Between April and Could 2021, we spoke to greater than 500 practitioners, from accounting and bookkeeping corporations of all sizes, from sole practitioners to very massive practices (50+ workers).
The examine paints an image of an trade that’s remarkably resilient. Even within the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, simply over half of respondents (51%) advised us that their enterprise is rising at the same fee and even sooner than it was pre-pandemic.
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We share a number of the key highlights from the examine beneath.
The trade is seeking to rent, however discovering the appropriate expertise is the problem
Virtually a 3rd (30%) of the corporations we surveyed mentioned they want to rent extra full-time workers within the 12 months forward.
Whereas it is a nice signal of an trade that’s experiencing development, comply with up interviews with accountants and bookkeepers highlighted that making the appropriate hires may be simpler mentioned than performed.
“Every time I communicate to different accountants, recruitment at all times comes up as an enormous problem”, says Pamela Phillips, Director & Co Founding father of de Jong Phillips. “We all know we may tackle much more enterprise if we may rent extra workers, however it’s so laborious to seek out the appropriate expertise. Corporations like mine are in search of people who find themselves commercially minded, genuinely thinking about their consumer’s enterprise (not simply of their numbers) and get enthusiastic about serving to them develop. We additionally need individuals who get enthusiastic about what tech can do to assist our purchasers. And eventually, we want somebody who’s truly a professional accountant with some good expertise in observe. Getting somebody who can do all three of these is actually laborious… to be trustworthy, getting somebody who can do any one of these is actually laborious.”
Practices are rising simply as quick, or sooner than pre-pandemic
With many practices seeking to rent, it is sensible that simply over half of respondents (51%) declare their consumer base is rising sooner, or at the same tempo than pre-pandemic, whereas solely 4% say their consumer base is declining.
The place is that this development coming from?
Whereas our report exhibits a hyperlink between know-how adoption and enterprise development, it’s additionally value highlighting that the pandemic brought about many small companies to depend on their accountants and bookkeepers greater than ever earlier than. Our earlier examine of small companies in 2020 discovered that the COVID-19 pandemic had even prompted 14% of them to show to an accountant for the primary time.
Whereas few can have made it by the pandemic unscathed, the sector’s dedication to their purchasers throughout this time seems to have strengthened these key enterprise relationships and inspired the formation of recent ones.
Corporations with larger utilization of on-line accounting software program report larger common annual income per consumer
Quick development has ceaselessly been linked to the adoption of technology-based options.
In our examine, practices who mentioned they have been rising sooner than previous to the pandemic have been additionally the more than likely to have 100% of their purchasers utilizing on-line accounting software program (17%).
And it’s not simply rising consumer bases the place using on-line accounting software program is making an impression.
We additionally discovered that practices with a better proportion of purchasers utilizing on-line (or ‘cloud-based’) accounting software program take pleasure in larger common annual income per consumer.
The typical annual income per consumer for corporations with simply 0-25% of purchasers utilizing on-line accounting software program is £1,334, whereas for corporations with 75% or extra of purchasers utilizing on-line accounting software program, it’s significantly larger at £1,636.
It seems a lot of the trade feels they’ve solely began to scratch the floor in the case of the chance that lies in rolling out accounting know-how throughout their corporations.
Accountants and bookkeepers are dedicated to supporting their purchasers
Alongside harnessing the ability of know-how, offering continued assist for purchasers by Making Tax Digital was additionally flagged as a key space of focus for accountants and bookkeepers (43%) for the approaching years.
When requested about their key challenges, 54% flagged supporting their purchasers as they rebuild from the pandemic as their foremost focus.
This additional backs up our 2020 examine by which 43% of small enterprise house owners mentioned that their accountant had been essential to their pandemic survival. Equally, 45% mentioned their accountant is extra essential to their enterprise than ever earlier than.
Full your well being test and obtain the UK 2021 Accounting & Bookkeeping Trade Efficiency Report
Need to see how your observe compares? Reply six quick questions on this interactive benchmarking instrument and see how your agency stacks up towards the trade.
Don’t overlook to obtain the total UK 2021 Accounting and Bookkeeping Trade Efficiency Report for all the important thing information that can assist you make the appropriate choices to construct a wholesome enterprise.