The Authentic Advisor Podcast – essential topics, practical insights from leading business advisors.
The Authentic Advisor Podcast – essential topics, practical insights from leading business advisors.
Amid rapid technological shifts and rising client expectations, one truth is clear: firms that fail to embrace a greater array of advisory capabilities, technology innovations such as AI and advisory services into what they do by 2030 risk rapidly declining performance across the firm. Standing still and ignoring the current market shifts won’t sustain growth, attract top talent, or deliver the strategic impact clients now demand.
To remain competitive, accounting and advisory firms must build teams with the mindsets, skill-sets, and tool-sets required to facilitate real business outcomes beyond pure compliance services. They also need to stay client centric and avoid just throwing technology at problems with little strategic insight. As global thought leaders including Tom Goodwin highlight, ‘Focus on doing something better. Not something shiner’
This article explores the Why, What, and How of future-proofing advisory capabilities for long-term success as we rapidly approach 2030 for firms.
Why Advisory Matters More Than Ever
Advisory capability is now a core strategic lever, driven by three forces shaping 2030:
1. Client expectations are shifting
Clients increasingly want clarity on growth, profit, decision making, and change — not just historical reporting. They want firms that challenge thinking, spark discussion, and help execute improvements to their businesses.
2. Team attraction and retention requires richer advisory work
Ambitious accountants seek purpose, autonomy, and visible impact. Advisory enables more strategic engagement, improved career pathways, and deeper client relationships.
3. Pure compliance margins will continue to erode
Automation and AI will compress traditional services but expand demand for data-led insight and strategic support. Striking a good balance between traditional services and a gentle evolution towards embracing greater advisory skills will be key to retain a competitive advantage for firms.
Firms that develop trusted advisors, not just highly-trained technicians, will win in 2030.
What Skills Are Needed for Advisory Success by 2030
Mindshop’s 2030 Advisory Skills Model identifies three critical capability domains that every future-ready advisor from rising stars to senior leaders must develop:
1. Communication & EQ
These unlock opportunities, deepen trust, and drive faster decision-making.
2. Strategy & Decision-Making Skills
Clients don’t need more dashboards they need confidence in the next move.
3. Change & Implementation Skills
Great advisors often say to clients “don’t pay me for the plan, pay me for the implementation”. The most impactful advisory leaders will also be AI-augmented harnessing the wealth of insights that can be provided by AI alongside these core capabilities. The power will be in Human + AI.
How Firms Build Advisory Capability and Commercial Traction
High-performance firms take a phased approach aligning skill development with service maturity. Mindshop’s Five Phases of Business Advisory Success provide a proven roadmap to building advisory skills:
Each phase requires unlearning old approaches and relearning new behaviours.
6 Practical Steps to Make Advisory Stick
Based on success insights from 1000’s of firms globally, leadership of firms should focus on six essential steps for advisory success:
1. Vision & Strategy
Align advisory goals to the firm vision. Answer: Why advisory? Why now and where?
2. Identify Champions
Empower passionate internal advisors with confidence, coaching, diagnostics, models, and tools.
3. Build Advisory Capabilities.
Develop the team’s advisory capabilities in strategy, facilitation, problem solving, profit, growth and running effective meetings. Use these advisory skills on the firm itself first and to educate the wider team. Build an advisory culture.
4. Clear Service Lines & Packages
Start small when commercializing: problem-solving meetings, business health checks, workshops and strategic planning. Further weave advisory skills into a wealth of service lines across the firm.
5. Embrace Technology
Leverage AI insight technologies and delivery platforms to free up capacity and scale advisory delivery.
6. Market What You Can Deliver
Begin with existing clients to build confidence and refine approaches. Demonstrate capability, leverage referrals, and grow momentum with commercial advisory at a manageable pace. Evolution not revolution is key.
However, through this entire process as we head towards 2030 the mantra firms need to embrace to accelerate success is:
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
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