Most accounting firms know who their biggest competitors are. Far fewer know how competitive their market really is.
Understanding your competitive landscape includes knowing who operates nearby, understanding where opportunities exist, where markets may be saturated and how business activity is changing over time.
Whether you're planning to expand, recruit or increase marketing activity, reliable market intelligence provides the context needed to make more informed decisions.
Market intelligence is the process of collecting and analysing information about the environment in which your business operates.
For accounting firms, this can include understanding:
• Competing accountancy practices
• Local business populations
• Industry trends
• Geographic opportunities
• Business formation rates
• Areas experiencing economic growth
Rather than relying on assumptions, market intelligence helps firms make evidence-based decisions.
Most firms can name a handful of competitors, but many underestimate the number of practices operating within their wider catchment area.
Without understanding your competitive landscape, it becomes difficult to answer important strategic questions.
For example:
• Is our local market becoming more competitive?
• Are there neighbouring areas with fewer accounting firms?
• Which sectors appear underserved?
• Should we invest in another office?
• Are we targeting the right geographic areas?
Competitor intelligence provides a clearer picture of the market in which your firm operates.
Good market intelligence is also about understanding demand.
Questions worth asking include:
• Where are new businesses being created?
• Which industries are growing?
• Which regions are seeing increased commercial activity?
• Where are businesses undergoing significant change?
When competitor information is combined with business activity, firms gain a much clearer understanding of both competition and opportunity.
Accounting firms typically gather information from multiple sources.
These might include:
• Companies House
• Office for National Statistics
• Google Maps
• Local business directories
• Industry reports
• Networking
• Local knowledge
Each source provides useful information, but collecting and combining it manually can take considerable time.
As firms grow, market research often becomes fragmented. Different partners maintain different spreadsheets, marketing teams use one source, business development teams use another.
By the time information has been collected, organised and reviewed, parts of it may already be outdated.
Having a consistent monthly source of market intelligence helps ensure decisions are based on current information rather than assumptions or anecdotal evidence.
AccountingReach was developed to reduce the time accounting firms spend researching both competitors and business opportunities.
Every monthly update includes:
• A UK accounting competitor dataset
• Three lead opportunity datasets covering new, growing and changing businesses
Rather than starting from raw public records, firms receive organised intelligence designed specifically for accounting business development and strategic planning.
Whether you're assessing local competition or planning future growth, AccountingReach helps bring competitor and market information together in one place.
Market intelligence supports a wide range of roles within accounting firms.
Managing Partners use it to inform strategic planning.
Business Development Managers use it to identify new markets and prioritise campaigns.
Marketing teams use it to plan sector-focused activity.
Regional leaders use it to understand local market conditions.
Even smaller practices can benefit by identifying underserved areas and understanding how competitive their local market really is.
Business development shouldn't start with hours of manual research, AccountingReach does the research for you. Learn about how our data helps you find better client leads likely to need your services.
Whether you're looking to benchmark competitors, understand local markets or identify new opportunities, having organised intelligence can save significant research time.
AccountingReach combines competitor information, business intelligence and monthly market analysis into a single resource designed specifically for UK accounting firms.
Everything you need to know before getting started. Can't find what you're after? Reach out to our team.