Skip to main content

Best way to deal with your client

I think your blog has been very helpful to all of us working on Auditing (whether Big4 guys or not), for the prospects on the practice or even for all those interested on understanding how things work in Audit firms and how to work hand in hand with auditors when asking us for additional work when auditing the companies we work for. 
I would really appreciate if you could share with us the insights (or at least some tips) on how to deal with them based on the experience on this new stage on you career.



If I'm reading this right, is the question on how to deal with clients now that I've seen both sides? The best way to do it is to prove to them that you're adding value. This means that when they ask you an accounting question, you make that your top priority and get them the answer. If it means running it up the chain, that's what you'll do.
You'll also want to only ask for the support that's necessary to get you the answer you want. Also, make sure you understand what you're asking for. And be polite. Listen, it's client service, so you can't go around like you run that place. And then when they run into an issue, work with them to get to a mutually beneficial answer that is both something you can live with as an answer and something that's not too painful for the client. It's a delicate relationship, but you need to get them to trust and respect you, and the way to do that is through helping them come up with answers to dealing with accounting issues. Yes, there's independence issues, etc, but all you're doing is helping them interpret guidance.This will certainly help as you progress in your careers.

Oh - and if you can shoot the shit with them, and they are willing to do the same with you, by all means do so. What also helps is if you take them out to lunch or dinner once in a while - doesn't always have the C-suite, can even be the senior accountants or managers at your clients. Goes a long way.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Hi again,

Thank you very much for your new posts. I think this has turned into a useful tool both for auditors and for people dealing with them at work. I really appreciate your advice, will try to follow your suggestions. I had to search “C-suite” on the web as I did not know what you meant with that.

Hope you keep up the good work with your blog.

Cheers.
Dan said…
Dealing with clients is always the hardest thing to to. This is one of the most important aspects that we teach. Doing the audit means little without good client skills.

Great blog post!

Kind Regards, Auditor Training Centre
Actony Inc said…
It’s really very informative that I wanted ever, thanks for this.


Accountant Lighthouse point

Accountant Boynton Beach

CPA Boynton Beach
William Stinner said…
Wow! these are wonderful tips. Thanks for sharing them with us. Please visit http://goo.gl/ThkTnz
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Roy Wang said…
I am sure individuals like me will find your blog to be of great help and you covered all the major points and made it very informative. Thanks.

Popular posts from this blog

ADP/Payroll

Just realized that the very payroll/adp reports we all enjoyed looking at in order to see how much our client contacts made, now seem to piss me off. Especially when your main contact, who couldn't tell a debit from a credit, makes significantly more than you, and leaves at 5. It's almost guaranteed to get you in a foul mood and yak with your team about the ridiculous salaries that certain employees get when compared to yours.

should you choose to audit financial services?

I'm trying to decide whether to audit financial services companies or non-financial services companies. What would you say are the pros and cons of either industries? Do individuals who choose non-FS have less career mobility within the firm or if they decide not to stay with the B4 after a few years? Really depends on what you'd like to do after (unless you really love auditing). If you want to a controller,etc. at a p/e firm or a hedge fund down the road, you'd want to go into financial services. The pay won't be too bad, especially if you get a share of the insane bonuses they dole out. If you want to audit industries with tangible products and want to get a better understanding of the operations of such businesses, then other industries are the way to go.In terms of mobility outside the firm, auditing other industries is the way to go since you have plenty of options when you exit the audit world. For example, in 2008, after Lehman collapsed, it was incredibly hard

auditing vs consulting

I was wondering if you could break down the career opportunities in auditing and consulting (in a big 4). I know that consulting pays more in a big 4 and has more interesting work, but it seems that auditing has extremely good exit opportunities (Financial controller, CFO etc). Any thoughts on which is better in the long run? Well there's different consulting services offered by public accounting companies - the most popular being IT consulting and risk consulting. There are also other consulting services offered, but these two hire the most. Do they pay more? Yes, but not by much. Not enough for you to say: Shoot, the $$ is a huge reason for me to move over. Is the work more interesting than audit? Yes. You're actually looking over a company's processes and telling them what to do instead of what not to do (audit). Everyone I know who's made the switch likes it waay better than audit. In the long run though, choosing audit vs consulting really depends on what you want