Millennials are the next generation of decision makers and business owners. They are the representatives of the innovative, tech-savvy and determined generation and are in the process of launching companies or getting their feet in the hierarchy of other businesses. They are now often holding some key decision making positions and also hold the reins in most cases when deciding which accounting firm to choose or shed.
More than a thousand millennial business owners were surveyed in the 2017 Millennial Business Owner Accounting Firm Survey. The goal was to determine the ideal that the millennials have when they are choosing an accounting firm. With the results of the data acquired from the survey, here are some common myths that need to be debunked about the millennials and their accounting firm preferences.
1. Millennials do not generate good business revenue to seen as fit to be accounting clients
Most of the oldest millennials today are in their 30s and 40s. Business owners at this age are capable of generating a good amount of business and revenue. They can also act as substantive business leaders at this age. As per the poll, almost one-third of the millennial business owners are leading companies that generate a revenue of $1.1 million to as much as $25 million a year. Among these business owners, about 16% are leading companies that are generating revenues in the range of $501,000 to $1 million each year.
This highlights that providing accounting services to millennials has two advantages: there are millennial led business that can afford and need accounting services, and the revenues they generate show a potential of a long term relationship between these millennial business owners and accounting firms.
2. Tax Services is all they need
While the number one service that the millennial business owners get help for is taxation, however, it is not right to say that they only need taxation services. In fact, they look for different services than the previous generations of business owners.
Millennials consume about 54% of bookkeeping services. As many as 24% of these millennial business owners include accounting technology training and recommendation in their service. About 20% of them said they need help from accounting firms for their invoicing needs.
The top accounting frustrations for millennial business owners, as per the survey, were managing cash flow, forecasting and signaling and reporting a need for a strategic input extending beyond the basic technical terminology and reporting. Thus, as accounting firms, it is time to move beyond just offering and marketing tax services. There is a lot of scope when it comes to accounting practices and services needed by millennial business owners and it is time to start focusing on them.
It is important to accommodate millennials when you are deciding the course of action for your accounting firm. Millennials are working and opening businesses in all sectors and industries. They make up a major part of the entrepreneurs and workforce today. Therefore, it is important to take their preferences into account and to offer them specialized services that they need and want. The accounting firms that anticipate and create practices that suit to the needs of the millennial business owners are in a winning situation as they can grab a competitive edge over other accounting firms and have profitable and long-term relationships with the millennial business owners.
