Accountants and bookkeepers are recognized as trusted advisors
Accountants and bookkeepers are well on their way to receiving the recognition they deserve as the trusted advisors integral to the success of any business.
After surveying more than 3,500 people across the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, Xero found that the majority of people see accountants and bookkeepers fulfilling this key advisory function, and across all of these markets they only rank behind doctors and firefighters when it comes to the most trusted professions.
There are, however, a few misconceptions held about the profession. Across all markets, respondents most commonly associate accountants and bookkeepers with being “bean counters” and “number crunchers”.
This may have been somewhat true in the past, due to the need for manual processes like data entry, but the technology available today has broken down some of the walls that once confined the profession. Before cloud technology, much more time was spent gathering business insights for clients. Today, we can do that in real-time; enabling us to drive results for their businesses.
The survey also found that people see accountants and bookkeepers as analytical, intelligent and having strong business skills; but people often overlook the level of creativity needed to ascertain the answers that our clients need. This was reflected in Xero’s survey results, with only eight percent of US respondents associating those in the profession with this attribute.
I’d like to see more people shed their notions of the accountant or bookkeeper as someone who puts on a suit and drives to work everyday. This suit-wearing perception was shared by the majority of respondents surveyed, however, with the proliferation of remote work opportunities afforded by cloud accounting software, we’ll see more people realizing that accountants and bookkeepers can really work from anywhere at anytime.
While accountants and bookkeepers keep the numbers in order, they also provide vital insights to their clients, and it’s great to see people recognizing the function that they serve.
You can read more about the findings on the Xero blog here.
Chartered Accountant and Anglican Priest
7yInteresting discussions..... professional qualifications and professional memberships count for something still? Don't they? Do business owners understand or appreciate the difference - is there a difference at all in their mind? Bookkeeper, Accountant, Coach as opposed to Chartered Accountant (CA or CPA). Something I'm pondering.
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Celebrating 20 years in business 🧮Accountant 📚Storyteller✍️Author 10 books 📰Columnist☁️Host Accounting Apps podcast📣Speaker🎙️ Panel Moderator🤝DEI Advocate
7yThank-you for the article Amy Vetter,CPA.CITP,CGMA there has been a rise in business coaches, I wonder what the respondents thought about them vs A & B. It's my understanding that anyone can call themselves an accountant or bookkeeper, so the client still needs to have that awareness around qualifications, designations and experience.
CFO | Strategic finance management for start ups to midsize businesses | Speaker | Author I Podcaster
7yIn the US, outsource accounting & finance are struggling with being seen as more than the people who do the bookkeeping particularly in the small business arena where Xero is marketing. Small business owners do not understand their own financial reports focusing instead on tax reporting.