卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

today's features

nine steps to effective succession planning for the small firm

start thinking about “the fun factor.”

by august j. aquila
aquila global advisers

no heir apparent – what does the small firm do? unfortunately there is no silver bullet or magic solution to solve this problem.

august aquila - full size mug — august aquila

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

i do, however, have some solid suggestions that may help you work through the problem. and, if you start sooner than later, you will have a better chance of successfully passing the baton to someone else.

how do i know it’s time to sell or merge? there is perhaps one key indicator that it’s time for you to move on or do something else. i call it the “fun factor.”

1. ask yourself these simple questions: read more →

busy season management

who’s missing in action from your workflow processing system?

“e-mail no longer enhances our productivity. it sucks the life out of us.”

by frank stitely, cpa, cva
stitely and karstetter

your office manager calls you in a panic. “fred jones is on the phone, and he’s really angry. he said he dropped off his tax documents in late february. now it’s early april and he still doesn’t have his returns.”

you tell her to take a message while you investigate. you look at your project management system, assuming you have one. you see that his return is on hold pending answers from fred to the questions you sent him in mid-march. read more →

client service opportunities

de-bunking the myth about niche marketing for tax and accounting firms

plus, five more essential pieces to the profit puzzle.

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

i want to de-bunk a myth about niche marketing. many cpas that i have talked to think that niche marketing means that most, or all of their business, needs to be in their niche.

they think they will have to stop being generalists or will have to give up all their clients outside the niche. this is absolutely not the case. read more →

busy season management

kyle has the tax-time blues

file under: accountant humor.

[jwplayer mediaid=”24535″]

now that the election is over, everyone is talking about the impending tax and fiscal cliffs. kyle’s cpa video blog is back with its fifth episode to help everyone get through these uncertain tax times.

of course, there’s a method to the madness: marketing. “his blues tune highlights some key areas of uncertainty and underscores the importance of proactive planning to avoid the looming changes as we race toward the cliff,” mike bowlan, director of marketing for brown smith wallace says. “after you finish jamming to kyle’s blues riffs on the ukulele, you can click through to a free 2012-2013 tax planning guide.”

the videos are created by kyle dodwell, a senior auditor in brown smith wallace’s national
insurance practice. kyle’s cpa video blog first received national attention when it was
featured in 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. most recently, his vlogs have been featured in “getting the
right balance: that modern digital marketing sound” in the chief outsiders blog, where
bowlan was asked to provide a guest blog on digital marketing in professional services, and
the bbr marketing agency blog article, “accounting humor: oxymoron or brilliant marketing
strategy,” where bowlan was interviewed about how the vlog developed and what return it
had provided.

outlook & analysis

the success secrets women already know

who gets more out of their employees, men or women?

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

if you guessed women, you’re right. women possess natural relationship skills that help them build loyalty, foster productivity, and spark motivation.

according to a study by the guardian life small business research institute, women’s skills provide: read more →

outlook & analysis

12 great gifts for the gadget-geeky accountant

for a lot of accountants, gifts and gadgets go hand in hand. robert prusa, a client services manager at xcentric, a tech services provider to cpa firms, has searched for the best new and interesting gifts from the tech world … continued

outlook & analysis

when not to offer a free initial consultation

are we giving it away too easily?

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: i was wondering what your thought is regarding initial consultation fees. currently, i do not charge a fee for an initial consultation, and it seems that most cpas do not charge either (at least not the sole-practitioners that i know). would the fee deter new clients or actually weed out the ones who are most likely not going to become clients anyway? if a fee is charged, then how much, and how long should the consultation last? should the fee be applied to any work that i am eventually engaged for?

it seems to be a toss-up between two different philosophies:

people value something more when they pay for it
you don’t want to create any barriers to entry

i am eager to hear your thoughts. read more →

outlook & analysis

managing risk in client relations

wishful thinking?

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research has uncovered the startling fact of the wide disparity between how accounting firm management perceives their own performance and how their clients see their performance. (join the survey; get the results.)

another consideration of risk lies in a tendency to ignore or distort reality, which can lead to a vast expectations gap. read more →

outlook & analysis

your clients love you? what if you’re wrong?

a short discourse on random and statistical risk.

by bruce w. marcus
author of professional services marketing 3.0

risks are different in context and magnitude. a good mathematician can often statistically quantify the boundaries of risk, such as telling you that one in every hundred people will slip in the bathtub and break a bone, but that depersonalizes it and tells you nothing to help you avoid it. and that’s only half way to understanding it.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members: 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 •

when a random risk is combined with a decision not to take an action in a situation (or even a potential situation), there is fuel for disaster.

management

measuring growth in yourself, staff and partners

“knowledge gap” method uses a client-centric approach.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members: what do you think you’re doing? | can you teach judgment? | clients’ calls at home | what you need to know before expanding into business valuation | asking an attorney for a referral fee | are partner retreats really worth the cost? | audit reports without doing the work? | should i really spend the time making checklists? | what’s a tax practice worth today? |

question: i suspect that my partner has “maxed out” and cannot grow further which will retard our growth. what can i do or how can i deal with this?

outlook & analysis

why you’re missing out on 98% of your new business potential

three ways to master the art of follow-up.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

it seems there are hundreds of questions swirling around how to follow up with prospects. the raw truth is that very few people follow up at all. on average, only 2 percent of people buy on the first contact with a vendor.

so if you’re not following up, you’re walking away from 98 percent of your sales.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members: the missing ingredient in your marketing that will make all the difference • 3 steps to start running on millionaire time • on the road to a stress-free life: identify your character strengths • the power of deadlines in closing a deal • his and her brains at work in tax and accounting • 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients • the top 12 business card blunders accountants make •

here are my tips to maximize sales and take the pain out of following up: read more →

client service opportunities

how cfos choose a new cpa firm

what you need to know. how finance executives pick accounting firms: join the survey; get the answers. by rick telberg here’s some good news for accounting firms: most companies stick with their cpa firms for at least five to 10 … continued

mergers & acquisitions

thinking merger? look before you leap

the seven essential phases of a successful merger.

by august aquila
aquila global advisors

if you’re contemplating a merger, then stop and think for a moment. a successful deal requires careful thought and planning.

in this article, we examine the seven phases common to most mergers. and 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members will find the free instant download: “the pre-merger data gathering checklist for an accounting practice.” read more →