Meet serviceshare A support network for accountants
@Cowgills
Ben Cowgill, Chartered Accountant and qualified Insolvency Practitioner, Cowgill Holloway LLP A Chartered Accountant and qualified Insolvency Practitioner at Cowgill Holloway LLP, Ben Cowgill also heads up serviceshare, a dedicated support network for accountants. In his spare time, he is a keen socialiser and sports fanatic, spending much of his spare time (and admitting “too much) competing with his friends at Fantasy Football. Over the Summer, Ben plans on driving through Italy and exploring the Amalfi Coast.
The accountancy profession can often be somewhat lonely, especially for those without the support of a large firm behind them. If this sounds familiar, don’t worry - you are not alone! Ben Cowgill discusses the importance of having a trustworthy support network as he introduces serviceshare, a specialised resource that provides accountancy professionals/practices with the services they require to fully meet their client’s needs...
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vercoming the initial tiresome ‘banter’ that occurs in every social situation, where you declare for the first time that you are an accountant, eventually becomes water off a duck’s back. A forced laugh in response to the “boring” comments is a perfected autopilot response. The answers to the questions that follow, however, aren’t always so easy to deliver. After I qualified as a Chartered Accountant with a big firm in London, I recall visiting friends back in Manchester and the conversation would inevitably turn to tax, with the presumption that as an accountant I was also a specialist in tax (as well as every other aspect of accountancy). The reality was that whilst I was a qualified accountant on paper, I didn’t consider myself as a “proper accountant”. I had only experienced audit and some accounts preparation, with limited knowledge beyond this.
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Accountancy covers a vast array of areas, often with niche skillsets required within these, which inevitably results in an element of trepidation when being asked to advise on unfamiliar ground, because of the risk of giving inappropriate advice, missing an opportunity, or losing the client to a competitor. In reality this is a common issue amongst accountancy professionals who simply can not be expected to know everything about everything. This is the premise behind serviceshare, whereby accountants can: • Obtain answers to technical queries from a specialist in that field • Act as a conduit between your client and the serviceshare specialist to arrange formal engagement for work to be undertaken for your clients, without the risk of losing them (due to a non-poaching
agreement) • Tender for new work knowing that you have a full service offering in place Those accountants who embrace and control the collaborative process are well equipped to get the best results for their clients, and in turn can benefit from quicker growth of their practice. Xero and its open API is a prime example of accountants shifting their mindset into one of collaboration, with the add-on community offering almost everything a business could ever need. It only takes one look at Xerocon to understand the change in both perception and mindset of accountants – a conference for accountants which people genuinely enjoy sharing their experiences, utilising add-ons to bolster their service offering to solve a client’s issues. Whilst some firms that are part of the serviceshare network utilise it as an “additional offering”
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