leadership

show me the margins: six ways to take home more of what you earn this tax season

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options to grow your profits besides raising revenue and lowering costs.

by sandi smith, cpa
 accountant’s accelerator

many accountants these days are anxious to hit the golden $100,000 mark this year.  others are interested in growing their revenues steadily and incrementally.   still others are focused on lowering costs, raising profits from that side of the equation.

sandi smith

more for soloists and small firms:  seven checklist secrets for turning tax season into opportunity season  •  how to stay energized, upbeat, and thinking bigger through busy season • seven ways to wow your prospect • rev up your revenue with these two daily rituals • 10 tips for creating more energy this tax season  • take a cue from venture capitalists: your firm needs a brain trust trinity   •   five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity • rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech

all of these approaches are well and good to help you keep more of what you make, but there are far more options to grow your take-home dollars besides raising revenue and lowering costs.

here are six more ways to get more profit out of your practice: read more →

the 10-step recipe for engagement disaster

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tasty tips from a lousy cook.

by drew west
@deltekdrew

drew west
drew west

you know why i like writing articles?  it keeps me out of the kitchen, where from bachelorhood through fatherhood, i still make any culinary task a bumbling trip down a path of missed ingredients and inaccurate measurements – right to the doorstep of “didn’t-turn-out-like-i-expected.”

why is our local pizzeria on the speed-dial? for those (thankfully infrequent) times when my wife is traveling, and i’m on the hook to keep my two youngsters relatively nourished.

unlike my cooking endeavors, yours in public accounting surely go beyond the simplicity of cold cereal or the occasional peanut-butter sandwich.

today’s modern engagements require delicate management of people, their work, the client’s demands and the firm’s expectations.

read more →

nine ways to create well-behaved tax clients [pro member exclusive]

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help them to do what you want.

ed mendlowitz

by ed mendlowitz
adapted from the 2013 tax season opportunity guide

providing instructions of what a client needs to do must be clear enough so that the client doesn’t call you to find out what to do.

sometimes taking an extra minute to lay out what the client should do can eliminate that call or indecisive moment a client might feel.

the object of the instructions is to have the client do what you want them to do. read more →

the 9 biggest billing mistakes that cost accountants their hard-earned profits

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. . . and what you can do about it.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

a critical measure for accountants – whether they bill either by the hour or a fixed price – is the amount they bill clients each month.  as anxious as many accountants are to raise their revenues, their daily activity often sabotages that goal with the same common billing mistakes.

more for soloists and small firms:  seven checklist secrets for turning tax season into opportunity season  •  how to stay energized, upbeat, and thinking bigger through busy season • seven ways to wow your prospect • rev up your revenue with these two daily rituals • 10 tips for creating more energy this tax season  • take a cue from venture capitalists: your firm needs a brain trust trinity    •   

in this article, i present you with a checklist so you can compare your behavior with the list.  i’ll give some tips on how to break the bad habit, and the rest will be up to you. read more →