Do your actions at work benefit what matters most to you?

Richard Brewin • January 22, 2019

I’ve said many times before that, in my experience, the majority of accountants who work with clients, and especially those that have set up their own firms, do so because they want to help people. They want to make a positive difference to their clients and the business owners in their market place.

It’s a powerful driver and a worthy cause, one I entirely subscribe to. However, it is one that can have an unforeseen negative impact on the accountant if it isn’t balanced with their wider life goals.   Many accountants, in their drive to help others, harm themselves with their work load, stress adoption and failure to charge appropriately.

It’s important to keep focus on what matters to you even more than your ability to help your clients. This helps you to balance your goals.

What matters to you more than anything else?

It’s a key question.

Understanding the answer doesn’t detract from your goal of helping your clients but it will help balance your decisions and your strategies.

For example, if seeing your children grow up is the most important thing to you right now then working until 10pm on poor client records isn’t the way to help you or your client. You plan in the time with your family and dedicate yourself to your clients around that.

Clients will take as much as they can from you. It’s not malicious, it merely reflects their needs and thinking. You must manage that to reflect what matters more to you.   It’s no good talking to them about their goals and ignoring your own.

Build a better balance.

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.

Will MTD ITSA be the next big gift from the accounting profession

By Richard Brewin • April 2, 2025
Question… Should accountants charge for the additional work and obligations they will have when MTD ITSA finally comes into play next April? Not sure? Let me ask another one… Should business owners and taxpayers be expected to pay for the work that their accountant does for them and for the expertise that they receive? Put down in black and white, the answer seems obvious but there are many in the profession who are losing sleep over this issue.

“Accountants can’t or won’t sell”

By Richard Brewin • February 25, 2025
Accountants selling to their clients is a topic as old as the profession itself. I regularly hear criticism from those looking to monetise the accountants’ relationships with their clients that “accountants can’t sell”. I also come across an attitude within the profession that “accountants shouldn’t sell to their clients…it’s unprofessional…it’s not what my clients expect”.  Let’s tackle the issue.