today's features
outlook & analysis

getting to the next stage

sometimes change is improvement – sometimes it isn’t. but it’s always inevitable.

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

the movement to replace hourly billing with value billing is accelerating. firm mergers, consolidations, new boutique firms that bear little resemblance to the historical professional firms, new technology that makes obsolete technology that was itself only months old. it seems that observations (i don’t make predictions) that i made decades ago about the need to go outside the firm for new sources of capital to finance growth have turned out to be accurate. new accountant-and-marketer partnerships are springing up. professional services marketing 3.0 is in full swing. read more →

outlook & analysis

the low-ball pricing game is for losers

when to let the next accountant take the losses.

ed mendlowitz, cpa, abv, pfs
author of “implementing fee increases“

question: a client of 10 years was paying a fixed fee that was now a little less than half of our time charges. also, there had been a gradual scope creep with additional services being forced on us without any extra fees. the cpa had not received an increase in six years because of the client’s constant complaining that the fee was too high. the client just told us they had a quote from another firm that was half of ours, and said if we didn’t match it, they would leave us. what should we do? read more →

outlook & analysis

the seven essential components of a simple marketing plan for accountants

start with an excel spreadsheet.

by sandi smith leyva, cpa

it’s quite common for accounting firms — even the regionals — to have no marketing plan in place. the marketing plan might very well be, “get as many referrals as we can.” or it might be a number for each partner — which is not a marketing plan. or it might be, “if it’s not busy season, i’ll go to my networking group.” none of these are plans. they are individual marketing tasks and components.

the number of companies that do not have fully functioning marketing plans is certainly not surprising because marketing by cpas was illegal – and considered quite sleazy — in most u.s. states until about the 1970s. so we are a profession that has always been behind on our marketing skills.

now that most of us need to market, the relief is we can do it on our terms, using excel spreadsheets, with a bunch of numbers, adding in some deadlines, and creating a very organized process, just how we accountants like things.

so here are seven components of the kind of marketing plans i like to create. we start with an excel spreadsheet. read more →

outlook & analysis

the accountants’ growth play today

look deeply into employment trends for the profession and you may be surprised.

as reported in accounting industry extends growth trend, licensed cpa firms are lagging in headcount growth behind non-cpa accounting providers.

employees are booking more hours, but wage growth is getting cut back. there are more jobs and better pay for higher-paid positions and for men. fewer new jobs and smaller pay increases for women and production workers.

and at cpa firms in particular, employee rosters are growing more slowly than at non-cpa firms, pay increases are coming slower, and fewer women are getting hired back.

the data points may be signalling a shift by cpa firms into high-end services and more profitable operations. and low-end competitors are seizing the new opportunities.

played right, we believe there are opportunities for everyone. played wrong, and…?

– rick telberg
president / ceo

 
charts & graphs

accounting industry extends two-year growth trend

but cpas lag behind non-cpas.

get the accountants’ business outlook: join the survey; see the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

screen shot 2013-08-06 at 7.34.21 pmthe tax and accounting industry is extending a two-year expansion by adding 2,500 new jobs in the latest month, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research.

in this report:

  • employment trends for the public accounting, bookkeeping, tax and payroll sector of the economy.
  • licensed cpa firms are lagging in growth behind non-cpa accounting providers.
  • employees book more hours.
  • but wage growth gets cut back.
  • more jobs and better pay for higher-paid positions and for men; fewer new jobs and smaller pay increases for women and production workers.
  • cpa firms add to headcounts more slowly than non-cpa firms, grant lower pay increases, and hire back fewer women.

read more →

outlook & analysis

what i’ve learned from my clients

by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator

i feel extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful set of clients that i have learned much from the last few years.

more for soloists and small firms: take six big steps to go beyond compliance services     |     when your business needs to be rebooted  |   two steps to easy cross-sells   |   the hot new tech product for automated data entry   |   five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping   |   six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks   |   proactive ways to get more referrals   |   the three biggest money leaks in your practice   |   new client opportunities with mobile apps   |   six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions   |   what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients   |   accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients  | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients

here is a list of lessons learned that i hope will inspire you to work with your clients in new ways.

