{"id":82272,"date":"2026-05-04T10:54:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=82272"},"modified":"2026-05-07T10:00:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:00:37","slug":"report-flags-leadership-gap-in-scaling-advice-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/05\/04\/report-flags-leadership-gap-in-scaling-advice-firms\/","title":{"rendered":"Report Flags Leadership Gap in Scaling Advice Firms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Principal advisers seeking to build large, high-margin financial advice firms face a clear trade-off between client work and executive leadership, according to outsourcing firm Vital Business Partners (VBP).<\/p>\n

In a new report on scaling advice businesses, the firm argues founders cannot effectively act as both lead adviser and chief executive once operations reach a certain size. It warns that many fast-growing firms encounter early-stage challenges, including declining earnings, as complexity increases without sufficient management capability.<\/p>\n

The report says this \u201cscaling trap\u201d can be avoided if founders strengthen leadership skills or appoint experienced executives, alongside implementing clearer structures, systems and risk frameworks.<\/p>\n

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Nathan Jacobson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VBP CEO Nathan Jacobsen<\/strong> said firms pursuing growth through mergers, acquisitions, and organic expansion must reduce reliance on key individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cA declining EBITDA margin is not inevitable,\u201d he said, adding that larger firms require stronger capabilities in operational efficiency, governance and strategy.<\/p>\n

Jacobsen, who is also CEO of AZ NGA, said scale can deliver cost efficiencies, improved access to capital and more disciplined growth, but requires sustained investment in people, technology and processes.<\/p>\n

The report \u2013 From Cottage Industry to Professional Companies<\/em> \u2013 draws on the company\u2019s work with advice firms and outlines key risks and considerations for principals weighing expansion, noting that increasing regulatory pressure and compliance costs are driving a broader shift toward scale.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for the full white paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principal advisers seeking to build large, high-margin financial advice firms face a clear trade-off between client work and executive leadership, according to outsourcing firm Vital Business Partners (VBP). In a new report on scaling advice businesses, the firm argues founders cannot effectively act as both lead adviser and chief executive once operations reach a certain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":82275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,3,4474],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-company-news","category-general","category-practice-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}