today’s bissett bullet: “if an accountant were to give a sales professional a half-day course on accountancy, how competent would the sales professional be in accounting? now reverse that scenario.”
by martin bissett
you learn as much about how to grow your client base in a half-day training course as i learn about credits and debits in the same timescale. you took four years, at least, to get the qualifications and letters after your name that you have now got. treat sales with the same level of respect. it is also a profession; it is also not mastered in half a day. invest accordingly.
today’s to-do:
take a look at how much support your fee-earning people in the firm have had in the last 12 months on understanding the process of sale, and then invest in more support.
emerging professionals and a gen x cfo explore mentorship, curiosity, and why success no longer wears a suit and tie.
sponsored by “it’s not just the numbers: how to move beyond the numbers and deliver real value for your clients.” by penny breslin and damien greathead. see today’s special offer
when you think of accounting, do you picture spreadsheets and number crunchers locked in back offices? think again.
in a special student-led edition of the accounting arc podcast, high school senior and center for accounting transformation intern arpan grewal joins college accounting student chayton farlee and seasoned professional nealy wheat, cae, sphr, for an energetic and thoughtful conversation about the changing face of accounting—and what it means to succeed today.
wheat, who serves as chief financial and administrative officer of the american society for nondestructive testing (asnt), shares hard-won career wisdom and personal stories to inspire the next generation. but this isn’t your typical “how i made it” narrative. instead, listeners are treated to an open dialogue about failure, growth, curiosity, and the power of building your network early.
“success is not a straight line,” wheat says. “it’s a lattice of opportunities, setbacks, and mentors.” read more →
tax guru art werner doesn’t pull punches—and when it comes to the state and local tax (salt) deduction limits in the proposed “big beautiful bill,” he’s sounding the alarm for tax pros across the country.
“this was the one area under the tax cuts and jobs act that had the most screaming going on,” werner says, referencing the uproar he witnessed during live lectures in high-tax states like new york and california. “they were really angry.”
while early rumors suggested the salt cap might rise dramatically—perhaps even to $40,000—the current proposal sets the limit at $30,000 for married filing jointly and $15,000 for married filing separately, tripling the current $10,000 cap. that might sound like a win… until you read the fine print.
if you recently passed the cpa exam, bar or other professional designation, congratulations. you put a lot of work and time into learning about the technical aspect of your profession.
unfortunately, what they didn’t teach you is how to build a professional practice, gain clients and understand client needs. these talents are just as important as being a good auditor, tax consultant or management consultant. read more →
the accounting profession will never resemble an automotive production line, perhaps for no other reason than we don’t look good in steel-toed boots. we’ll never be widget producers and, from my viewpoint, that’s a good thing. however, our position among the professional class shouldn’t blind us to the benefits of standardizing many of our services.
anyone who has been an accountant for any length of time has certainly seen enough to eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel every time they start a new engagement. an entire firm has even more institutional knowledge to draw from. you can develop reliable and repeatable recipes for different services and deliverables by capturing this institutional knowledge. this is standardization, and it makes your service offerings more efficient, cheaper, consistent and predictable – all good business practices. you’ll be able to predict with better accuracy the time frames required for new projects, and you’ll be able to scope out exactly what will be required to bring the project to a successful conclusion. read more →