read more →

leadership

nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams

screen shot 2013-08-07 at 3.13.01 pm
buy the report – $165. free shipping.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

managing partners always ask us what it takes to achieve sustained, consistent partner performance.

more on partnership management:   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success   | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

while the answer is easy, maybe simplistic, the implementation is difficult in most firms. read more →

client service opportunities

how to turn client surveys into new revenues

download the sample client satisfaction survey.

by ed mendlowitz

question: is there any value to sending clients a survey?

response: yes.  our firm sends a survey with every deliverable to a client.  we want to know what they think and how they feel about our service.

i think your best friends are the clients that complain.  this gives you an opportunity to correct any deficiencies or exceptions.

one time a long time very good client put on the survey that we were great but our fees were high.  i immediately met with him, reviewed our charges, had the time runs and details of everything extra we had been doing beyond the scope of our engagement, and the value to the client.  in the following year he recommended two clients to us!  i don’t believe we would have gotten the referrals had he not complained.

here is a sample of a survey we’ve used: read more →

outlook & analysis

in this week’s research update: “why” matters

screen shot 2013-08-01 at 7.23.25 amsee the complete newsletter here.

your clients don’t know or care how you do what you do. but they do want to know “why.”

and 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 members agree, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”  the proof is in a local firm in the california wine country. listen as they explain how their business started booming when they started talking about their “why.”

what’s your “why?”

– rick telberg
president / ceo

p.s.: here’s our “why.”

outlook & analysis

why accountants need to embrace obamacare

clients are turning first to their accountants for answers.

precious few accountants are ready for the patient protection and affordable care act.

in this series of quick video q-and-a’s, johnny laurent, vice president and general manager of sage employer solutions, explains what accountants need to know and how to get started and when. this report also includes:

  • five things accounting firms need to do to prepare for obamacare
  • sage north america’s strategy for delivering obamacare guidance
  • thomson reuters survey results showing accountants’ client service opportunities

read more →

leadership

audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success

learn more
learn more

plain-vanilla goal-setting may be the single biggest problem plaguing today’s cpa partnerships.

also in this report: the 11 traits of “one-firm” firms.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

more firms now have a vision and a strategy in the hope of engaging partners and employees, according to our research.

but the partners aren’t always involved in their creation and often don’t buy in to the vision.

more on partnership management:  are you creating a sustainable firm?  |  the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

this can be because the vision just isn’t compelling enough or because the partners are more interested in their own practice rather than creating a real firm. this type of accounting firm is usually referred to as a “siloed” firm and never succeeds in bringing the full capabilities of the firm to bear. read more →

client service opportunities

take six big steps to go beyond compliance services

beat the billable hour by doing more than just taxes or quickbooks.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

as compliance services become more commoditized and automated, accountants are faced with how this affects their practice and their bottom line. they can:

  1. serve a higher level client that requires greater complexity, making themselves fairly immune to these changes
  2. serve a larger number of clients to offset a drop in revenue per client averages
  3. add new services to their practice to boost revenue per client

those are pretty much the options available to keep profits from shrinking. but today i want to focus on the third point above, adding new services, and provide you with some ideas on how you may be able to serve your tax compliance clients in new ways.

more for soloists and small firms:  when your business needs to be rebooted  |   two steps to easy cross-sells   |   the hot new tech product for automated data entry   |   five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping   |   six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks   |   proactive ways to get more referrals   |   the three biggest money leaks in your practice   |   new client opportunities with mobile apps   |   six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions   |   what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients   |   accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients  | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients

even if you don’t do taxes, you will find some ideas for new related services you can think about offering to your clients. (remember, it’s easier to sell to existing clients than to acquire new ones.) read more →