Help to troubled clients should be ‘more proactive’

Accountants should be more proactive in preventing their clients from
becoming a victim of recession.

AVN, the association for
accountants of owner-managed businesses, said the profession had a ‘moral
obligation’ to assist their clients to deal with the difficult economic
conditions.

Speaking at the association’s 10th anniversary conference and the launch of
its new anti-recession service, AVN chairman Steve Pipe, called on accountants
everywhere to step forward during tough times.

‘The accounting profession has a moral obligation to show leadership by
proactively helping the business community to weather the financial storm. Doing
nothing is not an option, and neither is waiting until our clients are
desperate. The profession has to be proactive on this. So we are getting the
ball rolling by launching an anti-recession service that involves carrying out a
detailed diagnostic review to identify how best to strengthen a client’s cash
flow, creating a high impact action plan, and then helping make sure that those
plans and good intentions are actually implemented.’