Guidance to Getting the Basics Right for Practice Growth

13th September 2016

Lifecycle’s latest guide to practice growth has just been published – highlighting the five most overlooked yet essential tips for success.

It’s been created for those SME accountants who have been asked by a client to provide a service that reaches beyond their core offering. The free to download guide poses some key questions and provides information on the simple steps that accountants can take to quickly and easily increase practice effectiveness and profitability.

It’s a fair assumption that the vast majority of accountants – whatever their size, capabilities and client base – are not experts in all service areas. This means that from time to time, additional non-core work is either turned down, undertaken regardless of the implications on quality and billable time, or passed on to a partner practice in the hope that such generosity will be reciprocated when it has a similar skills gap to fill.

As a result, accountants are often not working as effectively and efficiently as they could be, which of course has implications on the growth of their practice and its profitability.

It also means that they’re probably not contributing as best they could to the growth of their clients’ business. That’s according to Robert Craven of the Directors’ Centre who is of the belief that ‘your whole business hinges on what your customer gets from you’.

In one of his studies, Craven identified what he describes as a significant and frequent ‘service delivery gap’. For accountants, this translates as the gap between the above-average client experience they believe they provide and the perceptions of their clients.

So if accountants ask themselves Craven’s two initial questions – do they think they provide an above-average client experience and would their clients agree – and the answer to either is no, it’s time to join the Lifecycle network.

This new accountancy network provides a simple, trusted and quality complementary offering that can expand a practice’s core service offering – and therefore their client capabilities and relationships, reputation and revenue – by outsourcing specialist services to a trusted and non-competing partner to support their clients’ business growth.

To download Lifecycle’s five most overlooked yet essential tips for practice growth, click here.

About the Lifecycle network

Lifecycle is a unique network for accountants – provided by the Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group.

It provides member accountants with a comprehensive range of specialist services – and the expert support required – to improve their client offering at every stage of a business’ lifecycle. From company formation to cessation and all stages in betwee

Lifecycle is free to join and also offers members many additional benefits. These include eligibility for a highly competitive Professional Indemnity insurance scheme, a regular programme of free training and education and discounts on products and services relevant to their business and clients’ needs.

Services offered by Lifecycle include: Company secretarial and formation; equity finance for SMEs; debt advisory for SMEs; personal debt advice; corporate restructuring, insolvency and cessation; debt finance for SMEs; cashflow maximisation; property solutions and legal services.

For more information on Lifecycle click here and to become a member of Lifecycle click here or call for free on 03300 242 333.

Follow Lifecycle on Twitter here or email at hello@lclifecycle.co.uk.

03300 242 3333