chris hervochon: be the leader you want to work for

avoid the mental gymnastics required to switch between customers in different industries and niche your services.

this is a preview. the complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to pro members. 

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: applegooglespotifyiheartdeezer, amazon music and audibleplayer fmaudacygaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

the disruptors
with liz farr

chris hervochon is building his firm, better way cpa, “in a very specific way, for our tribes.” he explains, “not everyone needs to be our customer, not everybody’s our tribe, not everybody needs to be our employee.” leading with their core values, the process for bringing on new customers and new employees “weeds out the bad or the potentially poor fit customers,” which, in turn, helps with managing their time, the most valuable thing they have.

more podcasts and videos: ira rosenbloom: don’t merge for the moneyadam lean: get out of the accountant’s trapgeraldine carter: charging more is better for your clientsvimal bava: when working smarter, not harder, is the only option | dawn brolin says grow your firm by shrinking itjason blumer & julie shipp: move leaders out of client service | james graham: drop the billable hour and you’ll bill morekaren reyburn: fix your marketing and fix your business | giles pearson: fix the staffing crisis by swapping experience for education | jina etienne: practice fearless inclusionbill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid worksandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow |

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

his tribe includes marketing agencies, which he started working with by accident. then, one day, he realized that “i like working with these people. they need help. their model fits into what i’m doing. they’re professional services. they work roughly the same way that i do.” so he leaned into his niche.

read more →

how accounting staffing has changed

businesswoman sitting on table while talking with four coworkers

and two major drivers of that change.

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm staff: managing your #1 asset

“treat people as they are and they will remain as they are. treat people as they can be and should be and they will become as they can and should be.” – goethe

“you see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up, such as dressing and the proper way of speaking and so on, the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she’s treated. i shall always be a flower girl to professor higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl. but i know i can be a lady to you, colonel pickering, because you always treat me as a lady and always will.” – eliza doolittle in “my fair lady”

more: thirteen traits of partners you’ll want to keep | six rules for keeping partners happy and productive | why strategic thinking impacts your firm’s future | seven things good firms must do | five ways to separate accounting winners from losers | two factors determine firm profitability | don’t make firm profitability a goal | core values: why your firm needs them | five keys in compensating new managing partners | top 20 tough choices for the partner comp committee | voting on ownership basis? three better methods | what partners do and don’t deserve
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the ancient greek philosopher heraclitus said: “there is nothing permanent except change.” people fly and drive cars instead of using horses and carts. technology has replaced calculators, slide rules and the process for writing books. food is purchased at grocery stores instead of grown on farms.

drastic changes have occurred in the cpa industry as well. one of the biggest areas of change is how staff are managed and treated, as shown by this chart.
read more →

archos advisors: a structured approach to change management

innovation insights: effective change management strategies include understanding human nature, scaling and ranking people dependence, and addressing resistance. 

center for accounting transformation
center for accounting transformation

innovation insights
with donny shimamoto

center for accounting transformation

in a rapidly evolving business landscape, managing change effectively is crucial for organizational success. in the latest episode of innovation insights, donny shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma, hosts diane brown, managing principal, and david graham, principal, from archos advisors, to explore the importance of change management in driving performance and innovation.

more donny shimamoto

“organizations don’t change; it’s the people within them that change,” says brown. this statement encapsulates the essence of change management, which brown defines as applying a structured approach to transition an organization from its current state to a desired future state to achieve specific outcomes.

read more →

here’s how profit sharing improves your firm

pay for performance to reap greater rewards.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

as long as you’re changing how your firm operates, you should also look at how your staff is compensated. if your customers are paying for value, shouldn’t your teams be paid on the same basis? once your firm turns to a value paradigm, the people delivering the knowledge work – your staff – are your most valuable asset and should be compensated as such.

more: five areas to ground new metrics other than time | five reasons to ditch timesheets for good | six steps to creating a standardized practice | value pricing requires defining your clients | stop selling time | three critical factors drive the value pricing trend | stop looking for talent that does not exist
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

it’s all about alignment. clients pay on value. staff should be compensated on value. there are proven ways to make sure this alignment takes place.

read more →

turnover timebomb: 4 of 5 senior managers at risk

and seven ways to overcome staffing issues.

by hitendra patil

the talent crisis in the accounting profession has been relentless, and it now seems that the staffing issues are moving up the ladder.

more hitendra patil here
more on staffing here

the preliminary results of the inaugural accountants professional satisfaction survey show nearly two in five directors and senior managers at accounting firms report dissatisfaction. only one in four seniors are highly satisfied. on the other hand, one in three managers are dissatisfied at their firms, and only 17 percent are highly satisfied.

read more →

are client services a fourth-rate priority?

