“No accountant has ever asked me that question before!” exclaimed a new client we met with this month. It was a pretty life changing question to ask and got us wondering – are you getting the right advice from your accountant?
This month we have been meeting potential new clients over coffee or online via a Zoom video call.
At Insight Finance Solutions we love to get to know new clients. Often, people come to us as we have been recommended and they’ve confided in a business friend that they’re struggling to get to grips with their finances. Or perhaps they find it all confusing and they’re looking for the right support.
Meeting with a potential client also allows us to assess whether we are a good fit for them, and they are a good fit for us. We like to do things a little differently from a traditional accountant and we adore working with small businesses and sole traders who have a passion for what they do.
One potential new client we met this month was totally blown away by our personal approach. I think this is something we often take for granted, doing what we do, but it is the essence of our business. We know we act as a confidante and support and in our experience we get the best out of the businesses we work with when a conversation is fun, full of energy, honest and transparent.
“I’ve never been asked that before.”
So we met with a new client last week and asked our usual questions when we get started with any new business.
There’s the business goal questions that always come first;
- “What do you want your ideal business to stand for?”
- “How do you see your ideal business operating day to day?”
- “How much free time do you want to have in your business?”
- “What are your current overheads like?”
- “How do you see the business growing this year?”
But at Insight Finance Solutions we always ask about the personal stuff too. None of us are just here to work, we have to live too and living gives us the energy to be our best in work. So we ask those more personal questions too. This new client in question was a young female and we started to get to know more to get the full picture;
- “Where do you live at the moment? Do you own your house or rent?”
- “Do you have any plans on moving house or upsizing/downsizing?”
- “Do you currently have any children?”
- “Any plans to have children in the near future?”
She chatted back about her plans to move to a bigger house and possibly expand the family and then looked at us and said with genuine curiosity “Why would an accountant need to ask that?”.
“Well at the moment you’re a sole trader and I know your last accountant wanted you to set up a limited company but if you want to move house and get a mortgage, at this point in time it is probably better to stay as a sole trader. Yes, it might be more tax efficient in the short term to be a limited company but it could really hamper your borrowing power when it comes to getting a mortgage. So I always like to ask the long term goals in both life and business as my financial advice will reflect both. If you want to have a family, I can work with you in advance to put financial plans in place for your maternity leave. So the personal stuff is actually often more important than the business stuff.”
She looked at us flabbergasted and couldn’t believe we’d asked so many questions that could help so much. In the three years of working with a traditional accountant, she’d never been asked how she wanted her business to run, or if they had plans to move or grow a family. If they’d taken the previous advice of becoming a limited company, this would dramatically reduce their personal borrowing power. Which would impact the type of home they could afford in the eyes of the banks.
Accountancy Advice – Not Just About being Tax Efficient
When it comes to working with a good accountant, it’s not just about spreadsheets and being tax efficient. A good accountant will be able to talk to you about your whole life and offer advice accordingly. Good accountancy advisory services and working with the right accountant is about making your business and finances work for your long term business and personal goals.
At Insight Finance Solutions one thing that also sets us apart is our money mindset coaching. Growing a business isn’t just about investing in your sales funnel, your marketing, your premises or your products and services. Often it can be a mindset issue and block that holds a person back from actively growing their business. We love to work with people on a more personal level to break through those blocks and limiting beliefs to grow their business and grow as a person. You can read our blog on common money mindset blocks here.
If you’d like a chat with us and need a refreshingly different approach to accountancy services get in touch!
There’s no obligation to become a client but we might just be able to help you get clarity on your business objectives and some personal ones too.