here’s what you’re looking for: hitendra patil

outlook & analysis

six secret keys to the mind of the entrepreneur

and how accountants can leverage them to be trusted advisors.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc. 

it’s said that accountants are the trusted advisors of their clients. but in reality it’s a myth – as far as business owner clients are concerned.

peer groups, associations, similar business owners, people from the same industry … entrepreneurs don’t listen to anyone else who has not “been there, done that.” they may hear. but they rarely listen.

more on the entrepreneurial accountant: 8 seconds into the future: meet generation z   •   5 reasons gen y will make or break your firm   •   3 ways amazon’s new fire phone hints at the future of accounting   •   the 8 traits creating the firm of the future today   •   get more done, make more money: stop doing these 17 things   •   what shopping habits reveal about accounting clients   •   create your “not-to-do’s” list   •   irs bitcoin rule: 5 things accountants need to know   •   tax season tips: train your brain to focus   •   what the bitcoin phenomenon means for accountants   •   overcoming your clients’ worst fears   •   5 tech tips for reigniting growth   •   a case study in using linkedin   •   accountants and six fundamental human needs   •   client satisfaction starts with ‘likeability’   •   why accounting? your clients want to know   •   what’s next: predictive accounting

after talking to several business owners about what they expect from their accountants, we figured out six key insights into how entrepreneurs think. read more →

outlook & analysis

5 reasons gen y will make or break your firm

and two make-or-break questions for your firm’s future.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

have you heard of “generation y”? anyone who was born between 1980 and 2000 is a millennial and they will be the majority of your staff within the next few years, if not already. they have grown up with technology, the information explosion and diversity. what they studied for their degrees is far vaster than what you studied.

more from this author:  3 ways amazon’s new fire phone hints at the future of accounting  |  the 8 traits creating the firm of the future today  |  get more done, make more money: stop doing these 17 things  |  what shopping habits reveal about accounting clients  |  create your “not-to-do’s” list

simply, they think and act radically different than older generations in at least five ways that are already beginning to reshape the profession. read more →

outlook & analysis

3 ways amazon’s new fire phone hints at the future of accounting

amazon fire phone
amazon fire phone

new tech breakthroughs fuel client expectations.

by hitendra patil
pransform

addressing the question “why would amazon want to sell a mobile phone?,” the harvard business review says the basic principle behind any disruptive innovation is that the fundamental things people try to do in their lives actually change relatively slowly.

the accounting profession has been witnessing a hammer and tongs message about disruptive technologies in the form of cloud-ifying practice management. accounting and tax software long ago debuted on tablets and cell phones. and just when we start to think that nothing really new is coming into the technology market, we start getting hints toward the future.

here are three things that the amazon fire phone can potentially tell the accounting profession and technology vendors: read more →

outlook & analysis

the 8 traits creating the firm of the future today

future informationa cpa firm in san francisco hires programmers! do you?

by hitendra patil
pransform

several discussions across multiple thought leadership groups, industry experts and advisors have boiled down to the crux of the question for the future, i.e.: what is needed by cpa firms to become sustainably successful? what are these traits “the firm of the future” must have? i think there are eight:

1.     redefine profitability

when partners and talented accountants perform routine tasks such as scanning documents and data input, the leverage on intellectual capital reduces. that impacts profitability. and the well-settled definitions of profitability are getting unsettled by technology, new generation thinking and sea change in regulations. efficiency gave you optimal returns in your time. it won’t in the future. your profits will be driven by the effectiveness of your combined intellectual capital (knowledge, wisdom) and your infrastructure (systems, software, communication channels). you will create measurable value for your clients and this value will drive your profits. it is all hinting to a complete overhaul of your pricing strategies, ground up.

trait needed: effectively priced intellectual capital on demand read more →

outlook & analysis

get more done, make more money: stop doing these 17 things

we asked, you responded with some great ideas.

by hitendra patil
pransform

a few days back, i wrote create your “not-to-do’s” list. we got some interesting feedback from accountants. here are some tasks that accountants want to stop doing themselves.

  1. stop fixing the ethernet cables into the router. (get the it guy to do it. or move entirely to cloud.)
  2. stop importing bank statements into quickbooks. (get someone else to populate all data.) read more →
outlook & analysis

what shopping habits reveal about accounting clients

the four flavors of new clients.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

tax season is over and you made it through the home stretch, significantly tired but scraped through!  now is the time to rethink your business model on the new learning from tax season and to restart looking for new clients. you don’t want to create more “c clients” that suck the energy, time and profits like a vortex.

not sure how to estimate the value of your prospects? you may want to learn their shopping habits. read more →

management

create your “not-to-do’s” list

by hitendra patil
pransform

you can call it a “stop doing these” list.

if you have done the “abc analysis” of your clients, you know the best customers who yield highest net profit per unit of effort (generally your time) are your a clients and those who yield the least are your clients. now do the same with your – and your firm’s – activities. read more →

outlook & analysis

irs bitcoin rule: 5 things accountants need to know

item 5: brace for new work.

by hitendra patil
 pransform inc.

you may need to start asking your clients about bitcoin. new irs guidance treats bitcoins and other crypto-currencies not as money, but as property, for tax purposes and applies immediately to all returns. see the full text of notice 2014-21 (pdf).

among other things, the irs advised that:

  • as an employer, if you pay wages in bitcoins:
  • you must report it on a w-2.
  • you must ensure income tax withholding.
  • you must ensure payroll taxes deduction.
  • if you pay contractors and service providers in bitcoins, such payments are taxable and self-employment tax rules generally apply.
  • if you make a payment of $600 or more in a taxable year to an independent contractor for the performance of services, you are required to report that payment to the irs and to the payee on form 1099-misc, miscellaneous income.

read more →

outlook & analysis

what the bitcoin phenomenon means for accountants

it’s time to start to start thinking about the tax and accounting ramifications of digital, virtual currencies.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

bitcoin is virtual currency much in the news these days. it’s peer-to-peer so there’s no central bank or government. but, because it necessarily represents income or asset, it needs to be accounted for and hence will have tax ramifications.

accountants, the irs and accounting software developers are starting to take it seriously. but in the absence of irs rules specific to bitcoin taxability, accountants have to draw upon their knowledge of irs rules that govern income, assets, capital gains or losses, and stock and bond transactions, and apply that corollary to bitcoin ownership and transactions. read more →

client service opportunities

overcoming your clients’ worst fears

how to help them take initiative and allow you to be proactive.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

neuroscience studies have shown that fear is a far bigger driver than we would ever care to admit. according to kevin hogan, author of the science of influence: how to get anyone to say “yes” in 8 minutes or less!, “most people react to the fear of loss and the threat of pain in a much more profound way than they do for gain. they overemphasize the importance of pain by about 2.5:1 in decision making.”

your customers and prospects fear that their actions or inactions will cause bad things to happen, or bad things can suddenly happen to them. it’s therefore important to ask yourself what sort of problems your potential clients are facing during current times. if you can identify their true fears and show them how you can remove the possibility of loss, you are one step ahead of your competitors. read more →

outlook & analysis

5 tech tips for reigniting growth

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

here are five tech solutions, not in any particular order, that you can use now to help improve your revenue and profit:

  1. take a look at opprtunity (no it’s not a typo). it’s a linkedin-based solution, ranked as the no. 4 fastest rising startup on angellist according to silicon valley business journal and mattermark, that uses a scientific approach to match professionals based on a real opportunity to do business. read more →