Finding the right people is the critical element for accountants who want to build a successful financial planning arm within their existing practice, according to the head of a specialist business partnership group.
Speaking at this week’s 2018 Accounting Business Expo in Sydney, RFE Group chief executive Peter Rheinberger told attendees the fact an individual is likeable does not necessarily make them a good financial planner for the accounting practice in question.
“We’ve found that the most important attribute of a good financial planner is that they can have a robust, objective, professional discussion with the accountant,” Rheinberger said.
He added if these characteristics are missing, the accountant will not have confidence in the financial planner.
“If you’ve got a financial planner that’s really strong in insurance and superannuation but their primary focus is selling product, guess what, the relationship is going to grow passively because they’re not aligned correctly in most instances with how an accounting firm works,” he said.
“So making sure you’ve got the right planner in your business to deliver the solution is critical.”
Further, he emphasised the importance of selecting a financial planner who is multifaceted and not one dimensional.
“You want to know that they’re not just the technician and by that I mean you don’t want someone that is just giving you periodic financial advice and not know-how to grow your business,” he said.
“You actually should want a partner that says let’s build a business plan that says this is where we are at today and in 12 months’ time this is what we want our business to look like, and this is how much profit we would like to make, and this is what our client offering should be.
“You need someone who knows how to work on the business to help you grow a business.”
