iscoverBookkeepers and accountants are being urged to work collaboratively on a more consistent basis to give clients a streamlined customer experience.
Communication key to effectively strengthen bookkeeper, accountant relationships
05 September 2025
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8 minute read
A Perth-based bookkeeper is calling on accountants to join forces with bookkeepers regularly to provide clients with an improved, streamlined experience, added value and success.
Kathi Tait, Tradie Books founder and winner of bookkeeper of the year at the Australian Accounting Awards 2025, said there was a notable gap between accountants and bookkeepers that needed to be brought together.
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“To me, the obvious solution is communication, and that doesn't happen for the most part. We must try to open a communication channel with accountants and ask if there is any information we need to be aware of when taking on a new client,” she said.
“I think if we can encourage communication and we can encourage a two-way kind of respect, it would bridge a lot of voids that I see out there. There are literally thousands and thousands of accountants and thousands and thousands of bookkeepers, and at the end of the day, we're in this to help other businesses. I think we should create as many wins as we can.”
In terms of streamlining customer experiences between accountants and bookkeepers, Tait noted the first step forward was finding an accountant or bookkeeper who aligned with similar workflows, which would lead to the creation of win-win situations.
According to Tait, if communication channels were opened and a solid relationship was established between an accountant and bookkeeper, then clients could be easily and seamlessly onboarded.
On a recent Under the Hood podcast episode, Tait said clients would jump between different accountants and bookkeepers because they didn’t feel looked after and that they mattered.
“It does keep coming back to communication and respect. We each have our own sort of roles in the scheme of things and they’re both really important roles to keep the clients on track,” she said.
“I believe the magnitude of the positive outcome from working together as a team would just put a firecracker under each client’s business if done right. So, I really believe that’s a direction that should be explored more, as the industry can feel very fragmented.”
From her own work and business, Tait revealed she would benefit from having more communication and a clearer relationship with accountants based on the nature of the industry she was specialised in.
Tait and her team at Tradie Books work mostly with tradies and are focused on standardising and streamlining operations to better support clients who have faced significant challenges in the current economic climate.
“It is a tough industry and I guess we really focus on helping them understand their numbers and how they can actively grow their profits. We bring an element of cost accounting into our reporting services and that really helps our tradies suffer less in what is a very tough industry with the sheer level of regulations and business failures they’re coping with.”
“Bookkeepers are open to new relationships, so please reach out if you think you might like to work with them. They’d love to hear from you and get in touch to see how win-win situations can be created for clients.”
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