Where Were We When They Needed Us?

I firmly believe that most small (micro?) businesses and medium sized businesses need professional advice on their operations in an amount greater than they tend to seek. These businesses and the owners who run them tend to view that type of advice as "for the big guys" and/or too expensive to get. As accountants, particularly on the tax side (as we don't have the independence rules that the auditors do), we need to be delivering the advice whether they ask it or not, sometimes. We are their "most trusted advisor"!? We see how they are operating. We notice when they are slow to pay. We see when they are cutting staff or looking for other ways to reduce cost. In short, we know when there is business stress. It is in our interest to address these problems before they get out of control with our clients. We need to this more and, sometimes, even if they don't ask us too. We don't need our clients wondering "Where were they when we needed them?"