Recently I spent two years working within industry and Public Practice accounting firms in London.

Upon returning to my home town of Geelong I have made note of some of the similarities and differences arising between big city and regional city accounting. Although there a large number of firms providing similar products and services in both cities there was significant differences arising when it came to local knowledge, the approach to providing services to clients as well as the length of time clients have to wait for jobs to be completed.

The main similarity between accounting in London & Geelong is that there is a large number firms providing very similar products and services.  This market saturation can prove to be both a blessing and a curse for small to medium businesses. Although market saturation often leads to better prices for consumers (i.e. small businesses) it can also result in firms that specialise in one area and/or industry which means that there are some things that they are unable to help there customers with.

One of the main differences I have noticed between public practice accounting in London and Geelong is local knowledge. As London is a financial hub a lot of people from around the world are attracted to work there. This results in these people (myself included) not having a great knowledge of the city in which the majority of the clients are either based or operate. Regional city accountants (such as Geelong) on the other hand are often born and bred in the area resulting a in a great local knowledge as well as a large network and friends, colleagues and associates which can prove to be very beneficial to there small business clients.

Regional accountants also tend to tailor their services a lot more compared to the majority of bigger city firms. The accounting/bookkeeping needs of a small businesses are unique and vary from business to business. In my experience I have found regional city accountants to be a lot more flexible in the service offerings they provide to clients whereas bigger accounting firms have a set service offering and packages. This can be of great benefit to businesses as it allows them to focus only on the services that they feel they require and not waste time on money and products that they do not need.

Finally, bigger city accounting firms tend to be slower to act when it comes to clients needs. Due to the large volume clients, bigger city firms may be unable to provide products or services to their clients as quickly as they would like.

Regional city accounting firms, on the other hand, tend to be a lot more flexible when it comes to completing urgent work for clients. Although some of these firms do have large client bases and workloads they can be more adept at managing the workflow to meet important deadlines and keep their clients happy.

At Progressive Accounting Solutions we pride ourselves on being Geelong locals.

We are across all news within the region that may affect our clients and have a wide network of professional associates that assist us in achieving the best possible outcome for all the businesses we deal with. In addition to providing reliable and affordable accounting and bookkeeping services ourselves we also like to promote networking within our client base and our associates for the benefit of all businesses within the region.

Should you have any accounting or book keeping queries please feel free to set up a free, no obligation consultation by contacting us at: info@progressiveaccounting.com.au or 0438 329 958.