5 Reasons Clients Fire Their Accountant

Losing a client can be hard, yet it happens all the time. Sometimes, the reasons are simply out of your control. For example, maybe the client’s business was sold or merged into another company that has a long-standing relationship with another accounting firm. However, there are many reasons clients decide to fire their accountants. Keeping your clients happy and loyal is an ongoing process, and it’s about much more than preparing an accurate return or financial statements. Here are five reasons clients fire their accountants and what you can do to avoid the problem.

Lack of Proactive Communication

Sure, you call your client to schedule fieldwork, follow up on PBC requests lists or remind them to send documents on time, but do your clients hear from you only ahead of deadlines? As your client’s trusted advisor, you are responsible for anticipating changes that will affect them. Don’t wait for your clients to ask you how shifting accounting standards or potential tax legislation will impact their business. Instead, reach out proactively to initiate the conversation, which will show your clients you’re looking out for them.

No Roadmap for Growth 

You might offer strategic planning, business valuations, wealth management or other services, but a long-standing client might engage a competitor for these services if they don’t know you offer them. When clients don’t see a roadmap for growth with your firm, they leave for a firm that shows them the way forward. Talking to your clients about the other services you offer (or could offer, if needed) is crucial. Schedule quarterly or annual planning meetings to discuss their needs and goals and how you can help them get there.

Services are Not Packaged or Priced Appropriately 

Surprise invoices can drive clients away. From their perspective, their tax return or assurance engagement is relatively the same from year to year. However, let’s say you spent extra time on their return this year researching the cost basis of an investment or reconciling shareholder basis. If you charged them $500 for their tax return last year, but you send them an invoice this year for $1,000, all the client will think about is that the cost increased and nobody reached out about it ahead of time.

You can avoid such a situation by packaging and pricing your services on a subscription basis. That way, your clients know what to expect when you bundle transactional, compliance and advisory services together for a transparent monthly price. They might be paying double or triple what they were before, but they’ll be happier seeing the value of what they’re getting.

Doing Business with You is Not Easy

Are your client interactions tense? Do your clients have to navigate technology that makes your job easier but is frustrating for them? Do you email them forms that need to be printed, signed, scanned and emailed back to you? If doing business with you is a lot of work, clients burn out quickly. Take a fresh look at your firm’s processes and technology from the client’s perspective. If you make changes that will make their lives easier, you won’t have to worry about losing business to competitors.

The Client Experience Varies

When clients work with different departments or people within the firm, is the client experience seamless? Or does it vary depending on which person or department they’re dealing with? When your accounting, tax and assurance departments use different systems that aren’t integrated, your clients may be uploading or emailing the same documents multiple times to different systems or people. This is frustrating and makes clients feel like your firm isn’t organized. Initiate a client experience project in your firm to ensure that no matter which department or person your clients deal with, the experience is top-notch.

You’ll notice that none of these reasons include, “My accountant was too expensive.” That’s because, in our experience, price isn’t a factor as long as clients understand the value they’re getting from you. When you communicate proactively, show your clients how you can help them grow, package and price a range of valuable services and make it easy for clients to do business with you, the value you bring to the relationship won’t be overlooked or undervalued.