‘Which car should I buy?’ and four other unexpected questions accountants get asked

Morgan Davies (pictured), managing director at Prime Accountants Group, reveals some of the questions asked by clients who are also business owners.

Some of them are beyond the typical scope of a financial advisor.

As the person at the top of the ladder in an owner-managed business, they often haven't got people they can turn to and ask for support.

They can't go to their team because they’re seen as leaders and don't want to show any signs of weakness, so who can they ask instead?

Often, it’s their accountant, because the relationship is already one of trust and is likely to have spanned many years of looking after their financial affairs.

Over that time, the business owner and accountant will have built up a rapport, so we are an obvious port of call.

Here are five questions that clients have asked;

1 What car should I buy?

I’m a big fan of cars and I’m always happy to talk about them for fun, but there are good reasons why clients ask this question.

They may be wondering if they should buy the car through their company or buy it personally, and which is most tax efficient.

They may want the cheapest outcome and to make tax savings, in which case an electric car could meet their needs.

But if they’re looking for something sporty, big or luxurious, there’s other considerations – there might be a hybrid model of the car they’re looking at which will cost them less in tax.

Or they might be looking at a used car which, once tax costs are added, would cost the same as a new one – so they may decide to buy new instead.

2 I’ve got a business dispute – can you help?

We’ve been asked about various disputes in the past, from disputes with customers and suppliers to employees and business partners.

Sometimes we can help because we have a forensic accounting department, which deals with cases where there is a dispute with money involved.

The discussions often trigger other thoughts for clients which lead to questions outside of our scope, because we're not lawyers, but there are areas of law which we can advise on, such as tax law.

3 What should I do before getting divorced?

We’ve been asked by clients for advice on what life would look like financially if they were to divorce.

Areas we’ll talk through are, what are their obligations, how can they get divorced and it not impact the business too significantly?

If business owners are married and their partner is not part of the business, often the business still funds both parties – so can the business be structured in a way that the ex can be paid out?

4 How can I prepare my business against a cyber attack?

Clearly, we have to protect our clients' financial data, so clients do ask us about IT and cyber security.

We’re not IT consultants but it's about sharing ideas and experience, from one person in business to another, and telling them what we do to make sure we have the most up-to-date security on our systems.

It’s about finding the right suppliers, support, or just talking through the logic of it with the client, almost as therapy.

5 What shall I spend my money on?

This is a question which is being asked of us more and more because of inheritance tax – clients are wondering whether to gift money to reduce the size of their estate and minimise its inheritance tax exposure, or whether to spend it.

This is when it's like a therapy session - you're chatting to the client on a human level, getting to know their wishes, emotions and preferences, and then we look at the most effective way of achieving that from a tax point of view as well as meeting their personal goals.

Often our Independent Financial Advisers, Prime Wealth Planning limited, will look at the future needs of the client and model cash requirements going forward so that the client can make informed decisions.

Click here for more information on Prime Accountants Group, which has offices in Solihull, Birmingham and Coventry.