The trend among small business owners in the UK seems to be increasingly to use their accountants as financial and business advisors.
In research conducted by Venture Finance, 78% of SMEs said that they could rely on their accountant to give them unbiased financial advice. While this advice does seem to mainly be concerned directly with business issues, accountants are also providing personal financial advice on issues such as investments, insurance and savings plans.
Personally, I would far rather trust my accountant to give professional, financial advice than an 'independent' financial advisor or a representative from a bank.
Rather sweetly, only 46% of accountants rated themselves as the most trustworthy in the financial services and legal sectors. However, you can bet that independent financial advisors and others selling financial products would love to be trusted by 78% of their clients. It is, of course, a trust that shouldn't be abused and I, personally, would hate to see accountants move too far away from their core competencies. Nevertheless, it's good to see that the relationship between small and mid-sizes UK businesses and their accountants is one based on trust and understanding.
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