A recent article in The Scotsman provides a good example of how firms are increasingly looking to extend their services to grow revenues in a tough economic climate. Scotland-based firm Scott Moncrieff is starting to offer mortgage advice following its acquisition of financial adviser William Lawler and has also seen strong performance from areas such as business technology as companies increasingly look to streamline their operations. This is a strong trend that can be seen across the accountancy sector. As certain areas of accountancy become commoditised, such as tax and audit services, accountants must increasingly support their clients by providing additional value-added consultancy. An important consideration in making this happen is for the accountancy firms themselves to streamline their businesses, particularly in fulfilling low-income generating offerings, allowing them to focus resources on providing additional support for their clients.

If you are the typical tech-savvy accountant that most are these days, it is pretty easy to forget that some of your clients may not be up to speed with the business technology that you can’t live without. AccountingWEB has published news that states a great deal of SMEs in London are not online, making email communication out of the question. As certain accountancy services such as tax and audit work are arguably becoming more of a commodity, it is really important to make sure that your relationship with your clients is as good as it can be. This has to go right down to the details like choosing between email, letter or phone. What method does each client prefer?

There is the old tip of writing little facts down on the back of the business card but a lot of accountancy firms are actually going a few steps further and using CRM tools to better manage client relationships. So although the answer for the client may not be technology, for practices, sophisticated software may no longer be optional in today’s competitive market.

The Accrual World blog team has just spotted a website that has some extra curricular accountancy quizzes that are bound to keep you occupied of a lunch break. While we would in no way condone time wasting in the office, the team has managed to accumulate some pretty impressive scores. If in any doubt in front of your boss, you can explain that what looks like idle time is actually a tool that you have introduced to your peers to promote team building and foster good relations in the practice – there is nothing like a healthy bit of competition. On the title of the website, The Accrual World team is still undecided as to whether we should be fighting or embracing the stereotype in the bookkeeping industry??

Now we know its only June and it seems we’re still awaiting that elusive British summer, but we couldn’t resist showing you these rather quirky Christmas cards for accountants that have just cropped up on the internet. We’ve long held the belief that accountants are far from dull and we’re pleased to see the folks at Something Seasonal agree. With six months to go, maybe it is time to start that shopping list after all. And by the way, the photo is courtesy of www.northpole.com’s disco dancing santa!

So the debate rages on about the push and pull factors that are at play as more and more businesses consider a quick trip across the Irish Sea to set up new headquarters. Accountancy Age has written a special report on the topic that makes an interesting read in terms of tracking the issue. The latest is an analysis by the FT that shows large UK businesses are paying more tax on the wealth that they create than their international counterparts.

MBT loves this love story with a happy ending on YouTube: Accountants in Love Song. In case you didn’t catch the lyrics amid the cackling women in the background, here they are:

I’m feeling lonely, I know you are too
‘Cause every time that we’re apart my love it accrues
And it’s so taxin’ when you’re not around
I can’t defer my feelings, girl, I get so down

I can’t stop thinkin’ ’bout you, girl I’ve tried
But my opinion of you is unqualified
I like the way you make your assets move
You make me want to crunch some numbers with you

Accountants in love (love)

Now I’m side steppin’ so I’ll get to the point
If my name was Touche you would be my Deloitte
And I think that you really should know
How bad I, want to check your internal controls

Accountants in love (love)

Girl I hate to be cliché
But you’re the one that I’ve been dreaming of
I could sit here and itemize
All the reasons that I fell in love

An article on the Management Accountant blog over the weekend highlights the growing popularity of the web as a tool for the next generation of accountants. With over 32,000 views, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’ annual Student Engage webcast has received record audience figures since it was broadcast in April. The web has long been a source of information and advice for students of many academic disciplines and accountancy it seems is no exception. Whether you’re a student or a seasoned practitioner, the growing number of blogs and resources online offer something for everyone – from the serious to the offbeat. Some of our favourites are listed in the blog roll on this site and if you’re after a break from all that studying and hard work why not catch up on the latest goings on in our sci-fi novel.

There is an interesting comment in last week’s Accountancy Age from Lee Martin, director at Good Corporation which is an ethical auditing company. The piece highlights how the sharp rise in CSR reporting by UK companies does not necessarily reflect a growth in responsible practices. In 1992, only 261 listed companies produced non-financial reports, compared to over 2,500 in 2007. There is much debate at the moment about the impact that accountants can have on improving the CSR of an organisation. Accountants can help recommend where a business can make savings that result in more environmentally and socially responsible practices. However, without the support of senior management to make ideas a reality, CSR reports will continue to be more of a communications tick-box activity than reflective of real change. This also highlights the broader opportunities for accountants to step outside their traditional role and add an increasing amount of value beyond activities such as year-end reporting.

We have spotted a new practice article on AccountingWEB that is really useful advice to accountants that need to review their online efforts. Richard Sergeant gives a good resource for auditing your website. It’s so important that firms can not only benefit directly from a good online presence but also prove that they can deliver when it comes to marketing advice and guidance. As traditional accountancy services increasingly become a commodity, practices will be in a strong position to grow their revenues if they can offer additional business consultancy. A well-designed website demonstrates that accountants are capable of thinking outside of the box.

A new survey by CareersinAudit.com states that 74% of accountants see gender as a barrier to success. It is a shame that such discrimination is still rife in the profession and hopefully directors will use such information as an opportunity to try to address the imbalance. Although it is a bitter pill to swallow, it is not surprising that accountancy is affected by gender discrimination owing to the significant majority of men versus women in the industry. However, as Accrual World for Accountants pointed out in January, the member statistics from the ICAEW show that there are far more women becoming accountants than before while new male members are currently relatively static. There is a long way to go before the number of men and women in the profession is equal but perhaps, along with the correct staff training and awareness, the trend towards more female accountants will ultimately address the issue?