internal communications are underrated
ten categories of information your firm needs to manage … and how to make it happen.
by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
management
pcps map: profits and pay lag behind revenue gains at cpa firms
revenue grows 11%. profit trails at 4%. entry-level salaries not ‘competitive.’
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
cpa firm revenues are growing strongly, but profits and entry-level salaries are failing to keep pace, according to new survey data analyzed by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间.
more in surveys & research: firms rev up expansion plans | overcoming the five hurdles to advisory services | research: accounting pros cautiously optimistic about generative ai | why compliance still matters. but it’s not enough. | new businesses mean new business | how to transform your team into trusted advisors
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although the average base salary for new entrants to the profession increased by $5,000 to $50,000 in the fiscal year 2022, this still lags behind comparable pay in fields such as engineering, the aicpa says in commentary accompanying the new 2023 national management of an accounting practice survey, adding "competitive compensation is crucial to firms’ ability to attract talent."
partner accountability: the only two things that really matter
both tax and audit partners can achieve margin goals, but in different ways.
by bill penczak
i was leading a midyear review of the 2023 strategic plan for one of my cpa firm clients, one that has experienced exponential growth (you’re welcome) in the past few years but simultaneously is facing the positives and negatives that accompany rapid growth. as we delved into the goals and objectives in the six strategic areas, it dawned on me that partner focus – and the ensuing measurement and related compensation – should be narrowed to just two things, which i will address in a bit.
more bill penczak: how to boost profits by (omg) sharing the upside | bill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid work | chase birky: overcoming paralysis by analysis | dustin verity: keep an open mind and constantly learn | five ways to put success into succession planning | o.d. lanier: stepping into advisory | secret to success? a growth and abundance mindset | from tax to transformation | five steps to building advisory work | the six essential kpis for managing partners | the great resignation: five reasons accountants are quitting | five tips for better decision-making | your marketing sucks: six reasons why | five global cpa leaders: four survival strategies | are you too generous with your write-offs? | nine smooth moves to build client satisfaction | planning for success in 2021 | re-thinking today’s firm with five global leaders | 5 things your firm should do differently this summer | do you have the guts to beat the covid crisis? | how to inoculate your firm against covid competition | ‘found money’ delights clients | don’t buy a rolodex, buy a process | the three r’s for beating the corona crisis | 6 reasons why your marketing sucks
the polar opposite of this kiss approach was the managing partner of a $100 million-plus firm that wound up being gobbled up by one of the supernationals almost 10 years ago. he was brilliant – he could look at an excel spreadsheet and, in “rain man” fashion, immediately identify wrong entries or formulas. (for those readers on the younger age spectrum, “rain man” was an academy award-winning film from 1988 starring dustin hoffman and tom cruise.) being the king of excel, this managing partner had created a 20-column rating sheet for each partner to measure their performance. in the words of one partner at the time, “there was so much detail, we didn’t even know what to focus on.”
time for wapner, indeed.
stop clients from performing “favors”
“oh, you shouldn’t have.” (you really, really shouldn’t have.)
by frank stitely
the relentless cpa
we all have clients who bring in tax documents in laminated three-ring binders. they smile big toothy grins and tell us how they’re our most organized client. there’s no reason for us to organize the documents, as they’ve already done us this huge favor. of course, there will be no reason for us to remove anything from the binder and everything should be left in the binder just as it is.
more: who needs fall tax planning? clients … and you | it’s ok to say no to clients (even the large ones) | you train your clients, whether you mean to or not | business owners face one of three exits | how small firms can win the talent wars | do you know your turnaround time?
we call these people binder boys. they have no clue that organized for them is not organized for tax return preparation. preparing a return from documents in a binder takes twice as long, at least, as preparing returns from a well-organized pdf file.
we also have the people who use five pounds of staples to organize 20 pages. they don’t want any loose documents falling out of the file.
read more →
disturb the present to improve the future
five suggestions to help you compete.
