Climbing the Success Ladder in the Accounting Profession

Martin Bissett

Martin Bissett is the founder of the Upward Spiral Partnership (USP for short). In the last 7 years, he has…

• Authored 11 books including Passport to Partnership, content from which has been adopted into the curriculum of AAT Level 3 courses, and taught in selected UK colleges and US CPA Societies.
• Spoken to accounting audiences from over 40 nations on 4 continents.
• Been retained by Accountingweb as a judge of their prestigious practice excellence awards for three years in a row
• Created several trademarked items of intellectual property including the ACCOUNTS system and ‘Relationship Pricing’ Model
• Written for several professional publications including AccountingToday, AccountingWeb, CPA Practice Advisor and Chartered One.
• Sat on many international accounting expert panels and guested on professional accounting podcasts in the US, UK, and Australia.

Martin walks the walk when it comes to dishing out what works in the accounting world. Shownotes include:

• It’s only by being around for few years that you begin to spot the important trends, patterns and recurring behaviours
• The issues that accounting firms face today are not new, despite what marketers would have you believe
• Why an outside perspective brought into an accounting firm offers valuable insights that accountants may not have
• Historically, accounting firms grow by referrals and recurring fees, but this is not how their own clients grow
• The three ways ‘climbing the ladder’ applies to accounting firms and accountants
• There are really no ‘bad’ accounting firms, but not all of the good ones are great
• What ‘proactive’ actually means for accountants and accounting firms
• The biggest challenge many accounting firms face in wanting to grow is ‘self confidence’ – learn why…
• Many accountants expect and hope NOT to be involved in sales but it’s now vital that they have these skills
• Most accountants do exceptionally good work but believe it’s ‘standard’ so they don’t promote their expertise well
• Winning work proactively used to be a competitive advantage for accountants, but now it’s a competitive necessity
• Accountancy was given a royal charter, which means it’s a profession rather than an industry
• Why stories, case studies, interventions and outcomes are more powerful than testimonials for accountants
• The reasons why the accounting profession hasn’t evolved as much as it should have done over the years
• What really works for successful accounting firms is what’s always worked, but many accountants don’t do it
• Accountants don’t really have pipelines and sales management – those that do are ahead of the game
• Most accountants don’t know the difference between marketing tactics and marketing strategy
• For accountants, the pie of commercial opportunity is getting bigger as the market is educated more
• The changing face of competition – accountants are taking probate exams (traditionally the realm of a solicitor)
• Competition for larger accounting firms is coming from smaller ones who compete using technology
• Much of the advice handed to the accounting profession by so called gurus is wrong
• Too many experts, vendors and consultants label accountants as ‘gullible with money’
• Why accountants are massively under-rated, by themselves more than anyone else
• Finally, an explanation of what ‘partner material’ really means for career progress in an accounting firm
• The future in the accounting profession belongs to the firms who are hungry, proactive and caring

Martin is a shareholder of Hibernian Football Club and fully realises that this gives you the right to question his sanity. Find out more at www.martinbissett.com or to contact Martin directly:

Twitter: @uspuk LinkedIn or 07708 922622 or  Liked your Accounting Influencers Interview with Rob Brown" target="_blank">email him directly>>