Adviser to professional services – Meet our expert Max Masters

Max Masters is an Accounts Senior Manager in the Canterbury office and leads on looking after the firm’s professional services clients.

Max joined the firm in 2011 and went on to qualify as a certified accountant. Before joining Kreston Reeves, Max started his working life as a chef, but despite his love of cooking which continues today, he wanted to find a career with more sociable hours.

Max explains: “My wife is a teacher, and it was hard for us to see each other while I was a chef. I decided to look for another career and after a stint in banking, I was lucky to find a role here at Kreston Reeves where I could both train and work.

Kreston Reeves is a great training firm to work in and I’ve worked with a diverse range of business sectors and clients during my time here. I found the lockdowns hard as I really enjoy coming into the office each day and working alongside colleagues. I think you learn so much from each other and hearing how other people approach and resolve issues for clients. I think that’s why I enjoy working with professional services firms as it is all about people and relationships – that’s one of the key things that makes them stand out in their market.

We recently completed the due diligence on a major M&A deal in the sector and I enjoy projects like this with a clear end goal in sight for the client. On a daily basis, I deal with a lot of niche questions about the finances of professional services firms and in particular issues around client money.

Reflections on the professional services sector

Professional services firms are facing a number of challenges at the moment, but it is the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) consultation on client money which is the most immediate and could be the most troubling and lead to a different way of financial working and reporting for many.

The SRA have recently closed a consultation to find out what the wider industry thinks about several changes, including one which would see firm’s losing their ability to hold client money in their bank account.

For many firms, the interest that is earned on these funds has risen significantly over the last couple of years and the SRA is worried that some firms could become more reliant on this additional income, especially for cash flow. This is one of many challenges for the sector so it is important every firm gives thought to how it could affect the future running of their business.

Other challenges for the sector are around succession. Many of our clients, are trying to attract and retain talented people in a hugely competitive jobs market, and this means attracting and training those who will step into partnership and leadership roles in the future is difficult, especially smaller firms. Salary expectations are also much higher now and this is hard for many firms to compete with.

Artificial Intelligence will shape the structure of the sector in the next few years but, in my view, will be led by the larger firms at the top with those changes then filtering down to the rest of the market. It will be a considerable investment for many firms, and they will want to get it right, so they won’t want to invest too soon and find it is in the wrong project. They need to be in a strong financial position to be able to achieve all of this in the future.

There are also questions which the sector itself is asking such as, is the billable hour dead? There is much to consider here such as how that change would be managed, how they monitor ‘fee earner’ performance etc. These are very real concerns. There are changes in the mindset of younger ‘fee earners’, and this a very traditional profession which is going to see a lot of change over the next few years and we are here to support and advise our clients to help them navigate this. It’s a very interesting sector to be working with.”

Max is also involved with helping to train others via the Institute Legal Finance Management course which is aimed at people in industry finance teams and the intermediaries who are supporting law firms. He also sits on the ICAEW Solicitors Advisory Board for the sector helping to shape their response to the SRA consultation. 

To learn more about how our dedicated professional services team can help you and your firm, contact us today.