who’s in control? you? or your clients?

why clients need the “tough love” you didn’t know they craved.

by seth fineberg
at large

truth time, accountants. regarding your client relationship, would you consider yourself a leader or a follower? in other words, do you lead them, or do they lead you more often than not?

more seth fineberg: time management rule #1 for accountants |  plan to go ‘live’ post tax season |  why vc is a bigger threat than ai  |   what does taking control of your firm mean? | accountants need each other more than ever | marchternity: just say ‘no’ | some thoughts on in-person events | so you think you know accountants? | what bogs down accountants

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we raised this topic some years ago during my time at accountingweb. but while much has changed since then, even during the past five years in this great profession, one must wonder who is making the decisions about the direction of your firm and how you work. is it you or your clients?

at the time, we found it was more of a combination of pulling your clients along and being pulled by them. very few firm leaders felt they were genuinely leading the way.

no one says not to put your clients first, or that you don’t regularly. but again, in being honest, what ends up happening when you defer to your clients’ wants and needs more than that of your business, your staff, your processes, and you as the expert, is resentment. this has been the reality for a growing number of “post-pandemic” practitioners struggling for a reason to continue the work they are doing and how they are doing it.

blaming clients, the irs, the software you work on, or the vendors that make them is not the answer. feeling more in control is, and if in a market experiencing a dearth of accounting talent, it’s up to those who are in it to make it work and work for you.

the one change tax-centric practitioners must make before next season is to set their own deadlines. managing your own time will offer a needed sense of sanity and, most importantly, control. the same principle applies here but for longer-term success and happiness.

with all the accountants i’ve met over the years, i realize some are just who they are and will not change. some of you who start new firms get into a pattern of taking on whatever work you can, allowing clients to dictate the work you do. this is hard to break free from once you start down that path. fair enough, but i strongly believe and have seen, how you work with clients can, indeed, work more on your terms than theirs.

leading your clients more than the converse can be as simple as saying, “we no longer take documents in this way, this is our process, and if you work with our firm, this is how we do things.” the same applies to existing clients, though it may be more gradual.

we saw the same thing happen during the “paperless” movement when firms of all sizes became committed to paper use and paper file reduction. while the result, by and large, was “less paper,” it still made the practical point of firms no longer needing file rooms or paying for storage spaces the way they once did.

this is the type of control firms felt they needed to take and can still take, even if it’s by adopting a tech stack that works for you and your staff and that your clients must now do likewise. maybe it’s just a move to a better pricing model, allow clients to subscribe to you if they truly value your work and get off the hourly hamster wheel because “it works better for them.” at the very least, have them all on a fixed-fee structure that works with the kind of work you want to do and how you want to do it.

so let’s try this, pick something from this list to implement before the end of this calendar year and see how you feel by this time next year. this is, of course, assuming you don’t have any of these in place already. if so, pick something that is not:

• come up with a fixed-fee or subscription plan and place all new clients on it
• examine your tech stack and make moves to have all clients on it (if you don’t have one, start making moves to do so)
• take a handful of clients to start and discuss a 2-3 year business plan with them
• set meetings with tax clients to plan for next year, possibly beyond
• if you have bookkeeping clients, come up with a cash flow forecast for even a handful and build from there

i’ve seen firms implement these examples of things to try to start them on a path to success and a sense of control. remember, the goal here is the feeling that you are steering the ship rather than having the tide take you. being more in control in a profession that can pull you in every direction with little say from you, the practitioner, is what it’s all about. it’s your firm, and it is time you lead.

taking this level of control isn’t easy. i get that. the adage applies, nothing worth doing ever is. but take a step, even if it’s with any new clients at first, that shows you as the leader and the authority. from what i’ve seen, this is the path to better, longer-term relations with your clients and, perhaps, even love what you do again.

posted on june 11, 2023