Some 36% of accountants and financial advisers have seen their cashflow worsen over the past 12 months, compared to 29% who said it had improved, findings from Premium Credit revealed.
According to the research, 33% expected their cashflow to deteriorate over the next year, compared to 31% who expected it to improve.
Nine out of 10 (91%) accountants and financial advisers said that a rise in clients struggling to pay their fees contributed to their deteriorating cash flow, with 34% reporting this as the main contributory factor.
Three in four (75%) accountants and financial advisers saw a rise in the number of clients who are struggling to pay their fees, and 65% anticipated this trend would continue over the next year.
Then majority (81%) of accountants and financial advisers allowed some clients to pay their fees monthly over an extended period of time.
If there was a scheme from a professional company that enabled clients to do this, 82% of accountants and financial advisers surveyed said they would consider using this and recommend it to clients struggling to pay their fees.
In light of these findings, Premium Credit urged advisers to utilise its Fee Plan, which enables accountants and other advisers to make their cashflow more predictable.
It acts as a payment smoothing solution for their clients, which means advisers get their professional fees paid in full shortly after the job is completed.
At the same time, Fee Plan supports an adviser’s clients in spreading the cost of those fees over a number of monthly payments – anywhere from three months to 12 months.
Jennie Hill, chief commercial officer, Premium Credit (Specialist Lending) said: “Like many businesses, accountants and financial advisers are prone to cashflow issues if their clients are struggling to pay their fees, which our research suggests many are.
”However, our study shows that many accountants and financial advisers are being flexible in helping clients who are struggling to pay their fees by enabling them to spread payments over several months.
“This helps explain why the number of accountants and financial advisers using our Fee Plan scheme has increased by 139% over the past three years.”
