Research Proposal On Growing Or Sustaining Your Accounting Practice In Australia

Background of the Study

Research Proposal on Growing or Sustaining Your Accounting Practice in Australia

Growing or sustaining an accounting practice in Australia is critical because of daily changes in the accounting sector. Therefore it is essential to be innovative and improve on the delivery of services to various customers in Australia. Growing or sustaining an accounting practice in Australia entails the use of various ways. One being critical in their paths. It is arguable that due to the changes in the landscape, there is the need to practice. Thus it is essential for a person to drop the non-critical activity. The other way to grow and sustain your accounting practice could be by being transparent with different clients and the staff members in regards to the changes which are likely to affect them. An individual should, therefore, be effective in his or her conversations. Another critical way to sustain or grow your accounting practice in Australia is to comprehend the changes which could be brought about by being clear on the critical path since this is likely to have an impact on the frequency and nature of the engagement with various clients. Moreover, it will be important for the workflow to be optimized. This research proposes the ways an individual can sustain and grow his or her accounting practice in Australia to adapt to the various changes in the practice.

With the varying changes in the accounting practice in Australia, it is significant for the particular individuals who practice accountancy to grow or sustain it. There are various ways which could be applied to grow or sustain the accounting practice, and therefore the research has proposed a number of such methods which could be utilized by individuals. Often most of the accounting businesses are cyclical. Thus most people tend to spend long hours managing staff, overseeing various projects and even finding certain new business. However, it is important to grow your accounting practice as an individual mainly because of the different changes which occur on a daily basis typically those relating to technology.

With the growth in globalization and constant developments in information technology, there have been significant changes in the business environment in Australia. Consequently, it will be important for the accounting firms to remain competitive which will require for the widening of the service scope to include other services such as business advice and consulting among others (Cooper, 2015 p.70). Thus there will be huge creativity and innovation which will be required of the accounting practitioners, and this is what growth and sustainable of accounting practice entail. Moreover, there are various challenges in the accounting practice which have an impact on the modern accounting firm which therefore calls for the growth in the accounting practice (Yee et al.2017 p.170).

Literature Review

Such challenges entail, one being on top of the tax changes. With continuous changes in the tax regime, there is a need for the public practice accountants to be updated than ever. The accountants should be therefore well conversant with all the changes relating to taxes to advise different clients correctly and appropriately. The other challenge is on the delivery of services within the set deadlines (Sullivan, 2014 p.9). It is argued that any particular practice which is not customer focused is bound to collapse thus it is essential for the accounting practitioners to meet the deadlines and this is part of the growth and sustainability in the accounting practice in Australia (Wildavsky, Lockhart and Coughlin, 2018 p.100).

Further, there has been a rise of changes in the market and hence growth in the volume of work which has also contributed to the failure to meet the deadlines in the delivery of services by the accountants. Another critical challenge is on how to get the clients on board with the new technology (Schaltegger and Burritt, 2017 p.20). Due to the continuous regulatory changes, it is important for the public practitioners to stay on top to advise different clients appropriately. With a continuous evolvement of technology, there are certainly great opportunities which are likely to be created for the accounting practice. However, there are likely to be various challenges in relation to the right investment decisions and the deployment of new technology solutions.

Based on a recent study which was conducted, it was found out that to grow or sustain your accounting practice, there are three typical practical tips to follow to attain that particular goal. One particular tip is to be open and transparent with the staff and various clients on a variety of changes which are likely to impact them (Merhav, 2017 p.600). To become transparent with the staff and customers, one should be effective in his or her conversations. The other tip is to be clear and accurate in your critical path, and this is because of the changes in the landscape hence the need to practice. The non-critical activities should be dropped.

Another way which was proposed on how to grow or sustain an accounting practice in Australia is through a comprehension of the changes which could occur as a result of being clear on the critical path. However such changes should be that they will impact on the frequency and nature of the interactions with the particular client (Galea, 2017 p.50). It is therefore critical for the optimization of a workflow. One key tip to grow and sustain an accounting practice is to have a practice philosophy to help an individual to remember the above mentioned tips.

