Firms not net savvy
Only one in ten firms are using the internet to promote their business to clients
Only one in ten accounting firms are promoting their websites and just 14%
are prepared to accept email enquiries from prospective new clients.
A survey of 1,000 firms by accounting IT association IAAITC has revealed the
lack of use of the internet as a key part of accountants’ offering to clients.
‘It is difficult to understand how a firm of professional accountants can
attempt to position itself as a firm of “business advisers” to its clients if
they themselves ignore the Internet,’ said IAAITC CEO Dave Reynolds, at the
association’s conference held today at the DTI; and sponsored by
Accountancy Age.
Laurence Pyzer of Relate Software said: ‘Accountants should have top-rate
websites and provide a service (directly or indirectly) to help their clients
with their websites. They should be using the Internet to provide on-line
services to their clients and thereby provide encouragement to clients to do the
same for their customers. They should be registering proper domains for their
email servers and providing their clients with secure access to their own data.’