How accountants and bookkeepers are coping with the cost of living crisis

Accountants and bookkeepers are showing resilience in the face of a challenging economic climate, according to a recent survey of our Practice Partners. Despite the cost of living crisis and the continued fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic creating major challenges for both practices and their clients, the overall picture from our respondents is far from bleak.

Our annual Accountant and Bookkeeper Monitor survey collected the views of 340 respondents on a range of topics, including how their practices have been impacted by the economic turbulence of the past two years. While just over a third (36.2%) of respondents said the cost of living crisis was having a negative impact on their practice, a larger proportion (41.2%) said it was having little or no impact as yet. 

Less than half of respondents (47.6%) said they were making cutbacks at their practice in response to the current economic conditions. For those who are scaling back, energy usage was the most common focus, with 22.7% of respondents saying they intended to save money in this area, while 15.8% were planning to reduce their spending on technology such as office equipment and software subscriptions.

When it comes to client relationships, the picture was also positive, with 39.2% of respondents saying these have improved over the last two years, compared to just 3% who said they had worsened. And a clear majority of respondents (69.4%) said they have not changed the way they charge their clients during this period.

Reflecting the rapidly changing accountancy landscape, and with changes such as Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) on the horizon, 40.5% of respondents said they have expanded the range of services they offer to clients, compared to just 2.7% who have reduced their offering over the past two years.

Overall, while there are some clear challenges ahead for all areas of the economy, there are encouraging signs that the accountant and bookkeeper sector may be weathering the storm better than most.

Want to find out more about how to prepare your practice for MTD for ITSA, make new connections with other accounting professionals in your area and get some facetime with your dedicated account manager? Sign up for one of our CPD-accredited partner roadshows, which take place across the UK this November.