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how to guide clients through divorce

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three paper hearts: one whole, one crumpled, one tornnine questions to ask about taxes.

by ed mendlowitz
how to build a stronger tax practice

divorce settlement planning attempts to help clients realize the reality of the financial situation and to suggest ways to settling the financial arrangements before extensive, expensive and drawn-out negotiations, depositions and litigation.

more on marketing: how to assist investment clubs | help clients with basic budgeting | help clients manage their investments | when clients remarry | questions for after tax season | help heirs with tax issues | seven questions to suggest estate planning | 28 data points for a financial planning discussion | every client can use financial planning | four reasons to perform tax projections | four additional services to suggest
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who needs this service

divorce today has become commonplace. with 50 percent of first-time marriages ending in divorce it is a good bet that many of your clients are either in the process of getting divorced or considering it. a simple inquiry can tell you where the client is in the process.
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ai is not your enemy

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clients still need context, and that comes from you.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

in 1994, in a small hotel meeting room in colorado springs, 50 accounting firms were up in arms when the presenter mentioned quickbooks. they shouted angry comments: “quickbooks is destroying my business.” “they want to take my clients.” “they are giving people a false sense of security with their commercials that say, ‘if you can write a check, you can do quickbooks.’”

more: put back office support into action | make cybersecurity a client service option | start every engagement with an sla | get the most out of your client meeting | why you need standard naming conventions | how to develop internal procedures | proper workflow demands consistency
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the presenter was nervous and asked me what he was to do. i said i use quickbooks for your company, and i have no idea what i am doing, and i could use an accountant to teach me.
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chatgpt passes cpa exam on second try

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its average score was 85.1.

by rick richardson
technology this week

an improved and better-trained version of chatgpt took a simulated cpa test after an earlier failure and passed, similar to the roughly half of human applicants who fail on their first attempt. but does this trial suggest that chatgpt will soon compete for accounting positions?

more: smartwatch saves two lives | first e-road charges electric vehicles as they drive | stanford scientists 3d-print heart tissue | chatgpt unlikely to replace accountants | cancer vaccine available by 2030? | four of today’s new technologies that will be tomorrow’s ‘norm’ | chatgpt spurs competition in different ways | chatgpt: what it is. why you need to know.
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“this calls into question the ‘competitive advantage’ of the human accountant relative to the machine. to our knowledge, for the first time, ai has performed as well as most human accountants on a real-world accounting task. this raises important questions of how machines and accountants will work together in the future,” the study’s authors said.
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when would-be partners aren’t candidates

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//www.g005e.com/2021/02/17/a-rose-by-any-other-name/what we’ve got here is failure to communicate.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

have you ever wondered what the partners of your firm are looking for from you, beyond your technical abilities?

more: 10 can’t-skip steps for business development | three things that rich accountants do | four reasons it’s hard to sell | eight questions to hold yourself accountable | win your first client: yourself
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

for full disclosure, i am not an accountant, but i have spent decades working with accounting firms of all shapes and sizes in the united kingdom, the united states and europe.
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be wary of discounting prices

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plus some thoughts on branding.

by ed mendlowitz
77 ways to wow!

my father’s largest client was a luggage manufacturer with a national brand sold in specialty luggage stores, but not in department stores.

more: the role of strategy in pricing | how to react to trends | trends are all around us | six kinds of loan covenants | what’s more profitable, raising or lowering prices?
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he did this because he wanted to maintain the selling price, did not want discounting and felt his customer base would be more loyal if they did not compete against the larger stores’ discounting policy. he was very successful and very profitable, but probably not as large as he could have been had he had the volume that department stores would have provided.
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five ways to profit from cas

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businesswoman using a tabletautomation is just a beginning.

by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide

if you feel offering client accounting services will bring in a lesser profit for you compared to the other services you are offering now, you may feel it is not a fit. it may be because you may have experienced others providing a lower rate, lower profitability commoditized services that you believe are actually cas offerings. if so, it is not your fault because there has been a great deal of confusion in the profession about what exactly is cas.

more: think cas isn’t for your firm? | which clients are best for cas | how much can automating bank feeds save you? | wants vs. needs: why not fill both?
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you may still feel that some of the cas components are low-profit services, but those are like essential building blocks that lead to higher value, higher priced and hence higher profit services that you can sell to the same clients. what steps can you take to make cas one of the most profitable service segments for your firm?
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succession planning spells success

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older man pointing out something in a document to a younger colleaguethink it’s too early? think again.

by august j. aquila
what makes a great partnership

it’s no surprise to anyone thinking about retiring or selling a practice today that the number one issue they face is finding someone to take over the practice. there is a definite shortage of buyers and those who are buying are becoming more and more selective. many firms will find that it has now turned into a buyers’ market.

