More advice, fixed fees and more accessibility were the top three items on business owners’ wish lists when they were asked what their accountants could do better. That’s according to a recent snapshot poll by online accounting provider E-conomic

Accessibility was the biggest issue and was cited by 38% of respondents. “I’m on the move all the time and rely on my smart phone and netbook– it would help if more accountants did the same rather than relying on face to face meetings. I haven’t got the time – or appetite for that really”, said one respondent. Richard Messik, a chartered accountant, co-founder of Cloud Advocates
and owner of RFM Associates an accountancy cloud consultancy agrees: “The world is now mobile – the concept of working from a static place at static times no longer holds true. We need to work on the move and have access to data 24/7. Accountants who don’t get that are really going to get left behind.”

Over a quarter of respondents ( 27%) wanted more general business advice. “While I accept that my accountant has to do the number crunching and get that absolutely right – it would also be useful to have them as a sounding board when I am thinking of ways in which to grow and improve the business,” said another respondent.

Fixed fees rather than billable hours was another bugbear for 16% of respondents along with a variety of other issues which included “Getting a decent bottle of wine at Christmas rather than cheap plonk,” and “It would be nice if they spelled my name correctly on correspondence!”

Commenting on the survey, Anders Bjornsbo, UK Managing Director of E-conomic said: “We have been extolling the virtues of online accounting for accounting practices for a long time. – a system where you can be looking at the same screen as your clients without having a face to face meeting has to be the future!”