More and more tax practice firms are looking to broaden their scope as service providers for the future. In this context, litigation consultancy is regarded as an attractive and promising business area with a bright future. But why should tax practice firms make litigation consultancy a priority?
In the latest instalment of the Friday talk show „hsp live at 11“, hsp Managing Director Paul Liese spoke with his guest, Eugen Müller of Müller Blum Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH, about the field of process consultancy in law firms. Eugen Müller has been working in this field since 2015, specialising in digitalisation, and possesses a wealth of expertise. The second part of the discussion focuses on the reasons for entering this business area and the potential offered by process consultancy.
Tax consultancy firms offer the relevant expertise
Why should companies carry out process consultancy within their own firms rather than, for example, seeking direct assistance from IT when it comes to automation? „Because tax consultancy firms already have a very good understanding of the processes within the company,“ says Eugen Müller. When it comes to the technical implementation, his firm has reliable partners to support it.
Müller Blum Tax Consultancy specialises in Process consultancy She has now become so skilled that she offers this service to businesses without taking on the responsibility of drawing up the declaration herself. Whilst she may not be familiar with these companies’ processes, she knows which questions to ask in order to gain an understanding of them. Even more important than the right questions, however, are the right answers: process mining is used to collect the relevant data – and the processes can be analysed to see how they actually operate. Only then is it possible to improve the workflows.
What is the best pricing strategy?
This raises the question of what such process consultancy should and must cost: Eugen Müller has many years’ experience in this field and has corresponding benchmark figures at his disposal, but in his view, one-size-fits-all prices are not the answer. His firm does not offer fixed packages, but tailors its pricing to each individual client’s needs. The cost of the consultancy depends on the size of the company, the number of processes involved and the extent to which the tax consultancy firm is involved in day-to-day operations. The consultancy and invoicing are generally carried out step by step, i.e. on a process-by-process basis.
Accountancy firms must bear in mind that their income from day-to-day bookkeeping decreases the more efficient and automated their clients’ processes become. In one project, for example, carried out by the firm Müller Blum, the amount of bookkeeping required fell from 18 hours a month to three. At first glance, this sounds like a bad deal. However, Eugen Müller points out that bookkeeping hours must be charged at a specific hourly rate. The hours freed up can be used for other services that command a higher hourly rate. On balance, therefore, the reduction in bookkeeping workload is also worthwhile in financial terms.
Tip: Rely on staff and technical support right from the start
For tax advisers who would also like to move into the field of process consultancy, Eugen Müller has two key pieces of advice: Firstly, they should involve other people in the practice right from the start. This is because consultants are used to familiarising themselves with a new field of work on their own at first, and only then training their staff. When it comes to process consultancy, however, this proves difficult, as the subject is completely new to everyone and projects can sometimes be months apart. A rapid, consistent learning curve is therefore rarely guaranteed. If other people are involved right from the start, collaborative learning boosts motivation and speeds up the implementation of the subject as a whole.
On the other hand, law firms should make use of technical support at an early stage, rather than tentatively attempting to draw up documentation using, for example, freely available Word templates from the internet. This is because standard templates – not to be confused with industry-specific model templates – are far from capable of reflecting the necessary complexity of different organisations.
Thinking outside the box when it comes to staff
Incidentally, the right staff for process consultancy do not necessarily have to come from a tax background. Müller Blum Steuerberatungsgesellschaft generally looks for university graduates who have a background in business administration and are therefore very good at identifying the interrelationships between processes.
When it comes to technical support, law firms should opt for a tool that enables collaborative and parallel working. This is the only way to carry out projects effectively as a team. The software should not be a straitjacket of pre-defined templates and checklists, but should provide a certain guiding framework. This enables structured working that can nevertheless be adapted to the diversity of clients.
Listen to the second part of the livestream as a podcast episode here:
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