Last week I attended a briefing hosted by Lansons Communications to debate ‘How can modern accountants demonstrate that they are no longer just worthy and necessary but management’s greatest asset in riding out the recession?’ There was a diverse crowd of attendees at this round table event from CEOs and Managing Partners of accountancy firms and regulatory bodies to in-house and consultancy PR and marketing executives, which provided a wide ranging discussion.
Gavin Hinks, editor of Accountancy Age, kicked off the discussion with whether or not accountants could be held partially accountable for the global economic crisis. He noted that accountants are privy to significant financial information in various industry sectors and the discussion briefly moved onto whether accountants should have spotted trends in the market in terms of poor cash flow, funding issues and financial difficulties experienced by their clients.
Although he thought that Accountants seemed to have come out of the recession relatively unscathed, in terms of their reputation. A healthy debate ensued even veering towards the issue of the finances of Accountancy firms themselves.
Hosting the event, Clive Booth then directed the discussion towards the more commercial topic of marketing and asked if there is a general lack of ambition within the accountancy field in terms of their general strategy and activity. Are Firms unwilling to take risks or try something new when it comes to marketing and attracting new clients - perhaps this is the result of lower budgets. Ambition inevitably costs more and there is no guarantee that firms will see a return on their investment and therefore tried and tested techniques are more popular with the holders of the purse strings.
The demographic of partners, directors and decision makers within accountancy practices is typically those of the older generation. Therefore perhaps they are the ones who are preventing greater ambition and imagination? Broadly speaking, this generation, may not be willing to embrace new ideas as the leaders of tomorrow might be and therefore firms are stifled by a lack of understanding at senior level. One participant argued that a website was all that was needed in terms of an online presence – everything else was unnecessary and not capable of measurement.
He argued that relationships will only be built and deals closed in a face to face environment and I agree with him, to an extent. However, we cannot rely on recommendations alone to win new business (in fact most professionals stopped relying on them in the early 1990s).
It is true that you are unlikely to win a new client by regular “tweeting” and blogging but in time it may generate leads for you to meet face to face.
Our next generation of young leaders and partners are already jumping on the bandwagon of social media and many key influencers are regular tweeters and bloggers – furthermore it is an easy and low cost way to market yourself to a wider audience – perfectly recession-friendly.
In my view, it is better to embrace these trends now before it advances quicker than we can and start building relationships in new ways.
Terms & Conditions
- Information and ideas shared in this blog are intended to inform rather than advise. Circumstances vary greatly and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial you should contact us before implementation. We will not accept responsibility for any financial or other loss incurred as a result of the action you take from reading these blogs and their comments.
- haysmacintyre reserves the right to delete or alter posts at its own discretion and without notice or explanation. Comments posted on the site which haysmacintyre deems to be unacceptable or inappropriate will be removed. This includes but is not limited to:
- anything which is obscene, pornographic or otherwise objectionable or illegal;
- violations or infringements of any statutory, common law, copyright, design right or any other intellectual property rights of any other person or entity;
- commentary which contains material which would be in breach of confidence or in contempt of Court;
- viruses or other similar contaminating or destructive features.
- Outside of UK office hours, comments will not appear on the site until they have been accepted by the moderator.
- Your name will be displayed by your comment. All other personal details will remain private. haysmacintyre will not add your details to any of its mailing lists or its database unless specifically asked to do so. (Please complete our newsletter sign up form if you want to be added to our mailing list). Your details will not be shared with third parties.
- Material may not be copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, posted, broadcast or transmitted in any way except for your own personal non-commercial use.
- While haysmacintyre will keep web links as up to date as possible, it cannot guarantee the suitability or accuracy of content to any other sites.
- For more information please read our full privacy policy.
- If you have questions or concerns regarding the use of the haysmacintyre blog please call our marketing team on 020 7969 5668 or email marketing@haysmacintyre.com
Media right usage
If you seek permission to use these blogs or any of their content on your own website or as the basis of an article you are writing, or to interview the author, please contact our marketing department on 020 7969 5668.