few concerns weigh more on the minds of accountants than the desire to satisfy, and retain, clients. as cpa firms look to build client loyalty and grow profitability, a new cch nationwide survey – the 2010 cch accounting firm client survey – pinpoints what’s most important to keeping accounting firm clients, and why they leave. the independent survey commissioned by cch, a wolters kluwer business, was issued to accounting firm clients including individuals and small, mid-size and large businesses.
the most successful client companies have taken a stronger line with audit fee negotiation in the past year but without jeopardizing good auditor relationships. they succeed by being open and communicating guidelines early on in the relationship, which is a recurring theme in the six ways to strengthen your hand in negotiating with external auditors:
1. use an integrated sarbanes-oxley/financial statement audit. this is now significantly less expensive both in absolute fees and hourly rates, as noted above. some clients have told us that their auditors are unwilling to negotiate an integrated fee but most confirm success with all big four auditors. read more →
many studies show that much of the message that people perceive from you comes from your body language and tone of voice.
to get your associates, employees and clients to like you, trust you and respond to you favorably you need to be sensitive to the messages your body is conveying.
many people when trying to persuade, motivate and influence others are at a disadvantage because they think their verbal skills are all that matter. little do they realize that people are consciously or unconsciously perceiving what you are saying by observing your body language.
to get an “almost unfair” advantage in your business or organizations and exploit your opportunities, follow the s.o.f.t.e.n. strategy to make yourself more approachable, likeable and trustworthy:
organizations with strong learning culture have 37 percent greater employee productivity, are 32 percent more likely to be first to market and are 17 percent more likely to be market leaders in their segment, according to bersin & associates’ 2010 study high impact learning culture.
the same research shows that most companies do not understand this area well, despite the opportunity to drive tremendous performance improvements with almost no additional expense.
the challenge is that a company’s learning culture isn’t “owned” by any one organization — not learning and development, not hr, not a specific business leader. the research shows, however, that leadership and management play a major role in influencing culture. thirty-two of the top 40 best practices are directly owned by executives or line managers, not l&d.
but how do you get their support for learning and development programs? read more…
while the economy is slowly recovering, a fresh analysis by hewitt associates, the human resources consulting and outsourcing company, shows employee engagement and morale in the workplace are not.
almost half of organizations around the world saw a significant drop in employee engagement levels at the end of the june 2010 quarter, the largest decline hewitt has observed since it began conducting employee engagement research 15 years ago.
market share: firms with six or more preparers (2009 data)
of the 17 products identified for the survey, drake and thomson reuters’ ultratax cs were in a virtual tie for first place for the highest overall rating.
drake scored highest, a 4.44 on a scale of 1–5, just a nose ahead of ultratax cs at 4.43.
market share: firms with five or fewer preparers (2009 data)
the results repeat the 2009 survey in which drake and ultratax also tied for top spot in loyalty, and lacerte came in third, while gosystem trailed the rest of the field.
the aicpa noted a rise in the percentage of respondents who disliked the price of their packages and a rise in the percentage of respondents turning to chat for technical support.
meanwhile, vendors are moving as fast as they can to migrate their products to the cloud amid stiff doubts from practitioners.
before they were famous, and sometimes after, too… these celebrities were accountants.
john grisham, author of a time to kill, the firm and many other exciting novels, received his undergraduate degree in accounting from mississippi state university.
before he was lead singer in the rolling stones, mick jagger studied to be an accountant at the london school of economics.
singer janet jackson studied to be an accountant.
j walter diemer, an accountant for the fleer corporation in the 1920’s, tinkered with gum recipes in his spare time and created a chewy, rubbery substance better known as bubble gum.
funny man bob newhart started out in accounting.
former texas rangers manager kevin kennedy, a cpa, did his players’ tax returns to make extra money when he managed in the minor leagues.
track sensation marcus o’sullivan passed the cpa exam.
tim dubois, known as “the singing accountant,” wrote the alabama hit “love in the first degree,” the jerry reed hit, “she got the goldmine, i got the shaft,” and the vince gill hit, “when i call your name.” he is currently the president of arista records in nashville.
