Clients trust accountants with some of the most important business information, the financial information, making trust one of the most important factors in building client relationships. That’s why it’s crucial that this trust is not only maintained but also strengthened over time. Executives say that they trust their accountant with business information they wouldn’t trust their spouse with, 31% percent say their accountant is the advisor they trust the most, followed by family and friends (22%), lawyers (16%), and financial planners (9%). Additionally, 86% of small business owners agree their accountant is a trusted advisor they go to for a wide range of business advice.
Besides iron-clad contracts between accounting service providers and the companies they provide the services to, trust and ethical conduct are the glue that keeps the collaboration strong and continuous. Ethical conduct goes beyond the legal requirements and is about doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. It’s about maintaining a high level of integrity and professionalism in all of your interactions with clients. This includes being honest, transparent, and treating clients with respect and fairness. It also means taking responsibility for any mistakes and working to resolve them quickly and fairly.
One way to maintain and strengthen trust over time is by going beyond the standard non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and contracts, and implementing ethical conduct in all aspects of your business. It’s important for your clients to trust you because they will be giving you access to their most confidential information. That’s why having a good relationship with clients is so important in this line of work. If you’re like us, you take your clients’ needs seriously. You want to do right by them and put their interests first. In fact, many of the best relationships with clients are built on this principle.
A few ways accountants can better serve their clients is by getting to know them and their needs well, and by communicating frequently and transparently. There’s a correlation between knowing the client and building trust, in fact, 53% of small business owners say their accountant knows them “very well”, but when a business owner works with an accountant they describe as a trusted advisor, that number jumps to 84%. Furthermore 47% of small business owners who call their accountant a trusted advisor say they have contact with them once a month or more.
In conclusion, ethical conduct in accounting is more than just NDAs and contracts. It’s about maintaining integrity and professionalism in all your client interactions. It’s about providing accurate and timely service and being transparent in your practices. By implementing ethical conduct in all aspects of your business, you can build lasting client relationships based on trust and respect. This, in turn, will help to establish your business as a reputable and respected firm in the industry. Our motto is a Legacy of Trustworthiness, and throughout the decades we’ve nourished and cultivated both trust between us and our clients and ethical conduct that prioritized our clients and client relationships.
