Most accounting firms work in a client review annually, usually around or after tax time to check-in with their clients and assess how their experience factored into their decision to work with the firm. However, only using this heightened period to review your clients can become a missed opportunity. Work in client reviews across the year, based upon your capacity and investment in the relationship. Some firms choose to review monthly, while others find a quarterly review to suffice. 

Jump to:

• Outline your purpose
• What to cover in your review
• How to have the conversation
• Leave your client with actionable steps

When designing a comprehensive client review, the goal is to look at the client’s profile in its entire structure. From there, you can use opportunities to discuss the entire picture of their business, be proactive in catching issues before they arise, and find advisory conversations that go beyond compliance if your firm offers that service. We’re here to help you design a review that leaves your client feeling they are in trusted hands while also allowing your firm to gather integral information that enables you to perform at your best.

Outline your purpose

Before design your client review, outline the purpose you hope to achieve by conducting it. If you’re choosing to start with a compliance-heavy client, you can double check your figures are correct, process what their data is telling you about their business’ financial state, and if the client is meeting their deadlines regularly. The goal is to spot moments where things may fall down the cracks, or insights into their business they may have missed. 

If a client is looking to engage your firm for business advisory services, their review process may look a little different. Assess how their decisions could impact their business in terms of succession planning, investment opportunities, legalities, or their overall growth. Separating your purpose from each individual client will decide the structure of the review.

What to cover in your review

While each review may look different based upon the client you decide to chat to, there are some common topics that you can build into the framework. Some topics to cover could be:

• Their financial performance since your last review – This is a moment to compare how their performance is impacting both their present and the future of their business. Use this as a way to point out cash flow trends, their tax positioning, and time sensitive financial planning, and outstanding invoices both to be paid by them or their clients
• The framework of their business – superannuation obligations, eligibility for grants or government subsidies, or Div 7A loan balances for company clients
• The protection of their business – check if the insurance they currently hold reflects the size of their business, what their succession or retirement plans are, what security measures they have in place to secure their data
• The partnership agreement with your client – this is a time to flag scope creep, add on services that your client could benefit from, or simply a time to provide constructive feedback in either direction to strengthen client relationships.

How to have the conversation

Some clients prefer to be contacted by phone or email, while others like to meet face-to-face. You know your clients best, so the decision is yours to make. Each interaction can be tailored to suit your clients preferred method of contact, and flexibility is key when opening up the review. Some tips on how to have the conversation with your clients are:

• Email your client a short list of what you’ll be covering in the conversation so they can prepare their answers and check figures on their end
• Ask open questions that won’t produce a yes or no answer. The goal is to dive deeper with questions that spark opportunities for you to step in and provide advice where needed
• Come prepared with insights from the data you’ve collected about their business, how you can help them grow, and what the firm experienced on their end by working with their account
• Leave space in the meeting for feedback or concerns that may not have been on the list. When working well, the review will expand to include moments that aren’t planned but end up providing more value to the review overall
• Write down what you’ve learned so you have a paper-trail to refer back to when working on their account.

Leave your client with actionable steps

A review that ends without actionable steps is an opening that could be missed. Before the meeting wraps up, make sure you walk through what will now happen based upon the information learned in the conversation. Go through who will be completing the tasks, and the timeline in which they will be completed. Outline how they will benefit the client, and also what they can do on their end to make these steps actually actionable. Book in the next meeting with them before wrapping up the call so you can follow up proactively.

Write a short email detailing the notes you took throughout the meeting, summarising the key points, and the actions to be taken on both sides. For example, if you have a client who has steady revenue but thin margins, instead of asking them to watch their cashflow closely, give them the actionable step of sending the last three months of bank statements over to you by the end of the week where you can create a report detailing why their margins are performing in that way. This also gives you a natural way to check back in with your client before the next review to demonstrate your value to their business and work on more opportunities with them.