Accountants more trusted than ever
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 9:24 am
A recent survey of SME businesses by Sage shows that most business advisers are less trusted by them now than they were two years ago before the recession.
The survey reveals that:
- solicitors have gone from being the most trusted source of business advice for 18% of SMEs in 2008 to only 2% in 2010!
- management consultants have gone from 22% to 9%
- banks have dropped from 24% to 4%
So who has picked up on the dissatisfied business owners? According to Sage, accountants have gone from 33% up to 38%. The survey does not say where exactly the rest of business owners have turned to!
Modesty forbids me from speculating about why accountants have fared so well compared with the others, but feel free to post a comment with your own suggestions.
Tags: SMEs
August 5th, 2010 at 7:53 am
I am intrigued to know who else SMEs have turned to for trusted advice. Maybe it’s the proverbial “bloke in the pub” who is such a great source of proactive (and very creative)tax advice to so many of our clients?! If it’s not in their report, do we know anyone at Sage we can ask?
October 27th, 2010 at 9:36 am
This research has shown similar findings to that carried out for many years by The Federation of Small Business and Strathclyde University. Accountants are the most trusted advisors and have been for years. The “bloke in the pub” is not far off for the remainder – family and friends also figure quite highly – although not as much as accountants.