There has been much talk in the accounting sector of the shift from compliance task accounting (broadly, completing the year end return) through to added value ‘advisory’ accounting services. This is a story that has been well told by Xero and other cloud apps like ourselves at Figured. We know that technology is driving this through the displacement of repeatable tasks. The efficiencies come from bank feeds, automated budget reconciliation, integrations and report generation.
For the accounting practice, this offers an opportunity to develop the client proposition and to take the business in a new direction. It offers the chance to spend more time talking with clients about the future, where their business is heading, and less time looking at the past historical accounts. This is all well and good in theory, but in practice how do you go about getting the practice organised and how do you go about telling this story to market? The execution is much harder than the theory as ever.
Two years into the UK & Irish markets we are now starting to see accountants becoming clearer and stronger in progressing on this journey. Here we want to highlight a few practices that are making real progress, from the UK and Ireland, and our observations on their approaches.
Scrutton Bland have taken a deliberate strategy of differentiating through technology and taking an advocacy position in the market for farming clients to embrace the journey. This is an approach that has seen them acquire new clients, and make a real name for themselves in innovation. The practice has made an impact in the market through this approach, definitely punching above its weight in size terms.
Our observations on their approach from the Figured perspective include:
For more on the way Scrutton Bland have presented and accessed the benefits of the Xero, Figured and other app ecosystem see: https://www.xero.com/uk/resources/agri-centre/
IFAC is the largest Irish agri accounting practice. With many thousands of farming clients, their scale dwarfs the usual UK practices. Many practices would see this as a constraint to change, given the complexities and need for change management but IFAC have taken the decision to lead the way and to execute at scale.
IFAC recently launched a proposition called FarmPro which is an agri advisory platform, underpinned by Figured and Xero technology. It includes agri specific management accounts, budgeting and advisory services. It is supported by the Bank of Ireland who are taking an active role in the market to support the roll out of the service, and to utilise the efficiencies presented in their own lending processes.
This is, to date, probably the leading execution of this model at scale. Their approach has included:
To see the full case study of ifac's journey to FarmPro, see here.
This accounting practice on the west coast of Scotland is taking a proactive and clear approach to their positioning in the market. They have set out that the “modern accountant” should be innovating for their clients, and doing the work of assessing the technology landscape. They have gone so far as to say that without a clear strategy for the practice, it undermines their credibility of advising clients on their strategy. In doing so, ultimately this is about them working with clients who want to progress and develop their businesses and use technology to help them do that. They want to work with clients who are aligned to their own values of sustainable growth of a strong business - this excellent video sets that out clearly
Their approach has included:
Practices that are thinking carefully about their digital strategy, and how this can support their clients are working closely with app partners, investing time to understand properly the opportunities and challenges, and putting the right team in place. They are aware that technology is just one part of the proposition and investing time and energy into developing their thinking, in a way that works for them.
We are here to support those accountants and advisers who are considering how to make this change, we have a good collection of material and experience to support you engaging your colleagues and partners. We’d be delighted to discuss with you how you are thinking about your challenge, and how we could help.
Contact us to discuss more on what we have learned, and how you could step forwards in your own journey to add more value for agri clients.