Moving from Compliance to Becoming a Trusted Business Partner
Congratulations, you have just been announced as a new Partner in the Firm. It has taken years of study, hard work and personal drive to achieve a career defining result. The appointment will ideally lead to growing a practice, more remuneration and an even brighter future. It’s great place to be!
As you look back, what were the biggest contributors to this success? For example:
- 1.Hours and hours of education and development of your expertise?
- 2.Specialising in your chosen field?
- 3.Being part of a great firm? Leading a great team?
- 4.Challenging yourself to be a leading accountant?
The answer to all four questions is no doubt a resounding YES. But challenging yourself is worth thinking about because it’s not easy, full of risk and takes considerable personal strength and determination.
So, what does that involve?
Making a Decision
Some time ago, it’s likely you decided to be as good as you could be as an accounting professional, not accepting workplace limitations or other life constraints that can be common place in the day to day of any role.
This decision may not have been explicit, but rather a passion or desire to be or do more.
Building Your Confidence
This is a big one.
If someone has confidence, they know their worth, even if that worth has not yet been realised. Many entrepreneurs, for example, share one quality that enables their focus and drive – confidence.
Confidence enables a person to talk to a stranger at a networking event, it can help you challenge the status quo, be creative and can evolve you as an individual.
There are many ways to build confidence in business which is one of the keys for a successful career and to start, you must build belief in yourself.
Building Focus
Focus is the ability to pay attention to what is important and avoid distraction and that’s what you have been able to do.
“Focus is so important because it is the gateway to all thinking: perception, memory, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. Without good focus, all aspects of your ability to think will suffer.
Without focus, you won’t be as effective in your work because if you’re not concentrating on the right things or are distracted, you won’t be capable of getting your work done.” (Huffington Post 23 January, 2014).
Client Centricity
You also decided to be client centric, to always look at what is going on through the eyes of you clients. The moment you made that decision, you elevated your relative position to the top 5-10% of businesspeople.
That decision also propelled you from operating in the compliance accounting space to be a business partner where your conversations are about business objectives and the issues, challenges and opportunities your clients face to achieve their objectives.
Business Partnership
From a decision to be client centric, you worked hard at applying your knowledge, skill and experience to achieve value for your clients that is way beyond delivery of compliance accounting services.
By focusing on looking through the eyes of your clients and their objectives, issues, challenges and opportunities you continued to evolve as a business leader, attract new clients, built your reputation and build a career that you possibly never dreamed of.
Business Leadership
Possibly the most satisfying part of your career so far is how you took the team with you. That team includes your team members, associates and more senior members and partners in the firm.
In pursuing your passion, you helped your firm become client centric, innovative, agile, more successful and a great place to work.
What’s Next?
The CPA 2019-2020 Asia Pacific Small Business Study discusses challenges and opportunities for SME companies including investments in technology, focus on the customer, innovation in products, services and processes, new (international) markets, social media marketing and better business strategy and management execution.
The playing field continues to get more complex, competitive across the Profession and challenging for clients.
There are thousands of young accountants looking to emulate your success, jump over the compliance accounting hurdle and by becoming trusted business partners build challenging and successful careers to earn their right to compete for your position.
Become a Trusted Business Partner with the Industry Leaders
Phil has a thorough understanding of the Profession, its challenges and opportunities and thinks strategically about pursuing growth. He builds trust and rapport with all levels in the firm and has considerably helped with our people, growth and performance.”
- Ken Gunderson Briggs
Gunderson Briggs Chartered Accountants
Want to learn more?
Take your firm to the next level, get in contact today to discuss your unique business requirements.
Phil Hunt | Director Hunt Consultants | Professional Services Partner Dale Carnegie
+61 412 052 083 | [email protected] | www.huntconsultants.com.au
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