today's features

ai means clients need you more than ever

businesswoman in wheelchair meeting with potential client

four ways to prepare.

by hitendra patil
rise of the aiccountants

we have discussed that ai-powered functions will become more potent with time. it will not feel like an overnight apocalypse, provided you are keeping yourself abreast of the progress of artificial intelligence in the accounting profession.

more: seven changes ai brings to accounting | humans beat ai in some aspects | why accountants should embrace artificial intelligence | ai brings opportunities for accountants | seven things you must know about ai
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but how exactly can you prepare for the era when ai metamorphoses your work?

before entering the new ai-powered era, let us figure out what is happening now.
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accounting jobs back on the rise

line chart
overall accounting profession employment

 

tax prep is an exception.

by beth bellor

the accounting profession has regained some ground in the most recent jobs data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research. there are 1,162,100 people employed in the field, up 4,400 or 0.4 percent for the month and 30,400 or 2.7 percent for the year. the figure is just 1,200 shy of the record set in july.

 

more: staff wages hit record high | despite staffing crunch, firms freeze pay raises | tax & accounting firms grow for 9th straight month | tax & accounting profession grows, but wages don’t | tax and accounting pay advancing at 5.9% pace | accounting jobs up 4% for year
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nationally, overall employment – total nonfarm payroll – increased by 216,000 the same month, pegging unemployment at 3.7 percent. professional and business services added 13,000.

accountants are putting in 36.2 hours weekly – the highest mark since october 2022 – up half an hour or 1.4 percent for the month and 12 minutes or 0.6 percent for the year.
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bissett bullet: remember the golden rule

today’s bissett bullet: “please do not talk to your clients and prospects about services but rather the achievement of their desired objectives and outcomes.”

by martin bissett

despite us having discussed this subject earlier on, nevertheless you will already have forgotten about it because it takes time to form a habit. remember the golden rule. people buy outcomes and people buy you. is your approach from a personal meeting perspective and a firmwide marketing perspective, demonstrating that you are the right person to work with and that you are focused on creating outcomes that they want to see realized?

today’s to-do:

if your website talks more about your services than it does about your results, change it today.

see more bissett bullets here

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are you crossing off your business bucket list?

a vintage wooden bucket with metal ring supports and a handle and a aged paper attached to the front that reads "bucket list"if you don’t dream big, who will?

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

do you have a business bucket list?

more: three money leaks and how to plug them | seven steps to keeping your clients forever | give to receive, and eight more ways to boost sales | five things that clients don’t know about accountants | five ways to wow your clients | how to fight feeling overwhelmed | you’re missing 60% of your revenue | beyond compliance: six tips for adding value | another year, another chance
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did you see the movie “the bucket list”? morgan freeman and jack nicholson played men who didn’t have too long to live. they each wrote up a bucket list, a list of things they wanted to do or accomplish before they kicked the bucket (as we say in the south).
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irs plays whac-a-mole with the phones

frazzled woman yelling at two phone receivers

what, just moving the resources around doesn’t work?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the internal revenue service did a dismal job of answering phone calls in 2021, struggling to pick up the toll-free 1040 phone 11 percent of the time it rang. a year later, that number leaped to a still-dismal 29 percent.

more: ten irs problems that need solutions | treasury ig sees progress at irs | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | tax pros are expanding and earning more | with fresh funding, irs shows service improvements | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks
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so janet yellen did what any treasury secretary would do: she gave the irs a swift kick in the 1040 and committed the service to answering at least 85 percent of calls in 2023 and cutting wait times in half.

and the irs’s customer service representatives did it! yay, right?
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how to assess needs for a client proposal

businesswoman using a tablet

use an anticipatory set to make things easier for both sides.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

in 2000, our company created a quickbooks training dvd. the owner wanted it done professionally and hired a movie company and rented a studio. the rfp went out. all proposals received had a fee for discovery.

more: how to maximize on-site client meetings | use timesheets for productivity, not billing | revisit your back office support procedures | federated search: what it is, why it matters | accounting tech tools to minimize your pain | do your apps play well with others? | it’s ok to have favorite clients | ten questions for teamwork
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today, if you were to hire a development team to create, update or install code, they would charge you a certain amount for discovery before they would do any actual coding. what you are paying for is the development of the anticipatory set and a clear definition of the scope.
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fifteen strategies for first-time supervisors

partners should set staff up for success.

