The increasing use of IT and automated systems is having a negative impact on accountants by reducing their interaction with their clients leading to 60% of firms losing one to ten clients in the past year, research has shown
A quarter of accountants believe that the advance in technology is affecting client relationships with around 80% admitting that they do not have a strong relationship with their clients.
Around one third of accountants believe their client relationships could be better, 34% believe they are average and 15% admit to them being poor.
Research from BrightHR, a people management software company, has shown that accountants believe the biggest threats to building a client relationship are lack of communication skills (19%), lack of leadership skills (40%), social media (35%) and not having enough services to offer (32%).
The survey also revealed how accountants believe daily communication with clients is the most successful factor in building a successful practice.
According to a report, 61% of accountancy firms have lost between one and 10 clients in the past year.
The accountants surveyed were told that advanced technology could free up to 60% of their time, 43% responded saying they would then offer more services to clients to improve relationships and retention.
Accountant and business growth strategist, Shaz Nawaz said: ‘As accountants, we are in the business of creating and nurturing relationships. With the advancement in technology, especially cloud-accounting, it is vital we invest more time in physically meeting with clients so that we can serve them in the best way possible.
‘If you take out human interaction, then unfortunately the profession will become a compliance only sector. This will mean the cost of the service will be the driving factor for clients and the profession will suffer as a direct result.’
Paul Tooth, co-founder and CEO of BrightHR said: ‘Strong client relationships are vital to a successful accountancy practice, so our survey throws up some interesting results and thought-provoking questions.
‘In general, the accountants we spoke to felt client relationships could be better, despite being in constant communication with them and believing this was the most important ingredient in running a successful practice. They must ask themselves if there are other, more important things they should be doing in addition to daily communication.
‘The good news is that we also found that the profession is open and willing to improving their relationships and retention strategy by extending their service offering, arranging more face-to-face meetings, entertaining clients and even interacting with them on social media.’
