Pity the accountant or the client?

In response to my request to tell me what they thought of their accountant someone told me the following story recently.

He is self employed and only has one simple business. By his own admission he cannot be bothered to sort out his papers etc until just before the deadline; he still expects his accountant to complete the tax return and advise him how much tax to pay on time.

The client passed the necessary information to his accountant, who he has been using for years, on 30 January this year. On 31st January the accountant had done all he could but before filing the tax return he spent 2 hours with the client resolving queries and finalising his calculation of the tax payable that day.

Afterwards the client was furious as so far as he was concerned the accountant had not saved him any tax at all.

Initially I felt sorry for the accountant. He had put himself out to accommodate this client at the last minute just before the filing deadline for filing personal tax returns. He had spent 2 hours with the client and had filed the tax return on time. This was a long standing client who could not be persuaded to supply the necessary information earlier in the year. The client was clearly being ungrateful.

Then I looked at the situation through the eyes of the client who had told me the story.

What sort of expectations had the accountant established in his mind? I suspect he was operating on auto-pilot at the end of January. He may well have helped the client to reduce his tax bills but had forgotten to highlight this to the client who just saw the final figure of tax payable.

Maybe the accountant hadn't issued any reminders that made clear clients would get a lower level of service if they left things to the last minute.

What had gone on during the 2 hour meeting on 31 January? Few accountants can afford to make this level of time available to last minute clients. This client felt hard done by because he didn't feel he received any advice during the meeting. More fool the accountant for not making his advice more obvious - if he gave any. Perception is reality. If the client didn't perceive he had received a good service and valuable advice - the accountant is probably at fault.

If this blog contained advice for accountants I would stress that they should always highlight for clients the tax that would have been payable were it not for their input and advice and then to compare this with the final amount payable. That would make the clients feel better and make the accountants' fees seem like good value. Sadly this comparison is not one that most accountants can easily compute.

As a client however you can ask for the figures and for a reconciliation showing the tax saving of each piece of advice - if you want it. In my experience most clients don't want this - they would prefer to just pay lower fees as long as they have more general impression that their accountant is saving them money. A decent accountant will make this clear to you.

Remember - you are the client; you can ask for whatever you want (as long as you're prepared to pay for it). If you want something different the next year, tell your accountant but don't leave it until the last minute. If he/she has already done the work they may insist you pay for it.