today's features

kelly mann: be the bull in the china shop | the disruptors

stop following saly. think about what you are trying to accomplish. plus 17 key takeaways.

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the disruptors
with liz farr

kelly mann wants firms to stop relying on saly – same as last year – for everything: “everything is same as last year, the way we give bonuses to people, the way we split partner compensation, the way we monitor hours, the way we prepare a work paper, the way we plan an audit,” she says.

more podcasts and videos: alicia katz pollock: create a human-centric businessnancy mcclelland: be the one your clients ask first |alan whitman: stop accepting the status quo | sean duncan: discover your own genius | ingrid edstrom: true wealth is not financial | caleb jenkins: firm growth requires owners to shift roles | chris hervochon: be the leader you want to work for | ira rosenbloom: don’t merge for the moneyadam lean: get out of the accountant’s trap

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when she started in audit, mann was told to “try not to be such a bull in a china shop.”  she saw many opportunities for improvement by departing from saly, but leadership told her, “don’t have crazy ideas, don’t mix everything up, because change is hard and change disrupts.”

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give advice while remaining independent

find the magic 20 percent that could create clients for life.

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

the pillars of our ethics are objectivity and integrity, and our profession has chosen independence to measure our objectivity as cpas. we can still offer advice and insight to our clients and remain objective. we cannot, however, act in the capacity of management. our clients must decide which ideas to use and implement them.

more: stop mixing up your v’s and losing your best people | empower your team by dumping c and d clients | eleven types of audit clients and which to fire | don’t take on audits in an industry you don’t understand | 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
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the tricky part comes when something we recommend fails. for example, let’s say a client asks for software advice, and they choose one of the three options we suggest. but that package isn’t working. now, can we be objective enough to admit that the advice we gave them and they paid for was wrong? do we have the integrity to tell the client they must write off the cost of that capitalized software? can we be objective enough to face the possible negative consequences and not just protect ourselves?

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don’t blame the client for your location

vehicles on both sides of a divided highway

charge for travel time and expenses at the risk of alienating clients.

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

question: my practice is in central new jersey and i have a client about 2-1/2 hours away in pennsylvania. the mileage and tolls cost us $200 each month. can i bill for this?

more: realign partners with monthly meetings | i’m 76. should i slow down? how? | ask for what you’re worth | two options for collecting past due fees | when board service gets tricky | eleven ways new staffers can help bring in business | busy season is over, so it’s time for some resolutions | want to merge? six steps to take | how to start providing family office services | every accounting firm needs quality control | no one listens to you? change how you talk | 47 types of business valuation to provide
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answer: are you crazy? you will lose the client. you would be “penalizing” the client for you not being local to their business.

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korby boswell: what managing partners need to hear | capstone conversations

capstone conversations
informal and informative discussions with leading growth strategists from the nation’s most dynamic cpa firms.

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with jean caragher
for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

more capstone conversations here

the essence of successful accounting firm marketing lies in effective project management, smart content marketing, and, above all, producing solid sales leads, according to korby boswell, adams brown senior marketing and growth manager.

more capstone conversations herefollow jean caragher on 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 here. | get her best-selling handbook, the 90-day marketing plan for cpa firms, here | catch jean caragher every friday with gear up for growth here |

in this episode of capstone conversations with jean caragher, boswell delivers three pieces of advice for cpa firm managing partners.

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partner comp earnings gap: what’s the right spread?

people standing on stacks of coins, representing income gaps

how do you get it right at your firm?

by kristen rampe
partner comp: art & science

there are many reasons for a sizeable spread in partner income at a cpa firm. for example, at a firm with both a founder nearing retirement and a first-year partner, the spread would be wide. some firms are the opposite, with two to four founding partners agreeing to share all profits equally. there is no spread there.

more on partners: thirteen traits of partners you’ll want to keep | six rules for keeping partners happy and productive | 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 | tell potentials what partnership takes | five steps to transition to partnership
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for most multipartner and multigeneration accounting firms, the situation gets more complicated. you’ll have some high performers and some who are on cruise control. you’ll have ones contributing notably more dollars to the bottom line and more to future leaders’ development.

but what about two partners who contribute relatively the same? should their income allocation be similar? how similar?
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main street accountants see turbulence ahead for small business

the avalara accountants confidence report points to difficulties.

via avalara

nearly 50 percent of accountants surveyed believe the outlook for over 80,000 small business clients they represent will turn sour over the next 1avalara (prnewsfoto/avalara, inc.)2 to 18 months, according to a new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 study conducted with avalara, the sales tax automation provider.

full report: download (pdf)

fielded during the 2024 tax season, the survey shows accounting professionals flashing warning signs around key business issues, leading with clients’ abilities to hire and retain employees, manage costs and price increases, and keep up with technology changes ushered in by artificial intelligence. read more →

measuring marketing success: the 10 kpis

they can be used in ways you might not have considered.

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

marketing key performance indicators (kpis) are measurable values that help marketers track and analyze the success of their marketing campaigns. the firm and its marketing department must jointly determine which of the kpis are important and will be tracked.

more: seven reasons marketing can make your firm a great place to work | seven ways that marketing helps you retain clients | is pricing a marketing function? | develop your personal marketing plan in ten steps | five ways to make partners fall in love with marketing | analyze your firm to keep it current | what makes a great website? | losing can help you win more | three more strategies for growing your practice | four strategies for building your practice | eight areas to cover for personal goals | understand the 10 steps of the buying process
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i’m going to briefly discuss 10 key performance indicators so that you can put a dollar amount on the effectiveness of your marketing strategies and campaigns as well as track the firm’s overall marketing performance.
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best people practices for small firms with kristin murray & jennifer wilson | gear up for growth

kristin murray and jennifer wilson reveal strategies for growth, culture, and staff retention.

