Partnering with
Accountants

I must say I really liked your book. It was a great read!
Alex Hurst, financial adviser

I've finished reading your book and found the information to be highly beneficial - great work.
Brett Surman, financial adviser

I've enjoyed reading your book from cover to cover over the past couple of days. Well done on an excellent job documenting your years of experience. As I read, I often smiled to myself as I reflected on a similar journey.
Rod Lewis, financial services executive 

Just like Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, so too are accountants and financial planners and yet the convergence of advice provision denotes that we will need each other and our skills more than ever. Scott’s book is the most practical guide I have read that helps clarify the cultural considerations involved in building relationships and doing business with accountants to provide the great outcomes we all want for our clients.
Maria Greensill, financial adviser

It's a very constructed, practical guide for financial planners. I think you have dealt with the cultural issues well and in particular, how you should approach meetings to seek alignment.
Michael Spinks, CEO, Collins SBA

I liked the way the book explained how to practically apply some initiatives to promote financial planning services to accounting clients and to establish or resurrect a relationship with an accounting referral partner.

Simone Munro, Head of Fortnum Academy, Fortnum Financial Group

Despite the seemingly obvious synergy between accounting and financial planning, little attention has been given to this issue...................that is, until now! The fact that someone with such intimate working knowledge of both professions has devoted his attention to the issue is a significant benefit to participants on both sides of the “divide”.

Wayne Leggett, Principal, Paramount Wealth Management

Scott has a unique understanding of the impact of FOFA and the broader regulatory framework as it affects both accountants and financial advisers. This understanding has been distilled into a range of informative insights and extremely useful practical tips for practitioners working together to improve client outcomes and their own businesses.

Stephen Nicholas, Financial Adviser, Far More Financial Group

Scott, I have just finished "Partnering with Accountants". Congrats on a fantastic reference book. While the book is geared towards Financial Planners it is very pertinent to my industry. I have a dozen or so pages dog eared for the ideas so we can change tack in approaching professionals. Thanks again!

Steve Carlton, General Manager, RFS Finance

I've just read Scott's book, "Partnering with Accountants". His experience with accountants' concerns and advice on partnering with them to provide financial services to clients has been valuable.

Sean Sullivan, Financial Adviser, Gold Financial

I wanted to let you know I read your book from cover to cover while away, took it on holidays with us, so your book has been an appearance on the Great Barrier Reef. Interesting thing happened, while reading the book on two occasions I had accountants come up to me to have a chat. One from Melbourne and the other from Sydney. The conversation was light, but interesting all the same. I guess I could have swapped contact details, but I was happy with just practising some of the questions and techniques in the book ,mainly talking about their business. Now I am revising the book with an orange highlighter as this is a book that can also be studied as well as read. :)

Boris Biskupic, Credit Adviser and Certified MFAA Mentor for new mortgage brokers
 

Whilst every individual reader will have plenty of ideas and action points accumulated, it is important to bring one’s partners and team members along on the journey.

Ideally, every member of the team will read the chapters which are most relevant to your firm, following which a planning session should be organised to determine priorities and responsibilities.

Having such a session facilitated by an external business coach is recommended, as is assigning a member of the team to take the notes. A short form action plan, complete with tasks and dates, will complete an exciting and important session.

What's the reason for writing the book?

A.  So many financial advisers have tried and failed at developing relationships with accountants over the years that it’s taken on Holy Grail status. Having been on “the other side of the fence” then worked with advisers, I knew that there had to be a better way. I’ve studied this complex topic from top to bottom and realised that I had plenty of value to share.

I decided it was time to write what I hope will turn out to be the definitive guide to working with accountants. It’s time to stop going up dead ends and to get results!

Through the book I hope to leverage my knowledge. Ultimately I’d like to think that clients of both accountants and planners will benefit as a result of their financial advisers working closely together.

But haven’t you already written a book on this subject? Is this just a re-hash?

A.  In answer to the first question, the answer is a definite “Yes”. It’s called Partnering with Financial Planners – A guide to growth for accounting firms. This is a book written for accounting practitioners. It explains why they need to be proactive when it comes to financial services for their clients and sets out how they can do this in their firms (notwithstanding being busy with tax).

For the second question, the answer is a definite “No”. This new book is a completely different perspective on the subject. It’s written specifically with the needs of financial advisers (and others who want to work with accountants) in mind. 

What response have you had to date from practitioners?

A.  It’s been tremendous. Typically, the reaction is firstly “At last!” followed by some probing questions as to whether I have covered particular bases. (Thus far, I’ve been able to answer “Yes, I’ve got that covered”.) The second reaction has been equally pleasing. It relates to explaining how the book is structured i.e. to resemble a travel guide.

How long did it take you to write it?

A.  In a sense it’s a book that has been 20 years in the making, going back to a discussion paper I prepared in the early 1990’s. In terms of actually writing this book though, it’s taken about 15 months. There’s been a further 3 months working on the typesetting and front cover.

Initially I set out to write it concurrently with Partnering with Financial Planners but that quickly took on enormous difficulty. I think this book is all the better for leaving it a bit longer before picking it up properly. My thoughts have developed further and I have spoken to more practitioners. I also received some mentoring on various aspects of the book which has improved the finished product. 

What plans do you have for the book?

A.  I’d like to put it in the hands of as many financial advisers as possible. 

In the first instance I will be getting the word out to my personal data base and using my social media to extend this reach. 

Further, I am hopeful that the endorsement by the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) will assist in getting the message out there. I would also like to enlist other organisations which service advisers here in Australia and in other countries.

Whilst there are some Australian legislation specific sections, the book has been purposely written to be relevant outside Australia so I hope that it will gain traction worldwide. In this regard, I have already received an expression of interest from the United States and a firm order from New Zealand.

How do I buy the book?

A.  The book is available through this website.

Is there an electronic version of the book?

A.  Yes. It too is available through this website.