Accountants are prone to a raft of common mistakes that hold them back but can be avoided with planning, says Rob Pillans, founder and principal consultant at Planet Consulting. A former accountant himself, Mr Pillans admires the profession "but I do see some things a bit too often that I would love accountants to be doing a bit differently", he said. "I've categorised those things into three broad areas: team, clients, and systems and processes." He said the problems were perennial but getting the team right was always top of the list. "If you don't have that clear vision and direction for the firm that you can articulate to the team or get them involved in building it, go back and start there. Because if you get clear about that it guides a lot of the decisions that get made about the other aspects of the business."