adding headcount locally without moving premises. Given the expense and upheaval that such a change has, the firm were actively looking at a solution that might deliver the capability without moving office.”

Why was AdvanceTrack® Chosen?“We reviewed a number of providers but on the basis of the meeting with Vipul Sheth we opted for AdvanceTrack® because he gave us the quality assurances we had previously been concerned over.”

What’s the experience been so far?“Excellent service levels, very responsive and adapting to our needs, very efficient and cost effective, aiming for full utilisation across accounts and bookkeeping, partly due to cost and time efficiency but also as a response to the hugely positive feedback from the recent ICAEW QAD visit where the AdvanceTrack® working papers and processes received high praise.”

What services are you looking to add?“The firm is looking to develop the bookkeeping service that the firm provides to its clients, thus freeing the firm’s advisory teams to deliver more advice. AdvanceTrack’s senior management are involved throughout the process to deliver this project successfully.”

Xero Partner firm chooses AdvanceTrack®

AdvanceTrack® selected to deliver 600 tax returns through busy season

This 15 partner regional practice needed to free up time for tax staff.

The major problem the firm had, as with many firms was a peak of work from around September to January. This meant that advisory work suffered delivery delays during this period.

How did AdvanceTrack’s® approach appeal?Experienced UK Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers run the business. The secure AdvanceTrack® system enabled the client to manage the work.

So were the client’s expectations met?“The jobs have been coming back this week, we’re really pleased with the quality and find the working papers very useful. Once I import the file back into CCH, all the standing data re-appears...”

On discussing the service with the client manager, they confirmed jobs were approved within 5 minutes of receiving them. The firm sees ongoing value in using this service as the firm has used the service since 2008.

AdvanceTrack’s raison d’être has always been to help firms build a more profitable practice and to help firms deliver better client service.

This can be achieved by various methods: better trained staff, technology, outsourcing and delivering more value added services to clients.

In a modern practice, all of these have varying degrees of importance, depending on what the practice offers. Delivering more value-added services is rarely achieved without a well-trained team.

The key driver for many in the profession is finding the partners of the future. This brings the challenge of finding people to buy the firms. More forward-thinking firms have changed the type of person they recruit. They need people who are comfortable in front of a client.

They want people with the soft skills and ability to articulate what might be complex financial or business matters in a way that a client can understand and act upon. My view is that it was always this way. The best partners always had this skillset.

Using technology or not is no longer a choice for any professional firm. Technology such as cloud accounting is bringing the client information into a real-time environment. In terms of costs and efficiency and risk management, technology has to be at the core of any service.

Good use of outsourcing by quality and efficient providers like AdvanceTrack® help firms deliver greater value to their clients.

Compliance has low value in the client’s eyes, but is an essential reporting tool and maintains the client relationship over a long period of time.

In the article on pages 2 and 3, Gary Turner, Managing Director at Xero UK discusses how to build a niche practice and how this can help you build a more profitable practice.

Profitability is key and it is important to ensure that the benefit of improved technology does not all pass to the clients. Your firm is also a business.

The experience Down-Under is that profitability has fallen as prices were renegotiated by accountants after implementing cloud accounting, so all the benefit passed to the client.

It is important for forward thinking UK firms to agree the price before increasing efficiency of the process.

If you want to know how to develop and deliver your cloud strategy smarter and faster, call us on 024 7601 6308 to arrange your meeting.

BUILDING A PROFITABLE PRACTICE

Vipul Sheth ACA CTA Managing Director • AdvanceTrack Outsourcing @vipulsheth

Above all, you should be looking for a profitable niche. You might have a lot of regular clients in the same industry, but if they're not profitable, that's not the ideal niche for you. Keep looking until you find one that ticks all the boxes. Alternatively, look for the niche that you are passionate about, then work out how you can make money from it.

Five ways to develop your speciality

Once you’ve decided on your speciality accounting niche, how do you develop it? Marketing and branding are important here.

1. Create a new business presenceIt doesn't cost much to set up a new website

for specialised accounting work.You may even want to spin off a subsidiary

business just for your niche. This will look more impressive to prospects and will help you target specific clients.

2. Provide great contentIf you want people to find you, make sure

you give search engines plenty of good content.

