Here at Charter Tax, we have always prided ourselves on building close working relationships with our clients and, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been a sounding-board for businesses which are having to deal with an endless list of unexpected challenges.
According to a new report from Xero – the cloud accounting software provider – small businesses are heralding accountants’ increasingly critical role in keeping them running since Covid-19 arrived, considering them to be among the ‘key workers’ of the post-pandemic economic recovery.
We were recently upgraded to a silver partner with Xero – which is used by more than two million small businesses – having been an approved partner since October 2017.
The study found 43 per cent of small business (SME) owners said that their accountant has been crucial to their pandemic survival. Almost half (45 per cent) of small businesses said their accountant is more important to their business than ever before, while 14 per cent said they have turned to an accountant for the first time.
Meanwhile, 38 per cent of SME owners said they have built closer relationships with their accountants in recent months. More than half (58 per cent) named their accountant as their most trusted business advisor, assisting in areas such as business advice and planning for the future, with 61 per cent saying their accountant supports them in areas they struggle with or are baffled by.
VAT (37 per cent) and payroll (30 per cent) were two areas in which SMEs felt particularly supported by their accountants, with 70 per cent saying they felt most supported in the area of tax returns.
