In 2015 small business owners had their reservations about joining KPMG small business accounting service. ‘I thought we’d be too small for KPMG, but their service works well’ said Alex Fagan from a luxury leather company.
But, skip forward to 2019, and Alex’s thoughts proved right.  KPMG has indeed decided to close its small business venture after only 5 years in the market.

This service was, according to KPMG in 2014, intended to ‘disrupt and dominate the SME market’.  Well disrupt SME clients it certainly has done, not a helpful move in trying economic times.

Beautiful accounting solutions?

KPMG announced that they would ‘withdraw the provision of its small business accounting (SBA) service’ in the UK.  A spokesperson said ‘this follows the decision by our UK leadership to refocus our business on the services which are core to the firm’s growth’.

So, small businesses did not form a central part of KPMG strategy and perhaps didn’t prove profitable enough for a large organisation.

Criticism of the service from clients related to a lack of knowledge of their business, a lack of a proactive service, and the lack of advice provided to back up the compliance work.  Local relationships were missing with this big firm and that’s what a small business wants and needs.

What an SME needs from their accountant

A great small business accountant does not just crunch the numbers.  They work in partnership to help business owners understand the numbers, plan their strategy and love running their business.

Olly Evans, managing director of Evans & Partners says ‘business owners need an accountant to take care of the day-to-day accounting needs, but also provide an advisory service to help plan for growth. It’s about helping busy business owners get their weekend back, enabling them to work on their business rather than in it’

If you need an expert small business accountant in Bristol, then give us a call 0117 967 5215 or email client.service@evanspartners.co.uk