Why Do Our Accountants Hate Us?

Well, not personally. But the bane of any marketing professional’s existence often can be the accounting department.

I was recently having a friendly chat about marketing and advertising with a friend, a retired CPA and auditor. He casually commented, “You know, accountants like me really don’t have much use for advertising. When we ask, ‘Which part of this actually works?’ we usually get an unconvincing response and a lot of blah, blah, blah.”

I replied that I perfectly understood his position. I told him that marketing professionals should always be prepared with the facts, figures, ROMI calculations, and a cost-benefit analysis that illustrates the potential long-term benefits of any marketing plan or endeavor.

We both agreed that accountants typically prioritize financial metrics and tangible outcomes that are easily quantifiable, such as revenue, expenses, and profitability. They may justify their focus by emphasizing the importance of cost control, efficiency, and maximizing return on investment in areas where the financial impact is more immediately apparent.

Additionally, they may argue that advertising and marketing efforts can be difficult to measure in terms of leading them to prioritize other financial activities that are more easily quantifiable.

The best CEOs and financial managers I ever worked with also had strong sales and marketing backgrounds and understood how well-positioned marketing could add value to the company. 

I once had the opportunity to work with a manufacturer who wanted to invest in the revitalization of their distribution network’s marketing, merchandising, branding, and promotion efforts. The company’s entire management team was behind the efforts and the resulting increase in the company’s value helped enhance the company’s acquisition by a competitor. I essentially worked myself out of a job, but the marketing plan worked.

By presenting compelling evidence and fostering collaboration, marketing professionals can effectively demonstrate to accountants that marketing plays a crucial role in driving financial success for the company.

Finally, it’s important for marketers to continue to foster open communication and collaboration between marketing, sales, and finance teams to ensure alignment of goals and priorities, as well as to address any concerns or misconceptions about marketing’s value.

We Can Help Make Your Marketing Plans Measurable?

Go to my website, Marketing Convergence Solutions, for practical ways to align sales and marketing to help you strategically generate measurable sales, leads, and customer loyalty.

An available marketing planning package includes a guidebook with a nine-step approach that fully shows how collaborative planning by marketing and sales teams can lead to the deployment of a well-crafted strategic marketing plan.

Easy to understand and implement, the comprehensive planning package also includes online interactive training, six online interactive planning worksheets, a PowerPoint presentation for planning sessions, and examples of measurable marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics.

A preview of the guidebook is available here.  A free preview of lesson five of the five lesson online interactive course in planning meeting facilitation is available here.