RSS feedsBut don’t let that fool you into thinking all is well with the online offerings of most accountancy firms.
According to a recent survey of 1,000 UK accountancy firms by the IAAITC, barely 10% promote their websites and only 14% are prepared to accept email enquiries from prospective clients. As David Reynolds from the accountancy network says: ‘How can a firm of professional accountants attempt to position itself as a firm of business advisors to its clients if it ignores the internet?’
I don’t know whether to be depressed or embarrassed or both. Unless firms address this technophobia, there is little hope for them – particularly when their supremacy as business advisers is under threat. A Federation of Small Business report in March showed that accountants’ share of the business advice to the SME market had fallen from 74% to 51%. Business Links, meanwhile, has doubled its customer base in the past four years to 750,000 SMEs. This would be worrying at any time. With a slowdown looming large on the horizon, it should strike real fear.
That said, the FSB admits small businesses dealing with advisers are more satisfied with the performance of their accountant than any other group. But if firms do nothing to reverse the client drift to government-sponsored advisers they will end up with a happy client base, but a very small, and not particularly lucrative, one.
Damian Wild, Editor-in-chief
