Are you a ‘trusted advisor’?

Richard Brewin • February 17, 2019

How much do your clients trust you and is it enough for them to always take your advice?   We hear the phrase ‘trusted advisor’ banded around a lot but is it representative of client-accountant relationships?

Trust is a sliding scale.

For a start, just because a client asks you to do their tax return, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they trust you, simply that you are the most convenient solution for them.

They may trust you as an accountant to do your job and look after the compliance work but not necessarily trust your opinion, your advice or even your motives.

Clients will trust you up to a point. The challenge experienced by accountants is that this point is far too often set to low. Clients will act on your advice up to a point but not far enough for you to achieve the ‘trusted advisor’ status that you strive to be. We want clients to trust us more so that they become more willing to accept our advice and recommendations, good for their business and for ours.

Trust builds over time if we consistently demonstrate that we can be trusted, but frustration builds if there are results we want to achieve in the meantime that take the client beyond their trust point.

Can we accelerate the process?

Trust is built on three things:

  1. You being true to yourself. Through this comes an honesty, belief and integrity that buys trust from the client.
  1. You having robust solutions. Your advice and solutions should be able to firmly withstand questioning. Through this comes confidence that buys trust from the client.
  1. You show empathy. Demonstrating that you understand the client and have their position at heart buys trust from the client.

We can therefore accelerate the process of building trust by consistently demonstrating these three traits. Our behaviour and environment need to reflect these. Our points of client contact need to promote these. Our conversations need to be planned to demonstrate these.

Our marketing too needs to be built with these values at its heart. Take a look at your website, your newsletters and your marketing tools. Do these reflect the trust-building assets?

Don’t leave trust to Father Time. Demonstrate to clients your ‘trusted advisor’ status.

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.