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Tom Fitzpatrick:“Increased demand
for insolvency services”
buoyant, as individuals and companies
seek to ensure that their existing structures
are fit for purpose following the credit
crash and the significant taxation changes
of recent years.
At OSK, clients are focused on costeffective
compliance services and valueadded
services like tax planning and
business advisory, according to managing
partner Tadhg O’Sullivan. “The practice
traded well over the past year, with some
areas of growth compensating for the
decreasing areas,” says O’Sullivan. “The
areas that are resilient and showing
growth are the niche areas of expertise.
The market for accountancy services is
very competitive at present and there is
pressure on fee levels and cash collections.
However, clients are still willing to pay
reasonable fees for services where they can
see a direct cost or tax saving.”
Tom Fitzpatrick, managing partner at
chartered accountants FMB, says that
practice fee income in 2011 held its own
against the 2010 outcome. “I expect that in
2012 we will continue to make progress,
56 Business Plus March 2012
notwithstanding the difficult challenges
ahead,” says Fitzpatrick. “We are spending
more time working with clients dealing
with the business strategies to counter the
effects of the recession, and are putting
more resources into dealing with the
increased demand for insolvency services.”
Fiztpatrick adds that requests for fee
reductions by clients, which were a
feature of 2009 and 2010, appear to have
reduced somewhat. “In general our fees
are at a very competitive level and, oddly
enough, it is only at the very small
business level that we have noticed
competitors offering fees at what we view
to be an uneconomic level.”
Gerry McInerney of McInerney
Saunders says his firm is targeting growth
for 2012 through a combination of
business from new clients and an increase
in corporate services and insolvency
business. He adds: “Traditional
compliance services continue to dominate
and we have focused on offering our
clients an opportunity to control their
costs though assisting them in being more
self-reliant, while at the same time being
there to support them when required.
“We have also become more involved
with our clients in providing them with
advisory and support services around
defining their goals, identifying the
barriers preventing their achievement and
facilitating them in unblocking these
barriers. We find that clients expect value
for money services from their trusted
business advisers and that is the market
that we serve.”
Jim Stafford, partner at insolvency
specialist Friel Stafford, says there is
buoyant demand for the firm’s
receivership and personal bankruptcy
services. He adds: “One service that we
always provided was tracing assets that
debtors may have hidden. There is now a
massive demand from banks for assettracing
services. We completed a
recruitment drive late last year and we
recently added 60% of office space to
cope with the extra staff. We will recruit
more staff as soon as the new personal
insolvency legislation is implemented, as
there is a pent-up demand for solutions to
the massive borrowings that many people
have.”
Tony Carey, one of the principals at
Cooney Carey, expects that business
activity for most accountants should
increase in 2012 and the firm is in
recruitment mode. “We are investing in
new hires and have done so throughout
the last couple of years,” says Carey.
“Despite a tightening of liquidity, more
advice and service is required by clients. A
few years ago, advisory services were
focused on development. Now they are
focused on restructure and recovery. The
roots of our firm are in this area and we
were well equipped to adjust.”
Carey’s view is that the market is overly
competitive in the recurring service areas
such as audit and compliance taxation.
However, the market for consultancy
services is less price sensitive. He adds:
“Care has to be taken by business to obtain
good value from competent service
providers, but not to jeopardise a
relationship that provides excellent,
relevant advice when needed, based on a
thorough understanding gained over
many years. A wise business will recognise
that the best advice, rather than the lowest
price, is the cheapest option.”
The growth in cloud computing is
enabling accountancy firms to get
closer to their clients. There are
many accountancy software solutions
available now that allow companies and
their accountants to view financial
information simultaneously. Chartered
accountants Anne Brady McQuillans
DFK was the first Irish practice to go fully
virtual in 2010. According to William
Kingston, corporate governance and IT
manager: “This has had a positive impact
on our costs and business model and we
have been pleasantly surprised by the
range of benefits cloud computing has
provided.
“Firstly, it gives our staff fantastic
flexibility by being able to access their
applications and data from any location
using almost any device. It has also
removed a number of headaches from the
organisation such as backups, anti-virus,
disaster recovery and the general
vulnerability associated with running our
servers on-site. This also frees up time for
us to focus on core business activities,
which directly impact our bottom line.
The cost of running IT has been
dramatically reduced because we have
replaced cyclical capital expenditure with a
lower operating expense.”
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