2. Today’s presentation outline
Brief case summary
Unique characteristics of accounting firms services
Current service marketing problems faced by accounting firms
Emerging trends and innovation of accounting firms services
Likely future of accounting firms services
Conclusion and recommendation
4. Unique characteristics of accounting firms services
Highly intangible nature of the service offering
Services are difficult to display and/or explain to customers
The pricing of services is difficult
Fluctuating demand across the financial year
It is impossible for a service operation to achieve 100 percent perfect
quality on an ongoing basis.
7. Current service marketing problems
faced by accounting firms
Lack of employees
Could not handle customer expectation
Switch to another accounting services
Long hours during tax season
GST period – October, January, April, June
End of financial year: employees and business annual
tax
Perceptions of the service quality lower down
8. Current service marketing problems
faced by accounting firms
Changes to taxation legislation
Decrease demand of services to the
accounting firms
Lack of customer communication
9. Emerging trends in accounting firms services
Evolution in accounting firms services delivery
Clients come to the accounting firm offices
Accountants and clients interact with electronic channels
Accountants visit the clients’ premises
10. Emerging trends in accounting firms services
Shifting of offerings
Clients demand services beyond compliance services
Tax planning, audit jobs & book keeping
Firms are offering consulting/business advisory services
Business coaching, risk management, cash flow management
11. Emerging trends in accounting firms services
Offshoring compliance services
Outsource to specialist service providers (i.e Indian accounting
firms)
Offers cost efficiency, solution to expand services and manage
fluctuating demand
Concerns over data security, loss of managerial control,
service quality, can turn into potential competitors
12. Likely future of accounting firms services
Cloud Accounting
Accountants can access accounting softwares and databases
over the internet, enabling to work “in the cloud” in real
time.
Increase flexibility, productivity, time and cost efficiency,
with less heavy IT investment
Need adaptation, concerns over data security
stored offsite
13. Likely future of accounting firms services
Consolidating accounting service industry
Small firms will merge to offer broader range of services to
fulfil clients’ increasing demands.
Tougher competition requires aggressive marketing
Firms must differentiate from others by offering more
value-adding services
14. Conclusion
Accounting firm services characteristics: highly
intangible in nature & fluctuating demands.
Problems faced by accounting firms: lack of
employees, long waiting time, changes in
regulation, lack of customer communication.
Trends of services: evolving service delivery, shifting of
offering, offshoring and cloud accounting.
Future of services: tougher competition requires firms
to differentiate their offerings.
15. Recommendations
Increase brand awareness
Invest in market research
Customer special offering
Offer the internship job
Learn how to market and sell