today's features
outlook & analysis

the power of deadlines in closing a deal

headache or dream come true?

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

in the accounting profession, there are a ton of deadlines. month-end, quarter-end, and year-end. payroll taxes, sales taxes, and corporate taxes. and extension deadlines, filing deadlines, and payment deadlines, to name just a few.

sandi smith

more for soloists and small firms from sandi smith at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间:  on the road to a stress-free life: identify your character strengths •  the missing ingredient in your marketing that will make all the difference •  3 steps to start running on millionaire time • 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 • five things accountants take for granted that costs them revenue• what’s in your new client funnel? • what’s in your welcome kit for new prospects? • five fun and easy ways to wow your clients • six ways to give yourself a raise • strategies to stop losing business to competitors

all of these deadlines may be a headache to business owners and accountants alike, but they are a marketer’s dream come true. how can you use deadlines to your advantage in marketing your services? and what if you are selling a service that is not in the accounting profession? keep reading and we’ll answer these questions and provide you with five ways to woo your prospect with deadlines. read more →

leadership

when is it best for partners to stay together and when is it best to part?

making the partnership work seven ways to sunday.

by marc rosenberg, cpa

sometimes a parting of ways is best because the partners are simply incompatible. people change. their values change. their priorities change. when these changes become so huge as to produce constant conflict, it may be best to shake hands and part ways.

more marc: • 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  • 20 decisions for your firm’s new partner compensation committee  • three ways to break partner gridlock in an accounting firm  • what partners are entitled to, and what they’re not entitled to | how to make partner?  • why accounting firm partners are “popping prozac like m&m’s” •

what does it take for partners to stay together?

here are seven critical requirements: read more →

outlook & analysis

four essential habits for building client trust

it’s more than just pleasing the client.

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

in the firm with a strong marketing culture, getting the client is only half the battle. the other half is keeping the client. it’s done with more than just doing good work. in fact, most clients, surveys tell us, don’t really know how good or how bad your work is. why should they? it’s not the business they’re in. they have to trust the accountant.

bruce w. marcus
bruce w. marcus

more professional services marketing 3.0: • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • the nine hallmarks of 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 • what accounting firms need to understand to grapple with radical change • six reasonable goals for cpa firm marketing •

independent studies also show that a large percentage of accounting firm clients are dissatisfied with the levels of service from their accountants. clients are given no foundation for understanding what’s being done for them, nor are reasonable expectations defined. what basis do clients have, then, for being satisfied? read more →

management

can you teach judgment?

 

empowering staff to make mistakes, safely.

here at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间, 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. we’re happy to have him at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. send your questions for ed here, or chime in with comments below.

get more ed: 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? • preparing to sell your practice in a few years? 13 things you need to know today • 10 questions to ask yourself before you decide to add financial services to your practice •  why selling your practice is not a retirement strategy •  congratulations! you bought a tax practice. now what? • how accountants can keep the business when a client wants to sell theirs • 10 reasons clients don’t pay, and what to do about it • 13 reasons timesheets will never die

question: recently a colleague asked me: “how do you teach judgment?” and before i could respond, he answered it himself with “you can’t teach judgment!” read more →

outlook & analysis

on the road to a stress-free life: identify your character strengths

and put them to work.

by sandi smith, cpa

how many times a day do we tell ourselves with the little voice in our head that we’re falling short of the ideal we have for ourselves? “i forgot to add the salt, so i ruined the recipe.” “i’m not good enough.” “i was mistaken.” “i’m not smart enough.” “i didn’t get picked for the finals.” “nobody likes me.” and so on.

sandi smith

more for soloists and small firms from sandi smith at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间: 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 • five things accountants take for granted that costs them revenue• what’s in your new client funnel? • what’s in your welcome kit for new prospects? • five fun and easy ways to wow your clients • six ways to give yourself a raise • strategies to stop losing business to competitors

instead, why don’t we focus on our strengths? a university of michigan psychology professor undertook an extensive research project to discover 24 positive character strengths that each person has to varying degrees.

they are: read more →

outlook & analysis

revenues on the rebound for most u.s. cpas

billing rates and partner incomes gaining strongly.

most cpa firms are reporting some measure of revenue growth, according to one widely followed survey obtained by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间.

“and while the profession has yet to rebound to pre-recession levels,” the authors say, “it is steadily gaining momentum.”

furthermore, the smallest firms appear to be the biggest winners, with 33% growth in net client fees per professional and per partner.

the report includes data and trends on:

  • increase in net fees
  • fees per partner
  • net remaining per partner
  • average partner billing rates
  • average partner compensation
  • utilization rates
  • paid time-off
  • firm technology
  • online technology

read more →

client service opportunities

clients’ calls at home

are there no limits to availability? here at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间, 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 … continued
management

how to make an extra $72,000 by working smarter

if you own or manage a small cpa firm, you can’t ignore effective workflow management.  if you do, you are losing money, clients, and your sanity. here’s one cpa’s story.

by frank stitely, cpa, cva

every year around the middle of tax season, the following telephone conversation happens in small cpa firms, probably yours as well.  you or one of your staff picks up the telephone to hear, “i’m calling to check on the status of my tax returns.  i dropped them off in february and haven’t heard from you since.”

read more →

outlook & analysis

the war for talent opens a new front online

new analysis of trends and case studies in social media’s role in recruiting staff.

the use of social media for recruiting in cpa firms is growing,
especially with the need for accountants who are tech savvy, says social media analyst becky livingston in a new report available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members.

it’s no surprise, of course, that social media should become the dominant force in recruiting. online platforms give recruiters new tools to evaluate candidates before they interview. tracking systems and online databases give recruiters a way to amplify the number of candidates in the hiring network, while increasing the quality of leads.

online recruiting has become the norm, no longer the exception, says livingston.

get the instant download:
social media recruiting for cpa firms read more →