卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

today's features

why no one listens to you

the new “listening deficiency epidemic.”

question: i notice that most of the time my staff doesn’t listen when i talk. how can i make them listen?

response: i find this issue very widespread. i believe there is an epidemic of people not listening, not just staff.

outlook & analysis

who’s better at marketing? lawyers or cpas?

is the question ludicrous?

by bruce w. marcus
author of professional services marketing 3.0

looking at the question from a different point of view, the international consultant patrick mckenna, said, “if you’re trying to determine which of the two professions (lawyers or accountants) are the more advanced in their marketing prowess, i’m sorry but i think the very question is ludicrous. be it accountant, consultants, architects or lawyers, it really doesn’t matter. my experience confirms for me that when you think of marketing prowess you can divide any of the individuals or firms, in any of those professions (not by profession but by mindset) . . . into three categories: hawks, doves and ostriches.”

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members: even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management • managing risk in client relations • your clients love you? what if you’re wrong? • the three degrees of risk • four essential habits for building client trust • the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • getting the client is only half the battle • practice development: it’s not rocket science • nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm •

silvia coulter, head of the legal sales and service organization, and a pioneer in selling legal services, agrees with mckenna. “that having been said, if you seek an answer on one side or the other with the assumption of patrick’s response, then i will say accountants, in general, are more in touch with reality — because of the numbers. therefore, whether they choose sexier marketing approaches than lawyers, may not matter. it’s who knows the client best and who can best retain and grow client share. lawyers have all the answers in front of them and yet still after all this time, spend countless dollars on marketing people who know little about marketing, ignore those clients who make up 80% of their firms’ revenues only to chase new business which we all know is far costlier to acquire. read more →

outlook & analysis

lawyers or cpas: who markets better?

wrong question. ask instead: who puts the client first, and how?

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

comparing the marketing ability of one practice to another is irrelevant of itself and leads to generalizations that serve no useful purpose. but when the question of which firm is better at marketing is addressed, it raises issues concerning the different nature of each practice.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members: who’s better at marketing? lawyers or cpas? • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management • managing risk in client relations • your clients love you? what if you’re wrong? • the three degrees of risk • four essential habits for building client trust • the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • getting the client is only half the battle • practice development: it’s not rocket science • nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm •

“the big four are trying to create a firm brand and firm relationship with the clients,” notes veteran consultant terry lloyd, a cpa and financial analyst. “they minimize the role of the partner and other professionals. while law firms go to lengths to put impressive resumes and contact data on their web sites, it may be almost impossible to find even a list of partners on the sites of the big four.”

outlook & analysis

got a niche? you need a new niche website

taking your practice development technologies to the next level.

by hugh duffy

many accountants started their own firms ready to help local business owners and individual tax payers, but perhaps haven’t thought about how to narrow their approach so that they can develop an area of concentration and position themselves as an expert at something which generates higher fees and higher profit margins. read more →

management

how to create a no-equity partner position in your firm

it may be the answer to keeping talented people.

by gary adamson, cpa

most firms are faced with the dilemma of keeping long term managers who are major contributors to the firm but for whatever reason are not ready to be equity partners (or who perhaps never will have what it takes to be equity partners).

here is a seven-point outline of what the no-equity position looks like, how it differs from the normal equity partner spot and some considerations to implement it in your firm.

client service opportunities

how long can you keep a client?

clients say: not as long as you think.

if you’re a finance manager on the client side, what do you say?

by rick telberg

are most cpas fooling themselves?

if you ask a cpa, as 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 has been doing since 2006, how long they typically keep a client, you’ll get a fairly consistent answer through the years.

if you ask a client how long they’ve worked with their current cpa firm, you’ll also get a fairly consistent answer.

the problem is: the cpa and the client disagree. read more →

outlook & analysis

a&a update: audit sampling; accounting estimates; and coso

[free podcast for pro members]

practical accounting and auditing guidance from the plain-english a&a update service by dr. thomas a. ratcliffe, phd, cpa

executive summary

au-c section 530: audit sampling

in implementing the clarified auditing technical literature, auditors need to consider the new audit sampling guidance in au-c section 530 along with the companion guidance in the aicpa audit guide that addresses audit sampling matters.