Research Methods

Communication skill is a vital tool used in the delivery of services by the accounting practitioners. It is argued that when one possess effective communication skills, there is no need for the other skills to run a particular business and this is particularly important for the accounting practice in Australia (Fields, 2016 p.10). It is also important to keep an eye on the future to grow or sustain the accounting practice. The attraction to top talents requires that the accounting firms become proactive. With the ongoing shortages of skills in the sector, there is the need to shift gears to attract and retain a generation of practitioners.

From the review, it is clear that there are several challenges faced by individuals to grow or sustain the accounting practice hence it will be prudent for the public practitioners to become aware of such problems to grow. Moreover, there are several tips which have been proposed by various scholars which could help to grow or sustain the accounting practice in Australia. The tips include being clear on the critical path due to the changes in the landscape, being open and transparent with the staff and clients about the changes in the practice which are likely to impact them and comprehending the changes likely to occur as a result of being clear on the critical path.

The study will be conducted in over 20 accounting firms in Australia. The senior accountants will be selected for interview to help find out on how to grow or sustain the accounting practice. The research will typically apply the survey methodologies to obtain accurate information on the topic of discussion. Consequently, over 2,000 public practitioners had accepted to take part in the survey. Additionally, questionnaires will be issued to various accounting firms to provide an overview of the research questions. The expert opinion and pilot study will be used for the validation of the questionnaires.

To grow or sustain an accounting practice in Australia, there will be certain elements which one will have to take into account. One of the key aspects is to be clear in your critical path because of the changes in the landscape which calls for the need to practice (Andon, Baxter and Chua, 2015 p.1000). Another way which will enable an individual to grow or sustain his or her accounting practice is to be open and transparent with various customers including the staff on likely changes in the practice which are going to affect them in the near future (Ball, Grubnic and Birchall, 2014 p.176).

Results of the Study

According to Busco and Quattrone (2015 p.1250), being open and transparent can be achieved by having effective conversations with the clients and staff. It is also important that an individual with the intentions to grow or sustain his or her accounting practice can attain that by comprehending on the changes which are likely to occur due to being clear on the critical path (Chenhall and Moers, 2015 p.10). It is argued that the changes are likely to affect the frequency and nature of the conversations with the clients. Thus there is a need for the optimization of a workflow. One important thing to note is that individuals who want to grow or sustain accounting practice in Australia should have a practice philosophy.

Conclusion

To conclude, the accounting practice in Australia can be made to grow or sustainable through a variety of tips as proposed in the paper. Some of the tips include being open and transparent with customers including the staff changes in the practice which will impact them. Other tips are being clear in your critical path because of the changes in the landscape which calls for the need to practice and also comprehending on the changes which are likely to occur due to being clear on the critical path.

References

Andon, P., Baxter, J. and Chua, W.F., 2015. Accounting for stakeholders and making accounting useful. Journal of Management Studies, 52(7), pp.986-1002.

Ball, A., Grubnic, S. and Birchall, J., 2014. 11 Sustainability accounting and accountability in the public sector. Sustainability accounting and accountability, p.176.

Busco, C. and Quattrone, P., 2015. Exploring how the Balanced Scorecard engages and unfolds: Articulating the visual power of accounting inscriptions. Contemporary Accounting Research, 32(3), pp.1236-1262.

Chenhall, R.H. and Moers, F., 2015. The role of innovation in the evolution of management accounting and its integration into management control. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 47, pp.1-13.

Cooper, C., 2015. Accounting for the fictitious: a Marxist contribution to understanding accounting’s roles in the financial crisis. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 30, pp.63-82.

Fields, E., 2016. The essentials of finance and accounting for nonfinancial managers. Amacom.

Galea, C. ed., 2017. Teaching business sustainability: From theory to practice. Routledge.

Merhav, M., 2017. Technological dependence, monopoly, and growth. Elsevier.

Schaltegger, S. and Burritt, R., 2017. Contemporary environmental accounting: issues, concepts and practice. Routledge.

Sullivan, S., 2014. The natural capital myth; or will accounting save the world. The Leverhulme Centre for the Study of Value School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester: Oxford, UK.

Wildavsky, A., Lockhart, C. and Coughlin, R.M., 2018. Accounting for the Environment 1. In Culture and Social Theory (pp. 85-112). Routledge.

Yee, C.S., Sujan, A., James, K. and Leung, J.K., 2017. Perceptions of Singaporean internal audit customers regarding the role and effectiveness of internal audit. Asian Journal of Business and Accounting, 1(2), pp.147-174.