Many small business owners view their accountant purely as the person who files the accounts and submits the tax return each year, and nothing more. While this compliance work is essential, it represents only a fraction of the value a good accountant can actually provide. Getting more from the relationship is rarely about paying for a more expensive package. It is usually about changing how you engage with the accountant you already have, and being more deliberate about what you ask for and expect in return.
The first step towards extracting more value is simply talking about your business goals openly, rather than only discussing historical figures. Many client meetings focus entirely on what has already happened: last quarter's revenue, last year's expenses, the accounts that need signing off. While this backward looking review matters, it leaves little room for the forward looking conversations that actually shape decisions. Telling your accountant that you are considering hiring your first employee, taking on a business loan, or expanding into a new service line opens the door to advice that is genuinely useful for the decisions ahead of you, rather than simply reporting on decisions already made.
Ask specifically for advice, not just processing. It sounds obvious, but many small business owners never explicitly ask their accountant what they would recommend in a given situation. They provide figures, receive processed accounts, and move on. A more effective approach is to ask direct questions: given my current profit level, would it make sense to change how I take money out of the business? Is my current pricing structure leaving enough margin once tax is accounted for? Should I be putting money aside differently for my upcoming tax bill? Firms such as Fred Michael & Co are generally glad to engage with these questions, but they often need to be asked directly rather than assumed to be part of a standard annual service.
Take advantage of scheduled meetings by preparing for them properly rather than treating them as a formality to get through. Before a review meeting, jot down questions that have come up over the previous months, decisions you are weighing, or concerns that have been nagging at you. Coming prepared transforms a routine meeting into a genuinely useful strategic conversation, and it signals to your accountant that you are engaged and want more than a passive summary of numbers you have already seen.
Consider whether you are making full use of the communication channels available to you. If your firm offers a client portal, secure messaging, or regular email updates, and you are not using them, you may be missing opportunities to raise smaller questions as they arise rather than saving them all up for a once a year meeting. Small, timely questions asked as they come up are often far more useful than a large batch of questions asked months later, once the context and urgency have faded.
Be honest about your business challenges, even the uncomfortable ones. Accountants can only give useful advice based on the information they actually have. If cash flow is tight, if you are worried about a client who has not paid, or if you are considering a difficult decision like reducing staff hours, sharing this openly allows your accountant to factor it into their advice properly. Business owners sometimes hold back this kind of information out of embarrassment or a desire to appear in control, but doing so limits the quality of advice they can realistically receive in return.
It is also worth periodically reviewing what services you are actually using compared to what you are paying for. Many accountancy packages include services that go unused simply because clients are not aware they exist or have forgotten to ask about them. This might include tax planning reviews, cash flow forecasting, or benchmarking against similar businesses. A direct conversation about what is included in your current arrangement, and what you might be missing out on, often reveals value that was already available but simply had not been actively claimed.
Finally, treat feedback as a two way street. If something about the relationship is not working well, whether that is response times, the format of reports, or the frequency of contact, say so directly rather than quietly tolerating it or switching firms without explanation. Good accountants generally want to know when something is not landing well, because it gives them a chance to adjust. Conversely, when something is working particularly well, saying so helps reinforce the parts of the relationship that are genuinely adding value.
Another often overlooked way to get more value is to ask your accountant what other similar businesses in your situation typically do, without expecting confidential details about any specific client. Experienced firms like Fred Michael & Co see patterns across many small businesses in London facing similar challenges, whether that is managing seasonal cash flow, structuring director remuneration, or planning for a first office move. Asking what tends to work well for businesses like yours can surface practical ideas you might not have considered, drawing on a breadth of experience that goes well beyond your own individual circumstances.
It is also worth using your accountant as a sounding board for decisions that are not purely financial on the surface, since many business decisions carry financial implications that are not immediately obvious. A decision about whether to lease new premises, take on a business partner, or change your pricing model all have knock on tax and cash flow consequences that a good accountant can help you think through before you commit, rather than after the decision has already been made and the financial implications simply need to be managed as best as possible.
Finally, consider asking for a brief annual summary of the value delivered beyond compliance work, something many firms are happy to provide but rarely offer unprompted. This might include tax savings identified, deadlines successfully managed despite complications, or advice given that shaped a significant decision during the year. Seeing this laid out explicitly often reveals a level of ongoing support that can otherwise blend into the background of a busy year, and it gives you a clearer basis for evaluating whether the relationship is delivering the value you expect.
It is also worth setting a small amount of time aside, perhaps once a year, purely to reflect on how the relationship is functioning and what you would like to get more out of going forward. This does not need to be a formal review, simply a moment to consider whether you are actually asking the questions you want answered, whether meetings feel useful, and whether you understand your own numbers better than you did twelve months ago. This kind of periodic reflection often surfaces small adjustments, such as asking for a slightly different report format or requesting a mid year check in, that noticeably improve the value you get from the relationship without requiring any change of accountant at all.
Do not underestimate the value of simply asking your accountant what questions you should be asking. Many business owners do not know what they do not know, and a direct request such as "what should I be thinking about that I am probably not currently asking you about" can prompt a genuinely useful response, surfacing considerations around succession planning, insurance, pension contributions, or upcoming regulatory changes that might otherwise never come up in a standard meeting focused narrowly on historical figures and compliance deadlines.
Getting more value from your accountant relationship is ultimately about engagement rather than expenditure. Sharing your goals and challenges, asking direct questions, preparing properly for meetings, using available communication channels actively, and giving honest feedback all cost nothing extra, yet they consistently produce a noticeably richer and more useful relationship. The businesses that get the most out of their accountant are rarely the ones paying the highest fees. They are the ones who treat the relationship as an active partnership worth investing time and openness into.
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