today's features
pro member exclusive

is business too good for your own good?

business is good, but cpas say the workload never eases up.

by rick telberg

cpa across all areas of the profession this summer are confirming the best hopes and worst fears that the profession felt when the year was beginning. yes, business is up across all sectors and should continue to improve, especially for public practice firms, but there are not enough people to handle the work.

our readings are showing that two-thirds of cpas in all sectors of the accounting profession are enjoying better business than last year. asked to look 12 months into the future, roughly the same number expect their business conditions to be even better, although members in public practice are slightly more optimistic than members in business and industry.

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charts & graphs

accounting sector shrinks by 4,200 jobs

marking the fourth consecutive month of decline, the bookkeeping and accounting industry contracted in june, shedding 4,200 full-time employees from may, ending at total employment of 954,800 workers and professionals, according to new data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. still, june’s … continued
leadership

can you be trusted as a leader?

dan mccarthy

20 signs you can’t.

if paychex inc. knows something about leadership — and considering their position in the market, they might — then dan mccarthy may have had something to do with it.

dan was responsible at paychex for executive training and development, including succession planning, at a time when the company was consistently named a fortune magazine “great place to work,” a “training magazine top 125” training organization, and a bersin “high impact learning organization.” since 2011, he’s been director of executive development programs at the whittemore school of business and economics at the university of new hampshire in durham, n.h.

lately, he’s been thinking — and worrying — about the difficulties that leaders and managers face from the effects of the great recession. “job satisfaction has decreased since the beginning of the recession in 2008,” he notes. and 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research by bay street group llc bears him out in the tax and accounting industry.

some of the damage may be self-inflicted. here dan lists “20 signs you can’t be trusted as a leader:” read more →

outlook & analysis

the 15-minute a&a update: beware fraud issues in ebp audits, and more

also in the latest 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 plain-english a&a podcast:

au-c section 265:  communicating internal control related matters – when practitioners are implementing the clarified auditing technical literature at the end of this year, some new guidance associated with communicating internal control related matters identified in audit engagements needs to be addressed.

employee benefit plan audits:  considering the fraud issues – when practitioners are performing audits of employee benefit plans, it is important to remember that there is a potential for fraud that could result in financial statements being materially misstated.

compilation & audit reports:  some new guidance – the aicpa has released some helpful implementation guidance addressing compilation reporting issues in two areas, business valuation engagements and independence matters, and there also is some guidance that might be considered when audit reports need to address going concern issues. 

learn more about the full 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 plain-english a&a service.

click “read more” for the full 15-minute podcast…

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client service opportunities

five things accountants take for granted that costs them real money

what we know that clients don’t even know they need.

by sandi leyva

i’m pretty sure that i am not the only accountant who has made the following mistakes with clients. here are a couple of ideas to help us remember what we know that the client doesn’t and why it costs us when we forget.

more sandi leyva: 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  |  five tips to manage your ‘overwhelm’ level  |  easy ideas for a quick business boost  |  four new mega-trend marketing strategies |  how to stop leaving money on the table

1. clients do not know how to evaluate our technical skills.

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outlook & analysis

audit fees edge up 5% at biggest companies

public companies now pay an average of $3.9 million per year.

big four firms seem to be finding difficulties in boosting billables to their biggest audit clients, as the clients themselves hammer hard on costs and take on more work internally, according to a new study. on the other hand, the average tenure of a cpa firm is now about 20 years per client.

companies are reporting only modest increases in audit fees and total hours worked from the year before.

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outlook & analysis

why your clients love being in business

recession drives start-up rate.

for all the stresses of running a business, an amazing 86% of small business owners love what they do for a living, according to a new study by toronto-based wave accounting, which builds and offers free (ad-sponsored) accounting software for small business.

and 82% say the rewards far outweigh the challenges. they’re committed to their path, too, with 56% answering “never!” to the question: “would you ever go back to working for someone else?”

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outlook & analysis

what’s in your new client funnel?

 three simple questions to test your revenue forecast.

sandi smith
sandi smith

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

you may have heard about the marketing funnel before.  there are lots of variations, and i want to cover it in a way that helps us examine our mix of products, services, and prices.

the funnel can be pictured like a big “v.”  at the top, wide-open part, there are a lot of prospects interested in your services and products.  at the bottom, narrow part, there are a few select customers who buy the most from you.

see more from sandi smith at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 (log in now or 2022世界杯足球排名 membership here):

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
five tips to manage your ