Accountants and other business advisory professionals can turn their services into products by systemising and streamlining core financial reports. This can help create a more sustainable future in the form of annuity fees for advisory services. A financial health check is an excellent place to begin delivering a ‘productised’ advisory service.
“As a partner and principal at numerous firms – and founder of my own advisory business – I have worked in public practice for more than 40 years. In recent times, the pace and scale of change in the accounting profession has advanced considerably.
The fact is, accounting firms are at a tipping point. Offshoring, artificial intelligence and automation are all replacing previous ‘core services’. Many of us understand the need to evolve, but it isn’t equally easy to see how to fully execute a workable process.
Turning advisory services into products provides a pathway for transformation.”
To turn your accounting services into products and unlock business growth, you must systemise and streamline both your processes and your outputs.
This blog uses the example of a financial health check to share a step-by-step guide.
As can be seen in the 7 key steps below, success will require an initial commitment and non-chargeable financial investment to develop your foundations:
“Software like Fathom can enable you to produce amazing, cost-effective reports for your clients. You then need to develop the in-house systems, skills and confidence to support your own growth strategy.”
The ‘people perspective’ of the firm should always be seen as the most important foundational layer for creating a successful business advisory practice.
You must dedicate time to understanding and profiling the skills needed, and developing a dedicated training program.
This goes hand-in-hand with mapping your processes. As you design your workflow, you must also identify the skills required – and the skills gaps in your current workforce.
In addition to expanding your team’s technical knowledge, you may find you need to uplift their capabilities and confidence in client engagement. It can be a new experience for many accountants to talk with clients about anything other than compliance. Use the structured notes in the table below to help your team have these conversations.
Welcoming your employees to be part of developing your processes can boost their understanding and buy-in for your growth strategy. Eventually, the people you train will become the ‘advisory services team’ inside your practice.
Learn more about Fathom’s free certification (6 CPD hours).
Developing a comprehensive process document to support the creation of a financial health check will assist you substantially when it comes to scaling up your offering.
A comprehensive process document will also minimise the time required by a senior advisor to complete their quality assurance.
Your process should include:
Standardising and simplifying input and output data formats, as part of your internal processes, is critical to successfully turning your accounting services into products.
You must also streamline the presentation of results to your clients. Again, the use of reporting software like Fathom makes this part of the task easy.
High standards of quality assurance must prevail at all times. This can be achieved by leveraging your internal processes to review both source data and reported outputs.
The ability to tick boxes based on evidence that pre-defined standards have been met (i.e. that your process has been followed) will improve the cost effectiveness of your products.
Take care to establish a clear final sign-off process to ensure a comprehensive senior review always takes place before any outputs are provided to clients.
The source – or input – data used to populate the model must be reviewed for quality and best practice. You must be satisfied the accounting function is reliable.
As a reviewer, you are looking for evidence of:
You should examine the detailed elements supporting the classification of assets, liabilities and equity in the balance sheet.
-> Learn how to update multiple cloud-sourced companies in Fathom.
Financial reports such as the financial health check can be incredibly powerful strategic and decision-making tools for businesses.
However, it is essential that the advisor reviews and checks the reliability of outputs before passing these on to your client.
As a reviewer, things to check for include:
Successfully transforming accounting services into products requires an accounting firm to develop a repeatable process and then cost this process in a controlled manner.
The product then needs to be priced in a way that meets customer expectations while achieving a reasonable profit margin.
Costing and pricing are 2 different concepts, which need to be understood from both a mutually exclusive and interdependent perspective.
The primary objective of costing is to ascertain the cost of each activity, process or action undertaken as part of delivering the service.
To do this, you must estimate the time required within your company to complete all of the above steps – and then calculate the cost of that time / those resources. You may like to calculate how this might vary, depending on who is performing the activity.
If you are starting with a financial health check, you can find more detail on the processes in How to create a financial health check and How to interpret a financial health check.
Pricing refers to setting a monetary value or price for a product delivered to clients. Pricing also focuses on determining the optimal selling price that will allow your firm to generate revenue based on an acceptable net profit %.
As a very high-level guide, a pricing strategy may include:
However, in addition to this strategy, you must also consider market demand, competition, and client perception of value.
“Don’t forget, the purpose of pricing is to maximise revenue and achieve desired profit margins, while creating value for both your firm and your clients’ businesses. In my experience, pricing does not always receive the attention and strategic design thinking it deserves. Establishing a formula from day one can be part of your essential recipe for success.”
It is essential that your advisory services team are confident in communicating the benefits and value proposition of your new products to your clients. Building confidence comes from learning, understanding and passion.
As I have said, a financial health check is a great starting point for accounting firms wishing to expand into productised services. These reports offer huge value for clients and are easy to create using software like Fathom.
Read André’s related articles: How to create a financial health check and How to interpret a financial health check.
Here are the main benefits of a financial health check, which you can discuss with your clients. Note that many of these benefits could apply to lots of different types of reports.
“Roleplay a discussion between team members to identify the benefits and how they can be applied to the client’s business. This is a confidence builder!”
Once your new product is developed, costed and priced, you will need to introduce it to your clients.
Depending on the size of your accounting firm – and your own personal interests and skills – you may rely on support from a small external marketing agency or service.
As a basic DIY approach, however, the below are some basic steps you can follow:
Once you have created your first product, there are many ways you can continue to grow your advisory practice.
Many common accounting services or reports – such as sensitivity analysis, credit risk assessment, budgeting and forecasting, informal business valuation discussions, executive remuneration plans and much more – are well suited to becoming products.
The balanced scorecard is another a strategy implementation tool that provides an opportunity for annuity monthly services. Details of how to do this can be found in my book, Business Beyond Survival.
You could also look to develop recurring contracts with your clients to deliver these reports, supplemented by your expert interpretation and analysis.
“Create the opportunity to embed your services into your clients’ strategic growth plan and goals, developing a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.”
More expert articles by Andre Van Zyl
Discover how Fathom can help you create your financial health check and confidently own your future.
Start a free trial. No credit card required. Connect your accounting platform in minutes and start delivering the insights that strengthen every client relationship.
André Van Zyl FCA is a recognized authority in enterprise value creation. A Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, André brings decades of experience shaping business strategy and financial performance. He is the founding director of a leading business consultancy, a former partner and principal at top-tier accounting firms, and serves on advisory boards for companies across Australia. His insights draw on a rare blend of technical expertise and practical leadership. André is also the author of Business Beyond Survival (2024), a definitive guide to building resilient, growth-focused businesses.