by marc rosenberg
the rosenberg practice management library
to thrive in today’s tough and fast-changing market, accounting firms must become more agile and adaptable than ever before. but what are the characteristics of an agile, adaptable, quick-learning cpa firm? and how do you get that way?
more: new partners must be impact players | why partners can’t shirk performance reviews | what firms should address in partner agreements | 11 best practices for partner compensation | why buying into a firm is such a great investment | the business side of cpa firms | it shouldn’t take so long to make partner | three types of skills you need to become a partner
my initial, somewhat amusing (probably just to me) thought was the credo for little league umpires (who in many communities are 14-18 years old):
be mobile.
be assertive.
be loud.
it may have more relevance to what follows than either of us might initially think.
would you buy your own services?
don’t expect potential clients to if you don’t know what sets you apart.
by steven e. sacks, cpa, cgma, abc
do you ever wonder why after spending many hours on drafting, editing, proofing, and polishing—and proofing and polishing just once more—your engagement proposal efforts did not result in winning the engagement? and if this happens on a semi-regular basis, the frustration is never easier to take.
more steve sacks: how do you value your most important asset? | how to build a winning proposal | six ways to fix your firm agreement | the great resignation or a reshuffling? | listen to learn | build the framework to a solution with five answers | try for success, not a win
you may have the requisite knowledge, experience, and perhaps even a broad view based on a diverse set of clients. however, you may have become complacent by maintaining a “cookie-cutter” approach to developing your proposals. like the old joke defining a consultant: “a person who takes off your watch, tells you the time, and gives the watch back to you,” implies an approach that you believe is best for your potential client, yet reflects no understanding of what the client actually needs.
strengthen client ties with workflow tools
bonus: a solution for authentication code headaches.
by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers
managing tasks and workflow through email, handwritten notes, telephone messages or walking down the hall is a recipe for disaster. a web-based tasking app, preferably linked to your document management system, allows the back office support to inspect what they expect:
- recurring tasks done on time and accurate load leveling of resources
- audit trail of work
- set up, review, make notes, share information and complete tasks while maintaining the relationship with the client
more: decoding accounting tech (and all those acronyms) | do your apps play well with others? | it’s ok to have favorite clients | ten questions for teamwork | yes, you can be an outsourcer
tasking applications come on the market regularly and there are a few that are specific to the accounting industry. they can run the gamut in price ranges and capabilities. from advance flow to 17 hats, a firm large to small can find one that will work and fulfill 80 percent of their needs. below are some we work with and that get high reviews with our staff:
read more →
chris vanover: question the why or stay with the status quo
challenge yourself to do things differently.
subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).
the disruptors
with liz farr
chris vanover is on a mission “to make accounting and auditing better.”
initially, auditclub helped firms mainly with quality control, but over time that grew into offering fractional support on a subscription basis to audit firms that can’t find the talent they need.
more podcasts and videos: jason deshayes: what we’re doing isn’t working | heather satterley: you’ve got to meet people where they are | bill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid work | sandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow | jody padar: build a practice that works for you, not vice-versa | ira rosenbloom: with m&a, nobody wants a fixer-upper | peter margaritis: the power skills every accountant needs | joe montgomery: find the sweet spot of the right clients, right services and right prices | marie green: your bad apples are ruining you | megan genest tarnow: hire for curiosity rather than compliance | clayton oates: one way to keep clients for life | randy crabtree: follow these three rules to keep employees happy | erik solbakken: yes, you can work less and make more | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshift | jennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone loves | mike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practices | hector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be free| private equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinson | when financial statements go extinct with corey schmidt | can geraldine carter save accountants from themselves? | re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson
audit firms are challenged to plan a year or even a month out, so auditclub offers members weekly access. this weekly flexibility allows auditclub to take a concierge approach to help their member firms out a week at a time. plus, vanover may have the secret sauce to getting employees to perform at their optimum levels daily.
