Business Advisory and Client Management
With increasing competition in the accounting industry, practitioners simply must start thinking outside of the box. Rather than relying solely on tax compliance advice, there are numerous non-tax areas that your clients need to know and should be considering. Assist your clients to achieve their business goals with expert advice that goes beyond the Tax Code, all the while strengthening your client relationships, growing your practice, and setting yourself up for success.
Description
Attend and earn 7 CPD Points
This conference was recorded in NSW on 20 September 2018
Session 1
Gaining and Advising Business Clients: Beyond Tax
Chair: Kirsten Taylor-Martin, Partner – Private Advisory, Grant Thornton
Expand your practice by exploring precisely what current or prospective clients in the professional services and property sector want to know so that you can get their business and provide expert advice. In addition, examine how to assist distressed clients and how to help your clients when dealing with the ATO.
9.00am to 10.00am: What’s the Best Business Structure for Professional Services?
- Key issues from your professional services clients (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.)
- Income splitting issues that attract the ATO’s attention
- The 2018 Budget announcement: impact on your clients and your practice
- Service entity arrangements
- Worked examples
Presented by Greg Vale, Director, Vale Legal; Accredited Specialist in Business and Personal Tax
10.00am to 11.00am: Cash Flow Management and Investment for Property Clients
Cash flow management becomes critical due to the changing government and lending policies. In this session, an experienced lending specialist will explore potential funding opportunities to better assist your clients with their ongoing cash flow issues.
Presented by Mark Playle, Lending Advisory Specialist, ShadforthFinancial Group
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea Break
11.15am to 12.15pm: Assisting Your Distressed Clients
- Clients in distress: red flags
- Tax issues in distressed scenarios
- Directors’ duties
- Identifying insolvency risks for advisors
- Options and strategies to assist
- Managing practice risk issues
Presented by Andrew Sallway, Partner, Advisory, BDO
12.15pm to 1.15pm: What Happens if the ATO Wants Information and Documents about You or Someone Else?
- The principles
- The co-operative approach
- The Notice Power
- The Access Power
- Information and documents in another country
- Information and documents from another government agency
- Exceptions to ATO powers
Presented by John Ebert, Former Principal Lawyer, General Counsel, Australian Taxation Office
1.15pm Networking Lunch
Session 2
Building a Trusted Relationship with Your Clients
Gain the skills and strategies necessary to build strong, lasting and profitable client relationships, grow your practice, and avoid falling victim to client pitfalls.
2.00pm to 3.00pm: Successfully Managing Client Relationships
- Get the most value out from the initial client meeting
- How to build the trusted relationship and ongoing engagement with your clients?
- Stay updated with a client’s personal affairs
- Dealing with unhappy clients
Presented by James Head, Partner, Deloitte
3.00pm to 4.00pm: Growing Your Practice: How to Attract New Clients and Increase your Current Client Engagements
- How to grow your firm with new clients:
- Increase new client leads, opportunities and how to convert them
- Marketing strategies that work for accounting firms
- How to grow your firm with current clients:
- How to increase current client engagements
- How to systematise and automate your growth
Presented by Lisa Andrews, Founder & COO, Ignite Alliance
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea Break
4.15pm to 5.15pm: So You’re Facing Client Complaints: How do You Defend Yourself?
- Risk and exposure facing Tax and BAS agents
- Is the ’customer’ always right and what remedies are there against you?
- Do you comply with the strict standards of the TPB, ATO and ASIC?
- How can you comply and what are the shortcomings?
- How do you maintain ‘demonstrable compliance’ to better protect yourself?
- The safe harbour rules look inviting but are they? What will your accounting body say and do and will your PI insurer be onside?
- What appeal procedures are available to you, how effective are they, and what’s the cost?
Presented by Adrian Abbott, Director, Sydney Tax Advisory; Consultant, Crowe Horwath; FCA, FCIS, FGIA, CTA and Greg Ross, Partner, Eakin McCaffery Cox; Accredited Specialist in Government and Administrative Law
5.15pm Closing Comments by the Chair