[preview] the complete video episode, including commentary, analysis, notes, takeaways, additional background information, and transcript,  is exclusively first available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research pro members first. | go pro here.

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gear up for growth
with jean caragher
for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

“probably no surprise, the greatest challenge to growth in this industry is attracting and retaining talent,” says kristin murray, managing partner of weinstein spira. “without that, there is no growth, and given the landscape of our industry right now, that’s everybody’s biggest challenge. if it’s not, i’d be amazed.”

gear up for growth spotlights the best strategies for smart and efficient growth in today’s competitive landscape. more gear up for growth every friday here.more capstone conversations with jean caragher every monday | more jean caragher here | get her best-selling handbook, the 90-day marketing plan for cpa firms, here | more the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 broadcast channel

“kristin was the person in her firm who stuck her neck out and took the risk back when she was a tax partner leading the hr and culture initiatives for the firm,”  says jennifer wilson, partner and co-founder of convergence coaching.

murray and wilson reveal their strategies for firm growth, firm culture, and staff retention on gear up for growth, hosted by jean caragher, president of capstone marketing, and powered by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间.

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the importance of great bosses

do your employees want to spend time with you?

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

in most organizations, everyone reports to a specific individual. early in his career, marc rosenberg was the controller of a valve manufacturing company. the company grew to the point where he needed to hire an assistant controller. guess who that person reported to 100 percent? guess who was totally responsible for the success of that assistant controller? marc, in both cases. if that person failed because of no fault of marc’s, it still reflected negatively on him. marc was held accountable.

more: how remote work is impacting accounting firms | make work flexibility work for everyone | why staff leave cpa firms … and how to stop them | how to solve the big disconnect in talent management | what relevance means for staffing in accounting | how accounting staffing has changed
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but cpa firms operate differently, and therein lies the rub. staff have multiple bosses because each client they work on has a different team consisting of a partner, a manager and/or a senior. we call this the “who’s my boss” syndrome. staff often feel like they have no boss and therefore, no one is looking out for them. or they feel like they have too many bosses when each of their engagements is with a different team.

these are two of the many reasons mentoring is so important. one of the mentor’s jobs is to make their mentees feel like someone is looking out for them.
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bissett bullet: a word to the wise

today’s bissett bullet: “as you push for partnership, be conscious of how you make others feel with your words and actions because you are a part of a team and no one member will ever be greater than that.”

by martin bissett

think before you speak or act and be conscious of how you respond to the actions of others, as this will be noticed by those who decide your future. be known for displaying tact and diplomacy and your career will move in the right direction because of your measured behavior.

today’s to-do:

think of a situation that may have played out differently if you had taken a moment to consider your response to a colleague or client. what can you learn from that?

see more bissett bullets here

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partners: your middle managers are getting squeezed

staff just don’t feel comfortable asking for things that help their mental and physical well-being.

client pressure: 84 percent can work from home at least sometimes. however, only 44 percent say the firm has their back with difficult clients.

by seth fineberg
accountants forward

crabtree

this may seem mysterious, but when it comes to ensuring job satisfaction and retaining staff, firm leaders should pay closer attention to middle management/mid-career staff and their connection to employees and the work itself, according to a survey conducted by tri-merit group co-founder randy crabtree, hb publishing & marketing company founder hank berkowitz, and myself at accountants forward.

more staffing here | more surveys and research here | more seth fineberg here

“everything about putting your people first leads to increasing the satisfaction of those who work in the profession,” says crabtree. “things like firms having your back, supporting their growth or getting to know who the people you work with are matters greatly.” he added, “when you have a good variety of work to do and find you enjoy that work, you won’t mind working the extra hours at times either.”

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irs still unsure how to measure audit rate

data table

differing definitions are only part of the problem.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the inflation reduction act endowed the irs with almost $80 billion to improve customer service and beef up enforcement. congress later reduced the amount to $57.8 billion, with $24 billion earmarked for enforcement.

in no time at all, there was misinformation bouncing around social media and conservative podcasts, claiming that the ira would result in more audits of middle-class taxpayers.

more: art werner: estate planning strategies | quick tax tip | art werner: post-mortem estate planning | quick tax tip | pause to praise the tax pro volunteers | irs vs. fraudsters | imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance
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the enforcement resources had no such designation. to allay fears, in 2022 the secretary of the treasury directed the irs commissioner not to use any of the additional resources to increase the audit rate of small businesses or households earning below $400,000.
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when to increase scope and when to let it go

the most crucial aspect of scope is for everyone to know precisely what falls within the lines of the scoped services and what does not.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

there’s a time to increase scope and a time to let it slide. let’s explore these two options.

it’s professional responsibility to inform a client when a request is out of scope. in this instance, you have two options: either make it a separate engagement or include it in the existing service package. it’s important to have everyone on the same page about what is within scope and what falls outside of it.

more  jody padar | pricing | the radical cpa | from success to significance: the radical cpa guide | radical pricing

it would be best if you always built into your pricing agreements a 20 percent buffer to protect you against pricing mistakes. this doesn’t mean you should do work outside the scope for free, but if a client asks for a service not included, you could decide to let it go if the amount is immaterial.

however, if the value is greater or you need to investigate further, be clear with your team and the client.

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