During the past couple of months, I unfortunately stopped working with one of my long term clients, who I had assisted since the rst month of me joining Nexia in 1978.
This has resulted in me spending countless hours over the past month, wondering what I could have done differently in order to retain this client which would have allowed me to continue our relationship.
Had I missed providing extra services that were needed? Had I not predicted and advised on changing circumstances? Had I overlooked opportunities to reduce their tax exposure?
As you can imagine, I have been running these scenarios through my mind and to some extent, torturing myself on losing one of my valuable long term clients.
On discussing this with my wife, she reminded me of the other side to this situation, which I had so blindly overlooked and that is the fact I have been involved with this client, family and business for over 38 years.
To be able to work with one family group for that length of time, I am extremely lucky and privileged. It also made me realise that if we all had customers, clients or any kind of relationship that lasted more than 38 years; we would all feel very lucky.
After discussing this sentiment with our other Nexia firms within Australia and New Zealand, I was soon alerted to the fact that all of our firms had similar cases where they have been advising clients for 15, 20, 30 and even 40 years. It is this relationship which underpins the service qualities and overall culture of firms within the Nexia network.
We are indeed very lucky and privileged to work with you and we hope we will continue for many years to come.
If you have friends or colleagues who want to have a relationship with their accountants which lasts generations, through good times and through tough times, then I would recommend that you ask them to contact us.
The other important element in this story has been my ability to use other partners and staff to complement my own skills when I needed specialist technical advice and expertise.
With the ever changing business and legislative environment, it is impossible to deal solely with all issues in a competent way without seeking guidance from a specialist.
Therefore, if you have an issue which may not be in your direct partner’s skill base, then I am confident within the rm or our broader Australian, New Zealand or International network, we can assist you.
It is my experience that providing experts in all areas will ensure we meet your need whether it is the area of tax, superannuation, financial planning, audit or corporate advisory etcetera. So, don’t be afraid to simply ask us to help.
As we have now entered another financial year, I would like to thank you for your continued support and we look forward to assisting you in the years ahead.
Finally, I would also like to welcome the team of Russel Bedford which has merged with Nexia Sydney from 1 July, as well as Barry Hansen’s firm in Darwin joining our Adelaide practice Nexia Edwards Marshall from 1 July to start our new Northern Territory firm.
We are all very excited with the addition of these two practices to continue our expansion throughout Australia and New Zealand.