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

question: my boss asked me to call you. i am a staff accountant with five years’ experience. i am having a lot of stress trying to manage everything i have to do. i am juggling supervising people i don’t know how to supervise, being managed less by those above me and having to figure out more for myself – including things i never did before or in industries i never worked on previously, keeping current with changes in accounting rules and taxes (because i am more like a generalist and clients ask me everything), never seem to have any free time, juggling my schedule because most of my clients are never ready when they say they will be and being accountable to my boss for everything i do plus what the staff working under me does.

more: no one listens to you? change how you talk | free consultation? not always | referral fee? forget it | how much is your tax practice worth? | merge in lower-priced work without losing out
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so how do i do it all? how can i prioritize all my responsibilities?

response: wow! deep question! it seems there is very little written for “entry-level” supervisors. but plenty for people already doing it.
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wealth management calls for a team of experts

five businesspeople shaking hands under a skylight

you don’t know everything … and you don’t need to.

by anthony glomski
your $5 million high-net-worth practice

by now, you’ve gained a solid understanding of the many financial issues and challenges that your clients face, especially entrepreneurs who may be approaching a liquidity event. what’s more, you have seen the process that goes into addressing those challenges in a manner that coordinates each client’s entire financial life – from their investments through their broader non-investment issues. it’s not just about their taxes and their company’s financial statements.

more: how a virtual family office can serve your wealthy clients | there’s more to giving than tax implications | eight questions for estate planning | clients who don’t listen | how to outline your client’s big picture | target the family ceo | how to implement collaborative wealth management
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as you seek to implement solutions in these areas, consider all the tasks that must be accomplished in order to maximize the probability of achieving what is most important to your clients and their families. among other responsibilities, it is essential to do the following seven steps:
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four steps to a successful email marketing campaign

promote your consulting services as products.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

we’ve discussed marketing tools, how they can be divided into three main types (one-way messages, two-way messages, and one-on-one messages), and what each type will accomplish. in this post i will examine using email and show you how to make it effective.

more: three types of marketing message, and which is best | six ways to market your technology consulting practice | sixteen marketing activities to try | the four steps of your personal marketing process | how does your firm measure up? | six questions before asking for all the referrals you deserve | five rules for a marketing orientation
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email marketing is a strategy for a firm to send promotional messages to people in mass quantities. to start email marketing, you need to select an email marketing tool/service, build your email list, decide the type of campaign you want to use, write persuasive messages, make a schedule, run the campaign and measure the campaign results.
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seven changes ai brings to accounting

look at the future that lies beyond the hype.

by hitendra patil
rise of the aiccountants

accounting, as it existed until now, is ripe for a makeover.

more: humans beat ai in some aspects | why accountants should embrace artificial intelligence | ai brings opportunities for accountants | seven things you must know about ai
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

this is not a doomsday prediction for the accounting profession. on the contrary, it is just a confirmation of the golden era of accounting that is about to come.

and artificial intelligence will be the driver leading the metamorphosis.
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eighteen things advertising can do for your firm

and five things it can’t, no matter how good it is.

by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

editor’s note: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 was privileged to have a long relationship with bruce w. marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. we are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.

advertising, in professional services, has a strange history. more words, and more dollars, have been wasted on it, and less seems to have been learned from its mistakes than from any other marketing tool we currently use.

more: how hard do you work to keep your clients? | four things to know about social media | internal communications are underrated | four things better than a company song | let’s lose the word ‘image’ | the risk in not understanding risk | what your marketing program can and can’t do | nine reasons that prospects say yes | how marketing evolved to 3.0
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in the early days – the few years post-bates (1977) – advertising was still anathema to law and accounting firms. arthur young was probably the first to do it after bates, which was an exercise in courage (i was there – i remember) and then came deloitte’s “beyond the bottom line” campaign. the more likely scenario at the time was typified by the then-managing partner of price waterhouse, who said about advertising, “over my dead body.” now law and accounting firms, including its successor firm, pwc, spend millions. marketing for professionals, as we know it today, didn’t come easy. i’m not so sure it’s much easier today. certainly, getting it right in advertising is no slam dunk.
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ten irs problems that need solutions

unhappy man waiting on phone in office

how good is better than terrible?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

every year, america’s national taxpayer advocate – in recent years it’s been erin m. collins – presents an annual report to congress. the report identifies successes and failures of and recommendations for the internal revenue service.

more: treasury ig sees progress at irs | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | tax pros are expanding and earning more | with fresh funding, irs shows service improvements | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks | top tax vendors caught red-handed selling private taxpayer data
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

this year’s report praises the irs for its progress since the worst of the covid-19 pandemic, but it finds plenty of room for improvement.

“the year 2023 was one of extraordinary transition for the irs and therefore for taxpayers,” collins writes. “despair has turned to cautious optimism.”
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