more: firms must plan ahead for partner retirement | retiring partners are valuable assets | nine ways to handle partners with strong views | rate managing partners in six areas | five ways to keep your edge as a leader | managing partner: the toughest job in the world | why partners need written goals
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

there are still a few exceptions out there. first, if you happen to be a very profitable firm in a major market you are lucky. firms will continue to seek you out. second, if you have a very strong niche market presence you can be an attractive acquisition candidate. however, if you are an average firm in a secondary or tertiary market, selling the practice will take more work and time.

here are some ideas to help you plan your succession.
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11 best practices for partner compensation

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bonus: seven systems to allocate income … and who uses them.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

it would take a book much longer than this post to properly explain the finer points of partner compensation, especially how each of the major compensation systems works. oh, did i forget? we wrote such a book, “cpa firm partner compensation: the art and science.”

more: fifteen steps to new partner buy-in | what buying in actually means | how partner and staff actions impact profits | nuts and bolts of mentoring staff | nine ways to measure staff performance on the path to partner | sixteen duties of a partner | five people to keep out of partnership
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best practices and key concepts

as is the case with all of my lists, no one firm incorporates all of these practices in its partner compensation policy. but i have observed all of the practices below in one or more of the best firms i’ve worked with over 20 years.

  1. performance-based. there should be a strong link between pay and performance. when it comes to cpa firm performance and profitability: as the partners go, so goes the firm. the partners have a much greater impact on the firm’s success than professional staff and other personnel. if they perform at a high level, the firm will do the same. if partner performance lags, then the firm will suffer. therefore, the firm needs to motivate the partners to produce at high levels and reward them accordingly. compensation isn’t the best way to motivate anyone’s performance, but it is effective.

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get your name in the news

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10 triggers for free publicity.

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

as a marketing channel, public relations is one of my personal favorites. it includes getting mentioned in news or trade media and publications, having an article you wrote published or reprinted, applying for and winning awards, or otherwise being in the public eye for one reason or another.

more: when you don’t know what you don’t know | five stages of any business | five ideas for summer focus | leverage your client list today | need leads? try a quiz | now’s the time to clean up your email list
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when i started a photography studio several years ago, i sent sample photos of my work along with a letter explaining my business to several news outlets. it was july, and in august, the sunday magazine supplement to the dallas morning news picked up the story and published my samples. they were portraits of cats and dogs, and my phone rang for days. within a week, i was booked through christmas, and my business broke even a year ahead of time because of that one piece of publicity.
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the biggest obstacle to taking your firm upmarket

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executive woman and man in business meetingwho do your referrals come from?

by russ alan prince

moving upmarket refers to working with wealthier clients. the desire to move upmarket is becoming more pervasive and stronger because of many factors, such as economic volatility, increased competition and fee compression. for many accountants to do well going forward, they need to work with wealthier clients. they need to move upmarket.

more: what the wealthy getting wealthier means for your practice | growth during a recession? here’s how | five business models for wealth management | wanna know what clients say about you?
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for a substantial percentage of accountants with high-net-worth practices, they likely have to change their business model to move upmarket. for example, the ultrawealthy – individuals and families with a net worth of us $30 million or greater – commonly require accountants to have a different business model than clients of lesser affluence.
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new aicpa program aims to open personnel pipeline

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young businesswoman talking to her client and using tabletfirms are being contacted to participate.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

as the leaders of cpa firms know quite well, the pipeline of incoming professionals has slowed to somewhere between a trickle and a drip.

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the causes are many:

  • the cost of higher education
  • misconceptions about the profession
  • the difficulty of the cpa exam
  • competition from other professions
  • competition from corporations needing accountants

but not to worry! the american of institute of cpas is on the case!
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how to assist investment clubs

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hands raising wine glasses to toastconsider the contacts you’re making.

by ed mendlowitz
how to build a stronger tax practice

investment clubs are a social activity where people of similar backgrounds or interests

  • get together,
  • contribute funds in a periodic manner and
  • research and discuss suitable investments for the group.

more on marketing: help clients with basic budgeting | help clients manage their investments | when clients remarry | questions for after tax season | help heirs with tax issues | seven questions to suggest estate planning | 28 data points for a financial planning discussion | every client can use financial planning | four reasons to perform tax projections | four additional services to suggest
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

investment clubs invest the money collectively and maintain a single brokerage account with separate records kept within the club.
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10 can’t-skip steps for business development

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young black businessman looking at his reflectionbonus: 10 questions to check your comfort level.

by martin bissett
understanding selling

i’ve been asking you to believe in yourself, to get your potential clients to open up to you, and to demonstrate to them the outcomes that working with you and your firm would create in their personal and professional lives.

more: three things that rich accountants do | make your expertise a new-client magnet | don’t think of it as selling | experts: what it takes to become partner | where is your next money coming from? | your website promises. do you deliver? | five reasons firms don’t thrive | good enough is not enough
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

now here’s a checklist for you to run through before you begin your next business development initiative, and before each new business appointment that you have.
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