au-c section 540: auditing accounting estimates

au-c section 540 of the clarified auditing literature provides new guidance associated with auditing accounting estimates and financial statement disclosures associated with those estimates.

coso framework: looking at some planned guidance

now that the public comment period associated with planned changes to the coso internal control framework ~~has ended~~ has been extended to dec. 4, all stakeholders needing to understand this frequently-utilized framework can anticipate some modifications and even some enhancements to the framework that will need to be understood in order to implement the guidance effectively.

click to play or download podcast: read more →

management

how to apply sam walton’s 10 rules for success at your firm

they work at walmart. here’s how to make them work for you.

by august j. aquila
aquila global advisers

if they were good enough for sam walton, shouldn’t they be good enough for you and me? is there anyone who wouldn’t want his or her firm to be as successful as walmart?

august aquila - full size mug — august aquila

more august aquila on 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间: nine steps to effective succession planning for the small firm | thinking merger? look before you leap | four new checklists for succession planning | partner accountability: seven signs your firm may be in trouble |

of course, we can’t guarantee your success, but you are more likely to achieve it if you follow walton’s ten rules. read more →

outlook & analysis

fun reads for busy season

be kind to your brain and your brain will be kind to you.

ed mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. he’s the right one to ask. after more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, withumsmith+brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers.

question: it is obvious you read a lot. how do you do it? read more →

management

19 ways to improve accounting firm profitability

only 19?

by marc rosenberg, cpa
author of “what really makes cpa firms profitable?”

partners are generally paid a lot more than firm administrators. for good reasons.

the marketplace has determined that doing what a partner does (bringing in business, possessing high levels of technical expertise, managing client relationships and managing the firm) commands a higher level of compensation than doing what a firm administrator does.

related: de-bunking the myth about niche marketing for tax and accounting firms • practice development is no longer an optional activity • 10 good ways the achieve partner accountability • pick your partners right to begin with • the first nine questions your partner team needs to embrace for optimal profitability • profitability and the value of strategic thinking • the five essential building blocks for creating a strong accounting firm • the seven signs of great leadership in a cpa firm • compensation issues for the new managing partner •

therefore, it makes no sense to pay a partner to do an administrator’s work. besides, most partners aren’t as good at administration as trained, experienced administrators are.

outlook & analysis

even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management

decision making in risk management

by bruce w. marcus
author of professional services marketing 3.0

too often, we simply take risk for granted and go headlong into danger and chaos. it needn’t be so. even in view of the elements of risk over which we have no control, there are still measures of protection that can be taken to reduce a measure of risk in any enterprise.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members: managing risk in client relations • your clients love you? what if you’re wrong? • the three degrees of risk • four essential habits for building client trust • the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • getting the client is only half the battle • practice development: it’s not rocket science • nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm •

is there protection against risk? yes – to a larger degree than we may realize. there are at least five things you can do: read more →

outlook & analysis

how to win new clients with a freebie strategy

build trust by giving prospects a small sample of value.
[for another view, see when not to offer a free initial consultation]

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

today’s biggest marketing challenge for soloists and small firms is getting people’s attention, then getting their trust. one way to completely overcome the trust issue is to let prospects receive a small sample of value from you at no charge.

because the trust factor is at an all-time historical low, as a practitioner you need to do one or more of several things before clients will do business with you in most cases:

spend a lot of time developing individual relationships until people trust you,
provide a complementary sample of value up front,
spend a lot of time in the proposal stage wooing the prospect. read more →

outlook & analysis

never underestimate the finance manager

they are more influential than many accounting firms think. join the study; get more answers.

by rick telberg

when companies go looking for a new audit or accounting firm, who within the client company decides which to pick? if you ask a corporate cpa, you’ll get one answer. if you ask a cpa, you’ll probably get another.

want to wager on who’s right? we know where we’d put our money. read more →