Research reveals advice opportunities for accountants

Research by Investment Trends indicates that 93 per cent of SMEs rate their accountant as good or very good.

Non-SME clients also have a reasonably high satisfaction level with their accountants, with 83 per cent rating their accountant as either good or very good.

Investment Trends research director Recep III Peker said despite the higher satisfaction levels among SME clients, there is a range of unmet advice services that SME clients are looking for.

“What we find is that more than 80 per cent of SMEs that use an accountant have unmet advice needs,” said Mr Peker.

“So there’s actually a big opportunity for accountants to consider broadening their services to their SME customers or at least having stronger referral relationships with financial advisers so that they can better meet their advice needs.”

Among these unmet needs, Mr Peker said the stand-outs are around buying or identifying undervalued assets, investing for regular income and investment strategies.

“Also, we find that inheritance planning and retirement planning feature quite highly among their unmet advice needs,” he said.

The areas where accountants are performing best in SME satisfaction are tax planning and their accessibility to clients.

“What might be happening is that the accountants, when they’re providing their services, they make themselves more available to SME clients and that comes through in the satisfaction scores,” said Mr Peker.