Your accountant may be shy

Your accountant (assuming he or she is any good) can be a fabulous asset to your business. A great resource of valuable business advice.

If you chose an accountant with relevant experience of other similar businesses, he/she should be able and willing to help you avoid the mistakes they saw other clients make. They should also be able to point you in the right direction and help guide your business - just like your bank manager may have offered to do. You would always do well to ensure that any business advice you follow is independent and objective. Accountants rarely have ulterior motives beyond wanting to help their clients grow.

If your accountant is one of the shy ones you may need to coax out some of the good business advice that he/she has accumulated over the years. The more effort you put into the relationship the more value you will get out of it.