New data published last Friday (28th) by The Insolvency Service shows that between 01/04 and 30/06 2023 (Q2 2023), there were 6,342 registered company insolvencies.
This represents the highest number of company insolvencies since Q2 2009 and 9% higher than in Q1 2023 and 13% higher than in Q2 2022.
The question I regularly ask accountants and business advisors is this – “how do you support your clients outside of the traditional compliance work without operational data?”
Is this the time for accountants and advisors to embrace a new way of thinking about how to deliver advisory services?
Business owners (I am a business owner of course) face many growing and emerging risks other than cash flow and tax issues, such as; AI, digital transformation, human capital, fraud, cyber threats, political instability and climate change, I could go on…..
Businesses continue to operate in a challenging environment; supply chains remain fragile, cyber criminals are accessing generative AI and other advanced technologies, the current economic struggles for many SME’s in particular in late payment and inflation plays a major part in the alarming insolvency statistics.
So what are advisors doing to support their clients, other than compliance work?
In an era of perpetual crisis, business advisors need to move quickly to support their clients to navigate and succeed and are waking up to the opportunity of high value ‘Risk as a Service’.
For many business owners, the focus on making sure no disasters happen remains prevalent.
Prevention as we know is better than a cure. There is a ‘gradual’ shift among advisory toward strategic, risk-welcoming practices, rather than just defensive, preventative, and compliance driven approaches.
Risk Dashboard supports advisory to look beyond the traditional compliance work and recognise there are different lenses they can apply to grow internally and support their clients growth ambitions.
Key Questions for Accountants and Business Advisors
- What have you done to understand and manage your clients’ risks?
- Have you conducted a risk audit to identify all potential risks and threats?
- Have such risk audits concluded with an impact assessment – threat x severity?
- Have you developed a process to help clients create an early warning system to detect risks?
- Can you connect experts from across your firm to support and manage client risks and their impacts?
- Do you know the stickiest risks and threats to your clients?
- Do you know which risk combinations pose the biggest client threat?
- Business interruption x capital/funding
- Environmental x supply chain
- Cyber attacks x fraud
- Cyber attacks x reputational damage
- Cash flow x outstanding COVID loans
Here are some of the benefits of using Risk Dashboard’s software for advisory:
- Improved risk identification and mitigation: Risk Dashboard’s software can help advisors identify and mitigate risks that their clients may face. This can help advisory provide better advice to their clients and help them avoid potential problems.
- Increased efficiency: Risk Dashboard’s software can help advisory save time and money by automating many of the tasks involved in risk management. This can free up advisory to focus on other tasks, such as providing advice to clients.
- Improved compliance: Risk Dashboard’s software can help advisory ensure that they are in compliance with statute and regulations. This can help protect accountants and clients their from fines and penalties.
- Enhanced reporting: Risk Dashboard’s software can help accountants generate reports that show how they are managing risks. This can help accountants communicate with their clients and stakeholders about their risk management efforts.
Risk Dashboard is working with an ever growing number of advisors who are using ‘Risk as a Service’ to develop growth internally and ‘advisory’ for clients.
Leveraging Risk Dashboards software drives scalable advisory services, creating new opportunities for accounting firms, with data at the heart to advance your advisory support.
If you would like to know more about how Risk Dashboard can grow your firm, please contact Neil Campbell, Commercial Director at Risk Dashboard on info@riskdashboard.co.uk