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A new report on small businesses has focused on the “critical role” of a trusted adviser in the success of SMEs.
The recently released Small Business Research Report prepared by research house BStar for the SMSF Association (SMSFA) reinforces the new business model announced last month by Findex, according to Findex chief of adviser services Michael Wilkins.
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“The BStar/SMSFA report focuses on the potentially critical role of a trusted adviser in small business success,” said Mr Wilkins, who oversees a network of around 2,000 advisers across the group’s brands that include Crowe Horwath, Centric Wealth, Prescott Securities and Financial Index Wealth Accountants.
“The key findings of the Small Business Report include small business owners being ‘time poor’, suggesting there is a pressing need for professional advisers to provide ‘specialised business advice services’ for both their business operations and personal finances, which are usually more intertwined the smaller the business,” he said.
“All Findex businesses are in the process of rolling out what we are calling a family office model, which replicates a service that has traditionally only been available to the very wealthy.”
The structure provides a suite of financial services from under the one, with a trusted adviser as the key point of contact for relationship management.
Mr Wilkins noted that small businesses are the backbone of our economy with 2.5 million entities and 25,000 people a year saying they are planning to start a business
“The other good news is that the report found that 92 per cent of small business operators are optimistic about the future, even in the current business climate, and that 79 per cent believe there are opportunities for growth in the 2016 financial year,” he said.
The most concerning finding of the report, according to Mr Wilkins, is that four out of 10 business owners surveyed said they did not know who to turn to for advice on improving their business.
“Interestingly, and alarmingly, this same sentiment flowed to the issue of who to turn to for professional advice on the subject of retirement planning,” he said.
“These are precisely the issues the new Findex model is designed to solve, namely, the provision of a range of financial business and personal advice managed and delivered from a single trusted source in the client’s primary professional adviser.”
[Related: ANZ to provide growth opportunities for SMEs]
