MYOB says conditions are ripe for start-up accountants

Following the results of the recent MYOB Business Monitor survey, which outlined overall positive outlooks for SMEs in 2017, the CEO of MYOB Tim Reed has described this as “a time of opportunity for accountants”.

“I believe that there are great opportunities for the accounting profession in 2017 and going forward, and so for young practitioners who have perhaps been working in a firm and are thinking about going out and starting their own, I think it’s as good a time as any,” Mr Reed said.

“Despite the recent contraction in GDP in the fourth quarter, our results say that small businesses are trading more strongly than they have all year.

“That’s a great underpinning for a good 2017 for accountants.”

The report, which surveyed more than 1,000 small business owners, showed that 26 per cent of operators expect the economy to improve over the next year, while 33 per cent expect it will remain the same.

Twenty-seven per cent of SMEs stated their revenue had increased (up from 21 per cent in July last year), while 30 per cent are looking at prices and margins on products/services as their top focus area.

Commenting on these results, Mr Reed said this is “a great time for accountants looking at their own business, thinking about prices and margins”.

“More of [accountants’] clients are seeing revenue growth which does create more opportunity for accountants to think about how they can create new products, new services, new opportunity for them to grow their revenue,” he said.

“The great thing for accountants in practice [is] there are a whole range of tools that enable them to be more productive and to drive efficiency in their practice.

“The industry is going through change and change creates opportunity, and I think that this is a time of opportunity for accountants.”