The Buck Stops With The Consultant

From the June/July 2008 Issue

The Best Consultants Take Control Of The Whole System

In this ever-changing world of technology and solutions in the small business accounting world, it’s natural for consultants to be overwhelmed by all the vendors in the market who claim to have the best solution in their market space. If you’re like most software consultants, you’re constantly flooded with pitches from vendors about their new products and solutions. With all of this “noise,” staying “smart” about what’s best for your clients is a never-ending challenge. But I have some questions for you. When you think about your typical client, considering their staff’s skills in the area of accounting software, systems and technology, how would you answer these questions?

Who is the best person to help make the right technology decisions for the client?

Who knows more about the available solutions in the market?

Who is the best judge of how appropriate each solution is for the client’s business?

Who has the depth of understanding of the functions of your client’s business?

Who knows the most about how their workflows affect and are affected by software solutions?

Who has the most knowledge and skills in accounting, software and the specifics of how those products and any add-ons should be implemented to ensure that the overall system accurately reflects the needs of the business?

The answer to all of the above questions must be you, their accounting software consultant!

The responsibility that comes with being the consultant is huge. You must take charge in such a way as to become the decision maker (or at least have direct influence with the decision makers) for what, how and when products will be used by the client’s business. And I’m not just talking about which version of the accounting product will be used, or which chart of accounts to use. I’m saying the consultant must take responsibility for the ENTIRE system, including all add-ons, the web store interface, the payment gateways, the online payroll, the remote timesheet data entry, and any other LAN or web-based applications that feed data to the accounting system.

If you don’t have complete command over all of these systems and how they interact with each other, and with the General Ledger, you will almost certainly have trouble, probably sooner than later. Most likely, the client will expect you to have prevented whatever problem occurs.

I recently learned of a situation that underscores what can go wrong when the consultant doesn’t assert him or herself across the complete system of the client. This consultant is a true QuickBooks expert, but he is not familiar with or skilled in solutions for the rental equipment business (which represents about 25 percent of the client’s business). Therefore, when the client asked for advice on what software to use for their rental business, instead of researching the problem and gaining the needed expertise to help the client fully, the consultant recommended a vendor and suggested that the client check out the product on their own.

Since the client trusts this consultant implicitly, having built a strong relationship over the past several years, the client naturally thought that because the consultant made the recommendation, the vendor would have the right solution for their needs. The vendor salesman, upon learning that the QuickBooks consultant referred them, naturally assumed that their product was a good fit. Otherwise, the QuickBooks consultant wouldn’t have recommended it.