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The Firm of Now: The whys and hows

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14th Mar 2016
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“You’re burning the equivalent of luxury cars, small apartments, some of you even apartment blocks,” says Rob Nixon, the CEO of PANALITIX. Attendees at the first ‘Firm of Now’ event probably weren’t expecting to hear about arson.

Nixon is referring to write-offs that accrue with hourly charge rates. “Pricing in arrears inevitably leads to write-offs because the partner who is doing the billing thinks there was too much time on the clock so they write some off.”

And instead of writing off these fees, Nixon advises a shift to value pricing. According to Nixon, accountants are drastically undervaluing their contribution to their clients. “Accountants have a belief problem,” says Nixon.

Lack of belief

PANALITIX is touring the UK with its “Firm of Now” conference, and today’s event at the Hotel Football in Manchester was the first. Paul Dunn, AccountingWEB's lifetime achievement award winner, opened the day speaking about the value of meaning. “Most accountants when they started knew why,” he told AccountingWEB after his talk. “They lose that.”

This loss of meaning, says Dunn, is tied into the lack of belief to which Nixon refers. The confidence to ask for more is fed by a self-belief. “I want you to have a self-esteem problem,” Nixon told the assembled audience. “A high self-esteem problem.”

The pricing model Nixon prescribes is presented as a Venn diagram. The first step on Nixon’s model is to value your own belief. “The first sales team is yourself; what is the product worth?”

Next, says Nixon, value your contribution. “What is your contribution to the value? When we do this project, what will that do to the client,” said Nixon.

“And then it’s about your client’s value perception: How does the client perceive the value of your work?” According to Nixon, it’s in the interstice between these three concepts where real value emerges.

Radical transparency

“Tell your clients when you will do the work,” said Nixon. “Meet with the client to scope, sell the value of the job and set the due date.

“All of a sudden you’re accountable.” This interaction should be led by a partner or client manager, according to Nixon. “Self-imposed deadlines are vital in reducing time spent on client projects."

Throughout the day, Nixon repeatedly implored partners to steer clear of administrative tasks. “Get a client services co-ordinator,” said Nixon. “And partners, get yourselves out of anything that looks like cash collection. Good guy, bad guy.”

This also frees accountants up to interact with clients and look for new opportunities: “Finding the opportunities for the next piece of work in the current piece of work”, in Nixon’s words.

There should be no charge for emails or phone calls, and there should be culture of pro-active client visits within the practice, explained Nixon. Client interaction should be seen as an opportunity to increase value, not as a billable nuisance.

Joy in work

If Nixon's message was very practical, Dunn's was more philosophical, emphasising the role of enjoyment in success.

“We’re all going to leave a legacy; you have to choose whether it will be one of contribution or consumption”, said Dunn in his talk. “Answer this question: 'Every morning I get up to...?'”

“When you look back at your career,” said Steve Pipe of the Added Value Network, also attending the event, “can you call it success if you hated every second of it?”

Rounding up his speech, Nixon went further: “It's not just enough to have statements and mantras, you have to act on them”, he said. “Just go out and do it.”

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Richard Sergeant
By Richard Sergeant
15th Mar 2016 11:11

Any feedback

Anyone attend these session?

Any feedback to share?

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By Vaughan Blake1
15th Mar 2016 12:40

It must be a good couple of weeks

since I saw an article like this on AW!

At least this one is from the self-styled 'World's foremost authority on helping accounting firms achieve peak performance'.

I see from his website that he has a Virgin ticket for their space shuttle, he could therefore soon become the foremost authority in the universe. No low self esteem issues there then!

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ghm
By TaxTeddy
15th Mar 2016 13:58

Give the guy a break

He has a Venn diagram. What other proof do you need?

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By Jean- Ralphio
15th Mar 2016 14:37

If you love soundbites

and trite cliches then this must have been great.

Chuck Garabedian has nothing on Paul Dunn

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By jlukegsmith
15th Mar 2016 20:09

Delighted to see...

...so many accountants still so far away from what really matters in their businesses and that Paul and Steve keep faith in the profession despite all evidence to the contrary.

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By Schnick4
16th Mar 2016 01:14

Too many old school people
I love how people jump on the negative without even attending the event. Rob and his business have changed accounting firms and there partners lives for over 20 years. Don't believe him, but those that do will get huge value. And to disclose, we sponsor Robs events around the world, we would pay any amount to be at these events as we have found the people that attend these are at the proactive end of the industry. It's easy to sit back and post negative comments, but are you servicing your clients the best you can, maybe now by times are changing. My advice is go and see Rob, if it's not for you then I'm sure you will still get something to justify your investment in time.

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By North East Accountant
16th Mar 2016 10:35

i've been

I went to the Newcastle session yesterday and thought it was an excellent day.

In my opinion they are bang on the money with the concept of "The Firm of Now".

Making Tax Digital is going to drive monumental changes in the profession and firms have to decide whether they want to stay relevant their clients or go the way of he dinosaur.

 

 

 

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