Lawyers beat accountants in the blogging game
I'd love to know how many UK accountants / firms blog and so track it over time. According to research just published in the US, lawyers are stealing a March on accountants Stateside.
I say research. Law firms have been measured - there seems to be little research into accounting firms.
Some 53 of the top 200 US law have blogs - up 36% on a year earlier, according to LexBlog, and between them they run 110 blogs in total (up 49%).
There seems to be no comprehensive list of accountancy firms on either side of the pond, though Michelle Golden's list is rated as about the most comprehensive out there. She identifies 38 accounting firm blogs.
In the UK these include: Mercer & Hole which runs a tax and insolvency blog, Cumulo Accountancy and Taxation, RowePro, PwC which runs a handful, Dennis Howlett, and BDO's Jeremy Newman's whose blog is perhaps the most celebrated of all as it comes from one so senior.
She misses Richard Murphy, Holden Associates, ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza, the Small Practice Accountant and John Tate.
So the UK list does reach double figures but I'd hope and expect for more over the year ahead.
We may look to a list of our own. It would be a very visible measure of the extent to which professionals are using online to engage with clients - new and existing alike.
Feel free to bombard me with links.
Thanks for sharing our research on the number of large law firm blogs. If you do get some numbers together on accounting firms, please let me know. I'd like to share them with my readers, who include professionals beyond the legal industry.
Posted by Kevin OKeefe | April 8, 2008 4:11 PM
This is something upon which I need to respond. Check my place for an update.
Posted by Dennis Howlett | April 9, 2008 4:56 AM
Dennis
I checked your blog and you are right - I did miss a couple (forgive me if I ignore the non-UK ones). It was unforgiveable of me to overlook Philip Woodgate (http://www.sme-blog.net/) as I believe he and his firm Goodman Jones have done a great job. I wasn't aware of Stuart Jones (http://www.3ca.co.uk/) but it looks like he's producing a valuable site too. I'll keep an eye on that one too from here on in.
Thanks
Damian
Posted by Damian Wild | April 9, 2008 12:13 PM
Thanks for the mention Damian.
Just lately I have not been as active as I want, we are in the middle of an office move as well as getting those old files paperless, taking on new clients at a fair click, so lots going on.
Having said all that, once the dust settles I will be back with vengeance on the blog, tackling not only marketing, but also tax, vat, HR and many more subjects, you may even see a few guest bloggers who are specialist in these areas give some of their time and knowledge away for free.
So lots going on at the Holden Associates camp, and we intend to make 2008 a very good year indeed.
As always, always interested in feed back on the blog, and any suggestions on what people would like to see tackled let me know and we will tackle it.
Jason
Posted by Jason Holden | April 9, 2008 6:40 PM
Hi Damian
One other accountancy (more tax) related blog of which I’m aware is written on an ad hoc basis by tax guru Robert Maas, http://twocheersforthechancellor.blogspot.com/
In terms of accountants who blog regularly I would humbly include myself with 3 blogs:
One for ambitious accountants. It's mostly FOR accountants rather than ABOUT accountants - although I often comment on best practice related issues too: http://bookmarklee.wordpress.com (I’ve been updating it regularly for almost 2 years now).
Secondly there’s also my newer tax related blog on http://www.TaxAdviceNetwork.co.uk/blog
this one is clearly focused on tax related issues (again including practice related matters).
And, finally, the most popular (sadly) of my blogs, by a long way,: http://www.Accountant-jokes.com
Mark
Posted by Mark Lee | April 10, 2008 3:48 PM
Thanks Mark. I won't say which of your sites I've just spent most time on.
Posted by Damian Wild | April 15, 2008 8:03 AM
Not all blogs are born equal.
Fresh from the box, every Friday, www.boredaccountant.co.uk
Posted by BAcc | April 16, 2008 10:23 PM
In the last month we've started offering our members a blog feature on our website - http://www.accountantscircle.co.uk/NewsampBlogs/AccountantBlogs/tabid/595/Default.aspx
Not surprisingly, it has been very slow to start even with our own 'sample' member helping pave the way. We see the same with accountants considering alternative or online software, forums and other 'modern technology'.
In preparing our first sample blog, we actually found more blogs out there about accountants NOT blogging than we did actual accountant blogs!
Posted by John Gesch | April 23, 2008 2:41 PM
We are a little late to the debate but don't forget Accrual World (www.accrualworldforaccountants.com).
The blog is meant as a forum to discuss the Sci Fi novel that we have commissioned on a world without accountants but if you are not up to date with all four chapters yet, we do like to gossip about other things too so we welcome views on accountancy topics and beyond.
Posted by The MYOB Blog Team | May 7, 2008 4:28 PM
We are a little late to the debate but don't forget Accrual World (www.accrualworldforaccountants.com).
The blog is meant as a forum to discuss the Sci Fi novel that we have commissioned on a world without accountants but if you are not up to date with all four chapters yet, we do like to gossip about other things too so we welcome views on accountancy topics and beyond.
Posted by The MYOB Blog Team | May 7, 2008 4:29 PM