client service opportunities

financial services up at largest firms, down at smaller ones

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couple meeting with investment advisor.conflict of interest is one reason smaller firms shy away from rias.

the largest cpa firms are by far the leaders in providing investment advisory services, but the rest of the profession does not appear to be following their lead too closely.

fifty-eight percent of the profession’s largest firms, with more than $20 million in annual fees, offer investment advisory services, up from 51 percent in 2012, and another 9.1 percent were at least somewhat likely to add the services to their menus, according to the “the national map survey of cpa firm statistics: the rosenberg survey.”

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how to tell a client how the fee was set

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aby ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: i performed some additional services for a client and gave her a bill that she questioned and wanted to know how much time i had spent. i billed more than the time charges, but this client never gets time bills – everything i do is on a fixed fee so i never account for my time with her. what should i say now?

more practice doctor q&a: 18 ways to blow a partnership opportunity | when experience doesn’t add up | 8 times when hourly billing trumps value pricing | 6 simple steps to impress a prospect | making meetings more productive | 5 time management tips for an overworked accountant | running an accounting business | 14 ways to switch to value pricing | pricing, billing, costing: don’t blame clients

response: if a client is on a strict time basis, they are entitled to a breakdown of the hours and person performing the services.

otherwise, when clients ask me how i arrived at a bill i tell them something similar to this:

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how accountants get new clients

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angry young woman, blowing steam coming out of earswith client retention the top issue for firms, we go looking for the “secret sauce” for landing new business.
join the survey; get the results

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

if you want some real answers for how to avoid losing clients, just start asking cpas how they’ve managed to pick up new clients.

that’s exactly what we’ve been doing lately. some of the answers are startling. all of them are instructional. most of the time, accountants can blame the cpa that their new clients were abandoned. read more →

10 do’s and don’ts for making small business clients happy

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aby ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: most of my clients are either tax returns or small business clients. the number of individual tax returns grows each year, but i seem to be standing still with business clients. for every new one i get, i lose one. otherwise, i have about a 6 or 7 percent turnover. is there anything i can do to keep them?

response: i think small business clients need extra hand-holding from us because they are really alone.

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readers sound off on liberty, h&r block plans to launch bookkeeping services

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liberty block logosnew strategic ally, or competitive threat?

practitioners are actively debating the effects and impact of h&r block and liberty jumping into the bookkeeping business, as detailed by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间’ hitendra patil here.

“this is an opportunity to highlight quality,” says wesley middleton, head partner at middleton raines in houston. “the only person who has something to worry about are those that are only focused on price.”

not all practitioners agree in the discussion which began at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 and has spilled onto the 20,000-member 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 linkedin group. read more →

6 ways to move beyond compliance services

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dollar concept, financial adviser or finance advisorybecoming a ‘trusted advisor.’

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

here’s a question: what portion of your revenues are derived from compliance work – e.g., tax preparation and irs representation; bookkeeping; quickbooks setup, cleanup and training; payroll; and audit work – versus value-added work, e.g., revenue improvement, business consulting, profit margin analysis and workflow improvement projects?

if you answered 100 percent compliance work and no value-added services, you’re not alone.  there’s a lot of lip service about moving from compliance services to becoming a “trusted advisor.” there’s an equal amount of confusion in how to get started.

here are a few tips to help those of you who want to move in that direction. read more →

5 ways to attract higher-quality clients

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arrow hits target bulls eyefinding the sweet-spot for your target client.

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

many accountants serve clients with extremely small businesses that gross six figures a year or even less. these clients are prone to being price-sensitive and often struggle with budgets and cash flow. if you’re serving these clients, you’re definitely meeting an important need in the marketplace, but you may also start to question your own prices, or worse, under-price your services. read more →

8 essential ingredients for your new client welcome kit

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by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

how you welcome your new client can set the tone for a relationship that could last for years or in the worst of cases, just days. start out on the right foot by looking super-organized (because that’s part of why we get hired anyway) and making it super-easy for a client to get on board with you. the best vehicle for this is a welcome kit. here are eight things that should be in your kit at a minimum: read more →

sound off: accountants see opportunity in obamacare

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bullhorn

in comments, it gets political.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

call it what you will – the affordable care act or obamacare – accountants are calling it opportunity.

when we asked recently, “what’s the future of the professional tax preparation business?” a number of respondents called out the affordable care act.

“i think as aca takes effect we will be busier than ever before,” said jay d. parks of jay d. parks & associates, cpas in edmond, okla. read more →