There’s no better feeling than when your client thanks you for the work you have done for them, or even better, when you hear that a client has recommended your services to another business.
As accountants, our compliance work can become run-of-the-mill and our expertise isn’t necessarily valued as much as we would like.
However, when you introduce Capital Advisory as a service, you have the ability to have a direct, and usually relatively swift, impact on your client’s business. This in turn leads to their perception of the value you have provided being much greater, as the positive effect you have facilitated in their company allows them to weather this storm and be stronger.
Monitoring your client's credit score is another way you can give them a helping hand. If a business has a poor credit rating, this can have a direct impact on working capital, credit limits with suppliers, funding availability, rates and tender opportunities.
The opportunities with Credit Improvement
Credit improvement is going to be so important over the next year as business’ file accounts with lower profits or even qualified audit reports. This will directly impact on, not only their ability to obtain or renew funding facilities, but also the trade credit terms granted by their suppliers - going from 45 days’ credit to having to pay on proforma for several trade creditor accounts could be catastrophic for cashflow.
Besides losses and qualified audit reports, did you know that these things may also make a business’ credit score plummet?
- Filing at different times of the year – eg a business which normally files 6 months after the year-end, but now files after 9 months (or longer if they’ve taken advantage of the extension)
- Shortening or extending accounting period dates
- Any changes in company officials – directors and company secretaries
- For very small companies, changes in personal credit scores of the directors
As James Piper explained on our recent webinar, the credit information agencies use automated algorithms to assess credit scores and, especially as many companies file abbreviated accounts, the publicly available information may only provide part of the story. These algorithms merely assume that any unusual behaviour in a company’s activities will be disruptive to the business, irrespective of the reason behind the decision.
Therefore, if you believe that your clients’ credit score is unfair, you can now improve their score via the Capitalise platform. Through the service, your clients will be contacted directly to assess their situation and, if all parties decide to proceed, their information will be passed under NDA to other credit agencies in which their credit profile to be reviewed and score improved.
