by ed mendlowitz
adapted from the 2013 tax season opportunity guide
urgency creates stress and pressure and leads to mistakes and improper perceptions of the quality of the work.
planning and execution reduce urgency. one way to eliminate urgency is to properly plan the work with realistic deadlines and proper resources. read more →
by marc rosenberg
author of “cpa firm management and governance.”
managing the firm, rainmaking, client management. all vie for the managing partner’s time.
statistics from the rosenberg practice management survey show:
| firm size | annual billable hours | % mp to all | |
| managing partner | all equity partners | ||
| over $20m | 632 | 1,079 | 59% |
| $10-20m | 736 | 1,090 | 67% |
| $2-10m | 959 | 1,117 | 85% |
.
armed with the above, my experience with firms would indicate that the managing partner’s time is spent as follows: read more →
step by step.
note: in this dialog, ed creates a checklist of the steps necessary to writing an article and getting it published.
question: i would like to write an article and have it published. can you assist me writing an article for an industry trade journal?
response: before we start, a few questions and comments.
question: thank you for taking the time to assist me, i have not written any articles yet. here are three ideas i thought of: read more →
how many will survive? join the survey; get the updates.
by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
if you’re having one of the toughest tax seasons in years, you’re not alone. in fact, you’re one in an unusually large crowd.
unless trends reverse in the last four weeks of tax season 2013, many practitioners – mainly those practicing solo or in small firms – should be bracing for significant declines in revenues and profits from last year.
tax season trending:
better or worse than last year?
some 64% of solo practitioners are reporting “worse” trends than last year, with half of them terming it “much” worse. about 16% are enjoying “better” trends overall.
to be sure, small firms may be feeling more than their fair share of pain. but many larger firms are hurting too. among the largest firms surveyed, 30% are experiencing positive trends, with 50% reporting negative trends.
more busy season trends:
practitioners across the nation are reporting severe issues. for one practitioner in monroe, la., the season has been running “slow as molasses!”
for some, tax season 2013 may be the last straw. “between the delays caused by the fiscal cliff, software delays and angry clients, it may be time for retirement,” says one veteran of 35 tax seasons and a partner in an 11-partner firm.
“all the irs delays have put my clients in slow motion mode!,” says liz hegarty, an austin, texas, soloist. “my in-flow is down 25% but all that means is a really compacted ‘extension’ craze in april! and i already have a crazy extension ‘season’ due to late k-1s.”
the latest analysis of survey data sheds light on key financial metrics, including trends in:
that depends.
by marc rosenberg
author of “cpa firm management and governance.”
in allocating partner income, a firm needs to look at all performance attributes of each partner.
from a 35,000 foot altitude, firms should be reviewing these items for each partner:
more on cpa firm management and leadership: not every firm needs a general patton • overcoming the three biggest obstacles in succession planning at cpa firms • cpa firm merger “non-negotiables” • the “aha moment” in cpa firm leadership • leadership is overrated: it’s good management that makes successful firms • 40 great ways to improve firm profitability • four management metrics that fool even the best-run firms •
there are three different roles a partner can play: read more →
six rules of professionalism that accountants need in their marketers.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
there’s a wonderful cartoon in which a guy in a business suit is looking over the shoulder of an artist at his canvas. the caption, spoken by the artist, is “i used to dabble a bit in accounting, too.”
then there’s the guy who said to me, “if you’re smart enough to be a cpa, then you’re smart enough to do your own advertising.” to which i replied, “yes that’s true. you’re also smart enough to be a nuclear physicist — but it doesn’t make you one.”
there’s the guy who read a book about tightrope walking. he knew everything about tightrope walking — except how to do it.
more professional services marketing 3.0: all great strategy starts with “why” • can you hear me now? • managing knowledge as a growth and management tool • the secret formula for getting new clients • what we’ve learned since accounting marketing was legalized • do accounting firms really want an ‘image’? • what accounting firms need to learn from personal financial planning specialists • the delicate art of positioning your firm in the mind of the prospect • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management •
the point is that while marketing may not be nuclear physics, it does have its craft, its artistry, its techniques, its experiences, and its history. and if you’re not within the realm of all those things and more, you don’t know much about marketing. marketing mythology doesn’t count for much. read more →
by ed mendlowitz
adapted from the 2013 tax season opportunity guide
one way to guarantee extra work is to have everything always done differently each time it is done.
not establishing uniform procedures is bad business and unnecessarily consumes part of your life.
consistency in performance reduces work and review time and creates a greater reliance on the staff people.
checklist: read more →
options to grow your profits besides raising revenue and lowering costs.
by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
many accountants these days are anxious to hit the golden $100,000 mark this year. others are interested in growing their revenues steadily and incrementally. still others are focused on lowering costs, raising profits from that side of the equation.
