Accountants - I think it’s time we ditch the term ‘advisory’

We have all heard the rhetoric, the spiel that has been shoved down our throat. The same message preached by the apparent ‘thought leaders’, marketers, software vendors and technologists.

The accounting profession as we know it, will be disrupted by:

#Machine learning, #AI, #Blockchain, [#insert SiliconValley buzzword here].

We've heard it all before. The work we do day to day, the way we earn our margin, is largely ‘commoditised’ work - bookkeeping, tax compliance and basic accounting. Brace yourselves - it's all going to disappear.

The suggested antidote to being replaced by a faceless robot is that we, Accountants, must focus on doing “advisory services”.

Us Accountants are naturally a cynical bunch. We’re often the pessimist, the cynic that brings some ‘rational’ perspective to commercial and life decisions. We wipe away the hype, to seek the truth. It's why the Mesopotamians invented accounting in the first place. To document “what is true”.

Accordingly, it's easy for us to shun the ‘fake news’ preached by these people. They've never worked in our industry. What gives them the right to sell their shit to us? They don't even know the difference between a Dr and Cr. They simply lack credibility.

There are leaders in our profession that have made it their duty to call out this ‘fake news’. To stand on a pedestal and tell the world how it really is From The Trenches CC Paul Meissner, David Boyar (love your work gents).

Perhaps it is our reflex to dismiss this ‘advice’ that these outsiders are continuously forcing upon us. The narrative can get repeatable, and mundane.

#Compliance is dead #Firm of the future #robotos took our jeerrrrbs

This, however does not mean we should reject everything they are trying to show us. We should respect their view and listen to what they have to say. Why? Because perhaps there is a certain truth to what they are preaching. Because it is easy for us to be caught up in the day-to day grind without taking time to look at the horizon, every now and again. 

Perhaps it is for them, the same feeling we experience when we can’t cut through to some of our clients. The feeling of being disheartened, defeated and sometimes hurt. The emotional labour we invest so heavily in the people we try so hard to change, but rejected because they’re too busy or dismissive to listen.

I don’t know what the future holds for our profession. What technology will come to disrupt our jobs and make us homeless white collar professionals - just as cars did to horse and cart operators... One can spend a lot of time hypothesising and trying to predict the future, at the opportunity cost of executing.

At SBO, we only focus on what we can influence and change. And it starts with ourselves.

We must continually grow, learn and add value to our clients and community. We must always ask ourselves - what does better look like? 

Most of us in the profession do this, and know we can always do more of the right things. To do less of the stuff robots can do and more of the sexier stuff that only humans can. More “advisory services”.

Which begs the question.

What the hell is advisory anyway?

I meet and drink coffee with accountants every day. It’s part of my role at SBO. When I meet a new firm, one of the first questions I ask is what services they offer. The answer is almost always the same:

“Most of our revenue is generated from compliance work, but we’re trying to do more advisory”

I always probe on what they mean by ‘advisory services’

The answer to this question, in contrast, is always wildly different to my first. They include:

• Tax structuring
• Tax minimisation
• Tax advice
• Bank financing
• Profit improvement
• Performance improvement
• Cashflow improvement
• Virtual CFO
• Valuations
• Due Diligence
• KPI Analysis
• Strategic Planning
• Cashflow forecasting
• Financial analysis
• Financial governance

If you asked your client what they thought you meant by ‘advisory services’, I hazard a guess they would have no idea what you're asking. When you go to your GP for a check up, have you thought to ask what she does for you? Or even asked yourself, why do you keep going to that family GP?

Clients come to us to have their problems solved. And how we, as practitioners, solve these problems will vary. These problems will be different day-to-day and will sometimes fall out of our realm of expertise. In these circumstances we should have the confidence to call upon our peers and partner with them, ensuring the best outcome for the client.

Are you a meaningful specific or a wandering generality? - Zig Ziglar

What this means is that we should be specific about what we do. If you are the resident WET tax expert for wineries, stand up and own it. If you are the expert in foreign resident CGT, again, be specific about it. 

'Advisory' as a term means too many things to too many people. If the term is subjective within the profession, chances are your clients have no idea what it is either.

And if you truly believe you are an advisor - to claim you know enough about all of the above, then perhaps your focus isn’t ‘advisory’ in the technical sense. But rather, your focus is being an ‘advisor’ from a purest sense. I’m referring to the few individuals that possess the real skills, often mislabelled as ‘soft skills’. The skills like decision making, eager participation, dancing with fear, speaking with authority, working in teams, seeing the truth, speaking the truth, inspiring others, doing more than we’re asked, caring and being willing to change things. 

These are what separate advisors from the technicians.

Which one are you?