What music do you want to play?

Richard Brewin • October 26, 2018

If your firm was a music genre then what music would you be playing right now?

You’re going to need to bear with me on this one!

It’s a serious question. If you were to describe your firm in terms of a genre of music then what genre would it be?

Is you firm a classical symphony: all structure, unified sections and a professional, quality sound? Or is it free jazz: a bunch of individuals producing discordant sounds with no obvious structure.

Maybe you see your firm as more rock and roll, punk, soul, swing, blues, heavy metal?

Ask your team: “What sort of music do you think best describes our firm?”

It’s a different way of prompting a conversation about what you are and how you come across.

Now, think about what music genre you really want to be. This is where the conversation moves towards actions.

For example, you may decide that right now your firm is best represented by popular music – safe, solid, nothing particularly wrong with it but not exciting or different. What you may want to be is much more swing – you want to be smart, cool, chilled out, relaxed.

So, what are you going to do about it?

Look at your offices, your team, yourself. Look at how you write your emails and your letters. Look at your website and your marketing material.

Look at the sights and sounds of your firm. Look at the actions and tones of your people and systems. What can you do to make them more swing and less pop? What changes you from safe to cool, solid to smart, dull to different?

Make your firm dance to the sound of your music.

Being proactive is a culture, not a slogan

By Richard Brewin • June 27, 2025
Look at any accounting firm website and there is a fair chance that the word ‘proactive’ will be prominent. Ask some business owners and taxpayers whether they consider their accountant to be proactive.  There is commonly a gap between the two, between the intent of the accountant and the expectations of the client.

How tech helps us to rebuild our trusted advisor role

By Richard Brewin • June 23, 2025
The tag ‘Trusted Advisor’ gets bandied around a lot. Without trying to be deliberately contentious, I often challenge its use. Undoubtedly, accountants were once the trusted advisor to their clients. When I came into the profession 44 years ago now, the older partners, especially, were seen by their clients as their trusted advisor, their ‘go to’ person on any issues, business, family or personal, that were troubling them. Without the filing deadlines of today, these clients were with their accountant primarily because they valued the relationship rather than the products.

Why your accounting firm is unique

By Richard Brewin • June 5, 2025
All accountants are the same! We’ve all heard it said. It’s nonsense, of course, but, when you are asked what it is that your firm does that differentiates it from other accounting firms, it can be a challenge to come up with something tangible.  Accounting firms tend to offer similar services, that’s what makes them accounting firms. Differentiating from competitors based upon services provided is therefore an issue.