more for soloists and small firms: seven checklist secrets for turning tax season into opportunity season • how to stay energized, upbeat, and thinking bigger through busy season • seven ways to wow your prospect • rev up your revenue with these two daily rituals • 10 tips for creating more energy this tax season • take a cue from venture capitalists: your firm needs a brain trust trinity • five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity • rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech
all of these approaches are well and good to help you keep more of what you make, but there are far more options to grow your take-home dollars besides raising revenue and lowering costs.
here are six more ways to get more profit out of your practice: read more →
tasty tips from a lousy cook.
by drew west
@deltekdrew
you know why i like writing articles? it keeps me out of the kitchen, where from bachelorhood through fatherhood, i still make any culinary task a bumbling trip down a path of missed ingredients and inaccurate measurements – right to the doorstep of “didn’t-turn-out-like-i-expected.”
why is our local pizzeria on the speed-dial? for those (thankfully infrequent) times when my wife is traveling, and i’m on the hook to keep my two youngsters relatively nourished.
unlike my cooking endeavors, yours in public accounting surely go beyond the simplicity of cold cereal or the occasional peanut-butter sandwich.
today’s modern engagements require delicate management of people, their work, the client’s demands and the firm’s expectations.
beyond paperless: cpa firms launch a new arms race for cloud and mobile technologies.
by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
leading cpa firms have clearly broken the going-paperless barrier and are adopting cloud and mobile technologies at a record pace, according to new data obtained by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research.
indeed, the question for practitioners is no longer “have you gone paperless yet?” or even “how paperless have you gone?” it is now “how much of your workflows have you moved to the cloud and made mobile and accessible everywhere and any time?” and the rest of the firms are asking themselves, “can i catch up?”
the trend is, of course, a daily challenge for the profession, which 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 covers in depth: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 analysis: 40% of firms going to the cloud | how apple is changing your business | accounting firm leaders agree: the cloud is here | 11 things you take for granted today that technology will kill within six years | top 10 tech predictions for your business clients | cloud & mobile technologies drive change in tax and accounting | five questions to ask before going to the cloud | “the cloud is real” | the powerful mega-trends behind the upheaval at sage software | cpas in top 100 accounting firms get an “a” for adoption of cloud, portable document scanners and workflow management technologies | top tech habits of high-performing firms | seven tech lessons for busy season |
but the pace is astonishing. a new survey of 115 of some of the best-managed firms in the business shows:
the survey shows, for instance: read more →
will this be remembered as another “tax season from hell?”
join the survey; get the updates.
by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the last time tax professionals slogged through a tax season from hell, it was 2008, the financial world was crashing into a million little pieces, and 1 in 4 accountants was reporting disastrous operations.
before that, long-timers might recall 1995, when the irs deployed a filing fraud crackdown that delayed millions of refunds.
more tax season research: tax pro’s turn negative on busy season | busy season outlook 2013 | top tax season trends, issues and opportunities
this year, with the irs opening the filing gates not until march 4, could 2013 become another one for the record books?
in the latest update to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, topline findings include:
help them to do what you want.
by ed mendlowitz
adapted from the 2013 tax season opportunity guide
providing instructions of what a client needs to do must be clear enough so that the client doesn’t call you to find out what to do.
sometimes taking an extra minute to lay out what the client should do can eliminate that call or indecisive moment a client might feel.
the object of the instructions is to have the client do what you want them to do. read more →
chicago cpa jody padar helps clients calculate their carbon footprint.
in a sign of things to come as consumers turn to socially responsible shopping, one of the profession’s leading changemakers, chicago cpa jody padar, is launching the world’s first online tax return service that helps clients save money on their taxes while showing them how to reduce their carbon footprint and earn green perks.
branded ecotaxfile.com, the service “gives consumers and small businesses a level of confidence in their tax returns that can only come from working with a full-time accounting professional,” says jody padar, cpa, mst, operations director for ecotaxfile.com and one of accounting today’s 100 most influential people in accounting as an advocate for forward-thinking cpas. she practices out of her new vision cpa group in arlington heights, ill.
available for tax filers in the u.s. and canada, ecotaxfile.com offers real-time, personalized consulting from professional tax accountants and provides individuals and small businesses with tools and specific recommendations for cutting their carbon consumption along with special offers and deals for less carbon-intensive activities.
“we provide direct access to full-time cpas and tax professionals who can help eliminate the stress of tax filing while finding every possible way to maximize your refund or reduce your tax payment,” padar says.
“it’s simple: when you file your taxes with us, we’ll also calculate your carbon footprint,” says ecotaxfile.com founder brad cran. “we then identify areas where you can reduce your impact to live cleaner and save even more money.”