luca paciolo wrote the first book on double-entry accounting in 1494. he is frequently referred to as the father of accounting. he’s still a hot commodity today.
when hernando cortes landed in the new world, he brought horses, soldiers – and his accountant, alonso de avila. as a reward for excellent service, de avila was made the first mayor of veracruz, in what is now mexico.
j. p. morgan got his first wall street job as a junior accountant. five years later he founded his own company.
ray wersching, the ex san francisco 49er field goal kicker, was a cpa during the off-season.
establishing a presence on facebook, twitter, and linkedin is more about social marketing than sales. if you have a business, you should have a facebook page. you should be linkedin. but understand the reasoning before you get started.
first things first: know that you most likely are not going to get a new client by simply establishing a presence on social media venues, facebook, twitter, and linkedin. these media are more about social marketing than sales. think virtual networking. if you have a business, you should have a facebook page. you should be linkedin. but understand the reasoning before you get started. it might result in a very different approach than originally thought.
bergstein, cpa.citp and director of strategic relationships for cch, poses two good questions:
1. are cpa firms ready to “relinquish applications to a cloud environment?”
and
2. how can it partners and directors be taken more seriously as “strategic members of the firm, rather than non-billable maintainers of hardware and software.”
the answer is critical at this moment in the development of cpa firm competitiveness. if only the it “guys” (and “gals,” of course) understand the transformational potential of cloud computing, then many firms will be left behind.
bergstein’s post has already attracted some heavy-duty attention from major industry figures.
randy johnston dismisses the fears of security, saying, “cloud providers often have better security than is maintained by accounting firms themselves.”
dr. bob spencer differs a little: “the cloud cannot be looked at as the right choice for all.”
val steed is distinctly worried: “we are headed for a bandwith wakeup call this tax season. firms that move to the could must be able and willing to deal with the cloud going down… for most firms i still think lans are the solution until we can solve the bandwidth issues… “
roman kepczyk addresses the concerns of it managers head-on: “with the increased interest in cloud computing and the perception that many applications can run just as well externally, i believe that internal network administrators will find it even more difficult to position themselves as a “strategic asset” without individually identifying, analyzing, and promoting solutions that increase firm productivity. we would encourage them to attend the association meetings, where they have the opportunity to network with peer administrators to identify what is making firms more effective and capturing the information to bring back to their own firms.”
how to plan for the age of “persistent uncertainty.”
janice dipietro
by rick telberg
in a world of “persistent uncertainty,” the ability to remain nimble, to detect oncoming events, to learn quickly from experience and to respond with agility may mean the difference between success or failure for a business, according to a leading cfo strategist.
“there are more questions than answers,” says janice dipietro, national managing partner of consulting services at tatum llc, the cfo services provider now owned by spherion corp., the staffing agency.
at your next performance review, tell your boss you want to stretch yourself and the firm to improve in marketing and selling effectiveness.
1. diagnose your firm’s barriers to marketing and selling effectiveness. this means you operate from facts. a good idea is like charm . . . too easily brushed aside. read more →
in today’s uncertain market, accounting firms must be especially agile and adaptable to survive. they must be real “learning organizations.” but what are the characteristics of an agile, adaptable, quick-learning cpa firm? and how do you get that way?
we’ve been asking experts throughout the profession, and here’s one answer.
1. i think the first important aspect of building a “learning organization” is accepting the fact that the only constant in life is change. yet just about everyone resists this to some extent. we’re all guilty of doing this at some point in our careers. the key is to realize change is inevitable. as lee iacocca the former chairman of chrysler corporation back in the 80’s said, “lead, follow or get out of the way “
would you be interested in motivating the members of your organization to change in a way that would encourage them to take ownership of their role and show responsibility for the success of themselves, their team members, their division and the entire organization? here are some helpful tips to do just that. i strongly encourage you to consider trying just one of the following actions today and see what happens:
1. communicate your company’s core values often. (you do know what they are don’t you?) post your organization’s core values everywhere you can: cafeteria/lunchroom, in your internal newsletters, on your website, at the login site of your intranet, etc.
