As part of the webinar, we discussed the headlines of the survey, Client care and relationships, demand on staff and resources, staff wellbeing, development of services and the pressures on cash flow. 

You can review the webinar here 

Read more about the survey here

Key takeaways – caution & optimism

• Clients have relied on firms, but they are not out of the woods
• Cash flow is critical for clients AND firms
• A big rise in work coming is anticipated, and a desire to implement a lot of change
• The wellbeing of staff is high on the agenda
• The profession is diversifying services and looking to ramp up resource

Excerpts from the webinar

How has the profession fared?

Peter Disney: We’re busy. I’ve been working full time again, after a period of three days a week. We’ve had more client contact, more zoom meetings and more phone calls than ever before. 

We’ve developed new resources to support our clients. And we’ve used Senta to communicate regularly with clients. We think it differentiates us from our competitors – and guarantees we don’t forget anything! We’ve spent more time talking with our clients. We’ve had to balance everything finely to ensure the compliance aspect of the business wasn’t distracted.

John Toon: It’s been busy  – the first six weeks, in particular, were manic. Clients have been hungry for guidance in the absence of anything concrete. As a team, we’ve had to juggle jobs, move deadlines, and amends targets. Ultimately, we’re the first port of call for a lot of businesses wanting advice, support and sometimes just someone to moan to!

How are your staff coping?

Peter Disney: They’ve been coping well. We’re very conscious of their well being so have regular 121s and team meetings and we always make sure we focus on positive aspects of their work. We’ve found that tools like slack can sometimes provoke misunderstandings too – so we encourage people to talk to each other in person. We’re also back part-time back in the office – most people are doing two days a week in the office and the rest at home. We’re finding that the hybrid balance is working for us. We’ve continued to recruit and have taken on more staff in lockdown. 

 

John Toon: We’re really proud, everyone in our team has reacted in the right way. But I’m not surprised about how well people have coped – we recruit people who are adaptable. Of course, we all struggle at times – isolation is difficult. We’ve kept on recruiting throughout the lockdown and we’re a trainee organisation. So much is learning through osmosis and I know we’ve all missed that cross-departmental pollination of ideas. We’ve worked hard to keep in contact with as many people as possible and we’re looking forward to a massive party when it’s all over!

 

What are your clients wanting from you?

Peter Disney: It’s really important that we are there for the clients. Being an ear and providing advice. We’ve kept on top of lock-up because everything we do is quoted for and agreed in advance of the work. We’re supporting our clients in terms of managing their cash – everything from personal budgeting to managing company debt.

John Toon: The advice clients actually want is how they continue to run their business on a shoestring when they’ve furloughed 60% of their workforce! We’re supporting them in terms of exploring practice options such as how they can pivot away from in-person sales to online but also reviewing their systems and processes. 

 

How are you managing threats to your cash flow?

Peter Disney: We make sure quotes are signed off before work begins. We’ve found our clients appreciate the fact that we offer value for money. 

John Toon: We’re billing promptly and including interim billing for different projects where appropriate. We don’t give things away for free!

 

Take a look at the survey results.