Profitability proving problematic for many firms

Bstar has exclusively revealed to Accountants Daily some results from its Accountants Research Report 2017/18 report, in conjunction with BT Financial Group, which is yet to be released.

The report reveals that 40 per cent of survey respondents are not happy with their practice profitability, rating their own profitability as ‘not so good’.

Despite this, 91 per cent of survey respondents want to grow their practice, with 73 per cent indicating it is an immediate focus and a further 18 per cent indicating it is a short-term focus.

While the majority of respondents clearly have a desire to grow their firm, one-third of respondents admitted that they needed to make major changes to their practice in order to grow.

The top priority for firms is to achieve organic growth through retaining existing clients and developing their relationships to provide them with more services, according to the report.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents indicated they have converted existing compliance clients to become advisory clients while maintaining or increasing fees.

Firms are also broadening their offering of services, and segmenting their client base to tailor packages to suit each segment.

Other growth strategies seen in the survey results include pursuing partnerships with industry experts to grow specialist services such as SMSF advice, and providing specialist advisory services on reducing risks for business owners.