With the AdvanceTrack Outsourcing Conference a couple of months away, it felt like a good time to use my blog to set out what the conference is setting out to achieve and, more broadly, put that in context of what’s going on in accountants’ working lives.

The theme of our conference

Essentially, the easiest way of describing what our conference is looking to inform accountants about is ‘building back’. Practices must support their clients through a journey towards some semblance of normality. That means more ‘help’.

Now, I know that practitioners have worked incredibly hard over the last couple of years firefighting on behalf of their clients. They’ve provided with essential government advice and led them through grants, loans and tax deferrals.

But we know that as businesses come out of recession, a lack of cash and resources can see them collapse as they try to regrow. There are other external pressures – inflation, wage pressures, and a government looking to collect more tax more quickly.

Businesses need someone in their corner who will say to them ‘we can help you’ and then ask: ‘how can we help?’ Practices have an existing client base – alongside potential new clients – who want help to both survive and grow. Practices have to be efficient, consistent, and scalable where possible. The rewards for optimal accounting practices are potentially huge.

What delegates can expect

If we continue the discussion, then delivering what is required to the client means your firm will need new skills, new technology, new ways of working and potentially a new strategy. I like to think that we will offer great insight on all these things in the conference.

It’s never a ‘hard outsourcing sell’, that’s not how we work at AdvanceTrack and that’s reflected in the conference programme.

We will broach practice development, what you and your people need to do to be more relevant; to capture the client information (or conversations) that enable practices to serve clients better. Even in an increasingly tech-focused profession we will always acknowledge that if you don’t talk to your clients you won’t know their direction, and therefore be unable to provide them with the support they need. (I recently blogged about why outsourcing is in fact the opposite of ‘being impersonal’). You will hear about all these topics and more.

The near future

We think that our outsourcing services will help you be more efficient and scalable. This in a world where Making Tax Digital will push your practice to have clients with better-organised and up-to-date information.

The AdvanceTrack Outsourcing Conference is being held on 10 May 2022 at the National Gallery. A host of speakers are already confirmed. Please click here to find more details.