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EFAA Annual conference "Running a small practice in Europe", Lisbon, 10 December
The European Federation of Accountants and Auditors for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EFAA) held its annual conference in Lisbon on 10 December 2007. The event, called "Running a small practice in Europe", was organised in collaboration with the CTOC and gathered representatives from EFAA members' bodies, professors and practitioners. The aim was to discuss the global situation of the profession in Europe and to share good practices on how to run a small practice and make it grow. EFAA President Federico Diomeda opened the conference presenting a global picture of the accounting profession within EFAA members, focusing on the educational and training path in the different countries, the regulation environment and the kind of activities carried out by the profession from bookkeeping to payrolls to tax advising. A very lively exchange with the audience allowed an updated and deep vision of the profession. The main conclusion was that although for instance educational paths and registration systems are different in every country, the profession is seen as one both at national and EU level. Participants also stated that accountants are definitely the first advisors for small businesses, which are the majority of their clients, and that it is of the utmost importance they provide relevant managerial advising to their SME clients. The morning session continued with the presentation by Prof. Leonor Fernandes Ferreira, from the New University of Lisbon, on the accounting profession in Portugal. She elaborated on the modernising process that has been undertaken in Portugal. The audience raised concerns on insurance for the profession and whether and how internal audit should be taught as a specific area of accounting. Then EFAA Board member Geoff Britton presented his own experience of running a small practice in the UK. Mr. Britton set up his company in the 80s and currently employs 35 people dealing mainly with accounting, taxation, audit and business strategy advising. He insisted on the importance of clear and close relationships both externally with the clients and internally among the staff for a company to grow in good conditions. He also promoted corporate social responsibility as an important aspect of a good business development. Among the threats he identified for his business were competition from other unregulated smallest accountants and biggest accountants as well as staff and clients management. However Mr. Britton said he was optimistic on his business growth and believes that there are endless opportunities to seize as long as the profession acts according to the motto "we know we must change".
During the afternoon session, Jørgen Lund from Norway and Mats Olsson from Sweden presented two other practical cases. Mr. Lund delivered an analysis of two different approaches of how to run a small practice: the traditional one and what he called the "Turbo" one. The traditional practice is based on bookkeeping and accounting knowledge and services and is organised around the principle "each employee has his own fixed portfolio of clients", which does not allow a proactive business development strategy. On the contrary, the "Turbo" practice offers a wider range of services from bookkeeping and accounting to business advising. All the employees work together for the clients and the focus is put on internal and external communication. The "Turbo" practice aims at always being a step ahead of its clients' needs. Mr. Olsson then presented his own experience of running a small practice in Sweden. He firstly stated that although the profession in Sweden is traditionally audit-oriented, the trend today is to a closer relation with the accounting profession to form one sole profession. Regarding the activities within his practice, accounting, auditing and company law advising services are the essence of the business. Speaking about threats and opportunities, Mr. Olsson agreed with Mr. Britton that one of the main difficulties a small practice has to tackle with is staff (in particular recruitment) and clients management. He shared his own experience of going to the universities and presenting his practice that had very positive results in terms of attracting students, and called on the profession to work more actively with CRM systems. He also advocates for the promotion of green entrepreneurship. He concluded his presentation saying that the profession has a lot of opportunities ahead it and that change is very important to act instead of only react.
During the open discussion with the participants, Paul Thompson, IFAC SMP Committee senior manager, commented on the situation of SMPs in the US. It appears that the needs in this sector are the same as in Europe and hence that the profession works at the same level. Federico Diomeda concluded the conference saying that such an experience must be followed by further investigations among EFAA members of more specific fields of activity toward SMES and definitely by common activity of the members through EFAA in the field of education and training for our practitioners. He announced that this activity will be a high priority in the EFAA agenda for 2008.
Presentations A picture of the profession_Federico Diomeda Running a small practice in Norway |