T r e n d s /OU T LOO K

Compliance Services - 61% of revenue.

For the past few years, compliance has stabalised at around 60% of revenue,despite falling from 75% in 2007. Although the spruikers are insistingthat advisory services are a must-havein the profession, compliance services haveremained constant at 60% over thepast 3 years while business advisoryservices have fluctuated between12-16% in the last 5 years.

When analysing the data based onrevenue groups over this 5-year time period, there is a significant differencebetween the services offered. As anexample, in this poll, firms with revenueof less than $500k generate 67% of revenue through compliance services.Compare that to firms over $10min revenue, where compliance comprisesjust 41% of revenue. Yes, size matterswhen it comes to delivering complianceand advisory services.

COMpliance trends over past 5 years

Key Points

How you see the future of professional services

If you could successfully market and sell more of one particular future-focused, non-compliance advisory service, what would that be?

MARKETING

UNDERSTAND YOU

UNDERSTAND YOur clients

• Streamline and reduce delivery costs for

compliance services

• The skills required to deliver advisory services

• The ability to scale your advisory services

• Needs (Not the voices of product spruikers)

• Pricing points for advisory services

• Specific industry niches

Business Advisory

• Virtual/External CFO

• Profit & Cash Forecasts

• Business Succession Planning

• Business Strategic Planning/Consulting/Coaching

• Mergers & Aquisitions

• Quarterly Performance Reviews

• Management Accounting

• Forecasting and Monitoring Services

• Business Process Animation & System Reviews

• Benchmarking Services

• Tax Planning

• Marketing Services

Wealth Advisory

• Estate Planning

• Financial Planning/Advice

• SMSF Services/Advice

Market, sell & Deliver advisory Services - Your confidence levels

SELL DELIVER

Top 3 challenges delivering advisory services

THESE SERVICES ARE KEY PERSON DEPENDENT

TOO BUSY MEETING COMPLIANCE DEADLINES

CLIENTS DON’T WANT TO PAY FOR THESE SERVICES

56%

58%

60%

62%

64%

66%

68%

20152014201320122011

84% of those surveyed said that for their firm to survive they need to be providing advisory

services84% of those

surveyed believe compliance is not going

away

THOSESurveyed

84%

57% 80% 76%

26%

74%

The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly of the Australian Accounting Profession

I N S I G H T S

This GBU Insight Poll clearly reveals that compliance services are not going away- but in order to survive, practices must also deliver advisory services. This is not a startling revelation- it’s something you’ve been hearing for quite afew years now. But how achievable is it?

From our Good Bad Ugly research data, firmswith fees of less than $1m are providing higherlevels of compliance services, so what does thefuture hold for these smaller firms?

Finding a more streamlined approach to reducethe costs of delivering these compliance services is a great place to start. The questionis, how do smaller firms overcome the challenge of: being too busy meetingcompliance deadlines; small SME clients notwanting to pay for advisory services; and findingthe right team to integrate advisory servicesin their practice.

On a side note, there are many firms who are currently very profitable and whose compliance as a % of revenue is greater than 75%.

compliance vs advisory services Surprise! it’s not about you!

your advisory services wish list

The challenge is not in identifying which servicesyou would like to provide you clients, but ratherunderstanding what you clients’ needs are. Then, as Michael Carter at Practice Paradox advocates, thechallenge lies in learning how to market, sell anddeliver these services in a scalable way.

According to Michael, this is the single biggesthurdle accountants have to leap. Accountants have never really had to market or sell their complianceservices. Goverment legislations has been the best marketing tool for accountants, forcing SMEs toseek compliance services year after year. As one prominent advisor to the profession suggests,accountants are good with numbers, not words.

Most accountants boast that they never have to market their services because simply doing qualitywork provides them with great referrals. Butfor which kind of services?

As this Good Bad Ugly Insight Poll demonstrates,generating demand is the #1 challenge for accountants introducing advisory services.

If you are unable to market your advisory services(i.e. generate demand), you will not be given the opportunity to deliver these services.

Do you have the marketing expertise to generate thisdemand? Good Bad Ugly research suggests firms arespending more on printing and stationery than marketing- a statistic which is no doubt contributing to the low 0.2% revenue growth per year. Ultimately,the future lies with you: What is your marketing and sales plan for 2016 to generate demand for your advisory services?

One of the questions asked in this GBU InsightPoll was: If you could successfully market andsell more of one particular future-focused, non-compliance advisory service, what whould that be?

For most firms, response to this question fall intwo categories: Business Advisory and WealthAdvisory services. You will find the detailedlist on page 2 - and what a list it is! All are advisory-focused and aimed at improving your clients’

business and financial results. You’ll find most of these services listed on the brochure-ware websiteof most accounting firms under ‘Our Services’. But for most firms these services are rarelydelivered to clients, an observation that Good BadUgly research supports.

Let’s examine why this might be.