Paul Tognarelli column

Nov 14 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

ONCE upon a time, the roles of a company’s professional advisers were fairly limited and distinct.

Your lawyer advised you on, obviously enough, the legal aspects of your operations, your accountant counted up the receipts and tried to minimise your tax bill, your advertising and PR agencies told everyone what you did and your banker counted the cash and provided any additional funds you might have needed now and again to keep everything moving.

But as we’re all well aware, it’s not such a simple world today.

As well as carrying out their respective primary functions, professional services firms are also very keen to highlight an additional business development and enhancement function, suggesting ideas and options that will make a tangible difference to their customers’ bottom lines in ways that might, at first glance, be viewed as being outside their sphere of influence.

So, in the opinion of someone who sits on the advisers’ side of the fence, how can you, the businessman or woman, make the best of your professional advisers?

To me, the secret is to treat them not as an external supplier, but as an extension of your own team and a central part of your operations.

Only by developing the same sort of close relationships that you foster within your senior team and client base can you expect professional advisers to be equipped with the detailed knowledge they need of your company, its business objectives and target markets to make the commercial difference you’re looking for and that they want to provide.

Equally important is not to be afraid of being too demanding of your advisers. We’re all there to provide a service, and while there might be a degree of concern over the potential cost of expanding your advisers’ workload, we will, generally speaking, take an entrepreneurial approach where required. After all, if your business and profits grow as a result of the advice and support you receive, then it’s likely to mean the advisers’ business with you will also grow. High-calibre advisers should be proactively coming to you with new ideas on a regular basis, so if you don’t feel that you’re getting enough from them in this respect, demand more and demand it now!

Paul Tognarelli is business manager at Allied Irish Bank (GB) in Newcastle.