Key takeaways
- A sector niche lets a practice speak the client's language and price with confidence.
- Businesses switch accountant when their size, structure or obligations change.
- Referral partners such as solicitors and banks remain a core source.
- Professional bodies set rules on how members market their services.
Which clients should an accountancy practice target
An accountancy practice should target the clients it already serves best, defined by sector and size. A practice strong with online retailers, restaurants or software startups can describe their problems precisely, which a generalist cannot.
Size matters as much as sector. A sole trader needs bookkeeping and a tax return; a company with a finance manager needs advice, management accounts and someone to talk to the board.
What prompts a business to change accountant
Businesses change accountant when they outgrow the service they have. The common moments are visible from outside.
- Incorporation, VAT registration or moving into a new country.
- Fast growth, a funding round or an acquisition.
- A first finance hire, or a finance manager leaving.
- Year end approaching with problems from last year unresolved.
- New obligations, such as Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for sole traders and landlords.
How do you get accounting clients through outreach
Get accounting clients through outreach by writing about one change the business is going through and what it means for its finances. A founder who just raised a round has questions about reporting to investors; a growing retailer has stock and VAT questions.
Offer something bounded, such as a review of their year end timetable or a short call on the new obligation. Owners rarely switch accountant from one email, but they do agree to a useful conversation.
How does accountant business development work with referrals
Accountant business development works best when outreach and referrals feed each other. Solicitors, bank relationship managers, financial advisers and business advisers meet the same clients at the same moments, and a practice with a clear niche is easy to refer.
Treat referral partners as a list of their own: know who they serve, keep in touch on a schedule and send work their way when you can.
Which marketing rules apply to accountancy practices
Accountancy practices follow the code of ethics of their professional body, such as ICAEW or ACCA, which includes rules on marketing services honestly and not disparaging other firms. UK GDPR and PECR also apply to any email outreach, with stricter rules for sole traders and some partnerships than for companies.
Before taking on a client, the practice must also complete its anti-money laundering checks, so build them into onboarding. Confirm the detail with your professional body and adviser.
How to find new clients for an accounting firm, step by step
Start with the niche your current best clients define.
- Define your niche by sector and business size, from your current best clients.
- List businesses in that niche and region, and look for a recent change such as growth, a round or a first finance hire.
- Find the founder, owner or finance manager at each business.
- Write about the change and what it means for their finances, and offer a short, bounded review.
- Keep a separate list of referral partners and contact them on a regular schedule.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsDescribe your niche and your assistant finds matching companies, up to 50 a search; Find fresh leads then finds founders or finance managers at up to ten of them, from Pebbles Ai's own growing B2B contact database, GDPR compliant.
- FoundationCompany IntelCompany Intel records your services and the sectors you serve, so drafts describe your practice accurately and stay within how you choose to present it.
Common questions
Should a bookkeeping firm prospect differently from an accountancy practice?
Yes. Bookkeeping buyers are usually owners of smaller businesses who want time back, so speak to that. Accountancy practices often sell advice to businesses with a finance person already in place.
When do businesses usually change accountant?
Often after a year end that went badly, or when they grow, raise money or change structure. Reach them before the next year end, not during it.
Can accountants send cold emails to businesses?
Generally yes to company addresses, with a clear identity and an opt-out, under PECR and UK GDPR. Professional body rules on honest marketing apply as well.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