bar chart

there are a few barriers hindering expansion.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

when the thomson reuters 2024 state of tax professionals survey asked 500 professionals in tax and accounting firms what their top priorities were, client services came in fourth, behind efficiency/automation, talent retention/hiring, and pricing/revenue.

more: revenues rising as pricing models evolve | 150 credit hours: helping or hindering? | can’t recruit? retain! | the accountant as a strategic business partner | report: efficiency still the top priority for accounting firms | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

note how the top three all might be included in a category called “getting your act together.” they basically deal with fine-tuning the accounting firm machine.

putting that machine to work aims at offering more or better client services and, the fifth priority, growing the practice.
read more →

eight questions that target personal accountability

young man facing image of himself

what are you selling on?

by martin bissett
business development on a budget

the secret to overcoming failure to correctly implement a successful business development strategy is by “winning your first client” and this starts by being accountable to someone for your performance.

more: how to prepare for partnership | stop waiting for business to come to you | four key questions about leadership | showing leadership through customer service | the real math behind the sales pipeline | keep business development going during busy season | walk the commitment walk | two steps toward mastering selling | thirteen ways to show commitment | clients can’t grow without you | seven mistakes in winning new fees | how to develop your communication abilities | five questions for measuring partner potential

 

now that “someone” may be your fellow partners in the firm. if you are a senior manager, that may be the partner to whom you report.
read more →

is nasa about to make air travel cheaper?

a larger fan and a smaller core can produce the same thrust with less fuel and air pollution.

by rick richardson
technology this week

a team of nasa specialists isn’t aiming for the stars with their ground-breaking jet engine core design, which is now under development. instead, the hybrid aircraft engine might result in a 10 percent reduction in fuel consumption for earth-based travel on future passenger aircraft.

it’s a component of a clever concept that aims to reduce air pollution and travel expenses.

more: startup creates legolike brick that can store air pollutionyour brain can store 10 times more than anyone thoughthow many ev charging stations will we need?google launches new private space featuremicrosoft discovers a security flaw impacting android apps | what is an ai pc, and should i get one?fool’s gold may not be so foolish nowai-engineered enzyme could be solution to plastic pollution | german researchers develop ev motor with no rare-earth magnets | ai named the highest-paying in-demand tech skill for 2024
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

aerospace is working with general electric to design the engine. it will use a larger fan and a smaller core, emphasizing sustainability and efficiency. read more →

four questions to make your firm more successful as a business

where on the spectrum of accounting firms do you want to operate?

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

many firms limit their consideration of businessmindedness to the narrow focus of growing their top line. however, generating sufficient revenue to cover costs and generate profit is only a baseline measure for businessmindedness.

more: move to advisory and assurance with relevance | how ‘business expert cpas’ get their own business wrong | exceptional audit client service demands effective communication | five ways to prevent audit bottlenecks | how do we drive relevance in audit? | lack of relevance drives audit commoditization | four basic understandings every auditor must master | wanted: great audit mentors
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the inward component of businessmindedness concerns how the firm operates. this includes the kinds of projects and clients the firm takes on. to provide relevance, you need to consider whether your firm can deliver on relevance for a particular engagement or client and whether that work makes sense for your firm.

read more →

two options for collecting past due fees

you can do more work, but under certain conditions.

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice

question: client didn’t pay his bills to me, doesn’t return my phone calls and his secretary keeps sending me the tax notices he gets with notes of “when are you going to take care of them?” i tell her that i need the client to call me before i can do any more work and she ignores this and keeps sending me the notices and other tax correspondence he gets.

more: you can’t win with lowballing | nine reasons not to specialize | hiring experience vs. training inexperience | a friendly chat or a billable discussion? | when selling a firm to staffers is tricky | courting a client? don’t give too much away for free | nine tips for a healthier tax season | fifteen strategies for first-time supervisors | measure knowledge gaps (then close them) | should you offer financial services? | ready to retire? selling your practice is no strategy | 20 things you need for a business valuation
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

i don’t want to tell him i am dropping him because then i don’t think i’ll ever be paid. every year he goes on extension and he usually pays me half of what he owes when he sends me his tax info, but the past due amount has really accumulated to about three years’ fees. what should i do about getting paid?
read more →

revenues rising as pricing models evolve

bar chart

boosting your bottom line could come down to better billing.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

one thing cpa practices aren’t complaining about is revenue. according to a thomson reuters survey conducted in the first quarter of 2024, 72 percent of 500 respondents say their firms’ revenues increased over the previous 12 months.

more: 150 credit hours: helping or hindering? | can’t recruit? retain! | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | seven enticements to keep talent on board | disruptors: talent crisis? what talent crisis? | seven steps to a stronger future | auditing standards ‘yellow book’ updated | compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

average increase: 24 percent.

not bad, if you like money.
read more →