Page 252 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

ANOTHER 20 MARKETING IDEAS

120 Can you generate more income with only a
little extra effort?

My accountant recently introduced me to an idea that I
believe has merit for many other types of businesses. He
explained that, due to a general tightening up by the
taxation department, a proportion of his clients were
audited every year. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary,
it was just the way things were going. It was fair to assume
that if you were in business you would be audited at some
time in the future.

When a client is audited there are lots of expenses,
especially the bill from their accountant who has to spend
a lot of time sorting out records and answering the ques-
tions raised by the taxation department. So on top of the
fine they may receive, the client also receives a bill for
several thousand dollars from their accountant. All in all it
is a very unpleasant experience for all involved.

My accountant introduced ‘audit insurance’. What this
basically means is that as a client you can pay a couple of
hundred dollars per year and if you are audited all of your
accounting bills will be covered by this insurance. Due to
the increased possibility of being audited, this appears to
me to be excellent value.

My accountant funds this insurance himself. All of the
money raised from the policies goes into a pool. If he has a
lot of clients audited he may lose out, but if he only has a
few he tends to make a few dollars. In reality everyone wins.
As a client, I have the peace of mind of knowing that when
I am audited I don’t have to worry about being hit with a
large accounting bill at the end of the process. I also believe
that this is a great service being offered and if my accountant
makes a few dollars, well, good on him for having the
initiative to put the plan in place.

Perhaps there are ideas like this that your business could
put into place that could not only generate extra income

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