Write regular blog posts – try to provide useful information for your potential customers. You may be surprised by how much business this can generate. Some business owners will be dissatisfied with their existing, general accounting firm. They’re likely to search for someone more specialised. Great content will help them find you.

3. Spread the wordPromote your firm with social media to

market your speciality accounting services to clients not in your immediate area. This can help you develop micro-specialities.

For example, there might be little demand for veterinary accounting in your home town.

But with online accounting software and social media, you could reach veterinary clients all around the country.

4. Why stop at one?Having one accounting niche is great, but

why stop there? If you have the expertise in-house, you

could expand into other markets too. Talk to your staff and find out about their specialised business knowledge. Let them help you expand into new markets.

5. Keep your finger on the pulseOnce you've built a reputation as a

specialised accounting firm, you need to hold onto it.

Stay up to date with developments in your clients' field of business.

Keep up with emerging trends and watch out for new legislation.

As well as maintaining your expert status, this may help you find new niches. New markets appear all the time – consider Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts, for example.

Benefits for everyone

Developing a niche can give your firm greater insight into your clients' needs.

So when you create a speciality accounting service, it's not just your firm that benefits – your clients do too.

The more you learn about their businesses, the better you'll be able to serve them. This will help keep them happy with your service.

It may also encourage them to recommend you to other businesses.

So building a niche can result in a virtuous circle that helps both you and your clients. Sometimes, thinking small can help your firm grow bigger.

Gary Turner

Managing Director at Xero UK

Want to learn more about how Xero beautiful cloud accounting can support your firm?

Get in touch with our team.

T: 0800 085 3719 E: partnerteam@xero.com

www.xero.com www.twitter.com/xero

" Each business has different markets, clients, ideas and ways of doing business. But if you can speak their language and appeal to them, you'll win their business."

Many accounting practices service a wide range of

businesses, but sometimes it can be more lucrative to specialise. Each business is different.

You could treat them all the same way, but if you did, you could be missing a golden opportunity.

Each business has different markets, clients, ideas and ways of doing business. They use different terminology – and they think differently. They might choose a general accounting firm if they have no alternative.

But if you can speak their language and appeal to them, you'll win their business. Then you can carve out a profitable new niche for your firm.

• Help you learn and grow As you take on more niche clients, you'll

learn more about the finer details of their work. This will help you improve your service and grow your firm.

• Give you expert status Your company won't be just another

accounting firm. It'll be an accounting firm with specialist accounting knowledge. That's great for attracting new prospects.

Finding a niche – four questions

If you've been in business for a few years, you may already have a speciality, but you might not have realised it yet. These four questions can help you find your niche:

1. Who are your regular clients?If you have a couple of clients in the same

general field, that could become a speciality. For example, they might be:

• medical clients, including doctors, dentists and other health professionals• franchisees with similar business models• restaurant owners and hospitality businesses• technology companies• construction businesses• legal firms

2. What are you good at?Maybe you're great at payroll services,

perhaps you excel at moving traditional businesses to online accounting software, or maybe you love the buzz of working with tech startups. The particular needs of serial entrepreneurs might be your speciality – and they're good clients, because they'll come back again and again. Think about what you enjoy and what you're good at – that's a good basis for a speciality.

3. What's your background?You're an accountant now, but perhaps you

weren't always an accountant. If you grew up in a farming community, you may have some insight into agricultural businesses. Maybe your parents worked in real estate or perhaps one of your partners used to be a lawyer. All of these are opportunities for finding your firm's niche.

4. What's happening around you?You don't have to limit your clients to those

within walking distance. But if you're surrounded by businesses of a particular type, it makes sense to try to win them as clients. Once you've built a local niche, you can start to expand further afield.

The advantages of an accounting niche

It might seem odd to deliberately narrow your potential market, yet there are good reasons for doing so. A niche can:

• Set you apart from the competition There might be dozens of general

accounting firms in your area, but if you specialise in retail accounting, there will be much less competition.

• Help prospects find you People use online searches to find a

good accounting firm. You can get to the top of the search results for a specific area of business.

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HOW TO CREATE A NICHE ACCOUNTING FOCUS AT YOUR FIRM

2 NICHE ACCOUNTING FOCUS AT YOUR FIRM