it’s okay to say no to clients (even the large ones)
working with “smaller” clients can often be more rewarding – and profitable – than “big” clients.
by frank stitely
the relentless cpa
there’s a reason you aren’t actively training clients to allow you to work efficiently. you’re afraid that you’ll lose clients.
i guarantee that you will.
more: control your time: avoid ambush meetings and calls | get clients to bring tax docs early … yes, early | why time tracking still matters | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm | do you know your turnaround time?
clients have trained you to be inefficient. they’ll resist retraining. some of them will leave and infect someone else’s practice.
the reason you fear losing clients is that you fear you can’t replace them.
printer ink: not just expensive, but a blatant scam?
are you really sure how much ink you’re buying?
by rick richardson
technology this week
those incredibly cheap entry-level printers you find when sorting your options by “price lowest” can be very alluring if you’re in the market for a new inkjet printer. however, don’t assume it shows you’re getting a good deal.
more: bill gates behind next-generation nuclear plant | your boarding pass could onboard hackers | generative ai coming to microsoft 365 | electronic skin that can sense touch will transform robotics | chatgpt passes cpa exam on second try | stanford scientists 3d-print heart tissue | four of today’s new technologies that will be tomorrow’s ‘norm’ | cyber insurance costs rise in health care as attacks soar | phishing attack hackers have a new trick
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.
just as a drug dealer can offer a cheap initial “sample” to get you hooked before raising the price on all subsequent transactions, printer manufacturers use a similar business strategy. they can easily make up any loss from the printer’s discounted sale by offering its ink cartridges for exorbitantly high prices. the printer firms then keep you on the hook for paying these outrageous ink rates for the duration of the printer, which is a very lucrative revenue stream for them.
let’s take a closer look …
read more →
the 7 categories of cybersecurity solutions firms need
how important are wisp and employee awareness? just ask the irs or the ftc.
by donny shimamoto, cpa, citp, cgma
on cybersecurity for accountants
center for accounting transformation
historically, finding cybersecurity solutions “right-sized” for the small and mid-sized business space was difficult. most of the technologies were expensive and difficult to implement, and their price points weren’t reasonable for organizations with under 25 people. it’s only been within the last five years that we’ve seen solutions mature and evolve enough to be delivered via the cloud at a price point that makes sense for smaller organizations.
more: how hacker-proof is your firm? | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshift | ai, ocr, nlp & cpas: oh my! | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers | early adopters gain an edge in audit | dustin wheeler: for serious cas success, hire tech teams | csr for cpas: the missing ingredient | donny shimamoto explains how ‘agile’ applies to cpa firms | staff retention for remote workers | why the future is in risk advisory | ready for non-cpa “cpa” firms?
to check if your policy addresses all of the requirements, take our cybersecurity compliance self-assessment for tax practitioners at: improvetheworld.net/cyberselfassessfortaxbook
with the covid-19 pandemic and the adoption of remote work increased cybersecurity threats, the cybersecurity industry has stepped up and made solutions much more affordable and easier to implement. these solutions still require some technical knowledge to install, but there is much less maintenance, and they now make economic sense even for sole practitioners. read more →
five ways your cas practice traps you
know the pitfalls … and how to avoid them.
by w. michael hsu, cpa
are you working tirelessly but not seeing the benefits and results you deserve? essentially, do you feel trapped in the cycle of your business? if so, you’re not alone.
more: review your cas: when, what, how | be serious about ai, not amused | how to offer proof to cas prospects | how to market cas to existing clients | 12 cas profitability killers | how weekly cas reports help businesses | cas: much more than bookkeeping
many firm owners, as well as the entrepreneurs they serve, feel exhausted by their business, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
in this article, we’ll identify common signs that your business is trapping you, and show you how to optimize for freedom. by addressing these issues and implementing some simple strategies, you can reduce stress, achieve more and live a life you love.
stop non-tax season service requests
“i know you’re busy, but …”
by frank stitely
the relentless cpa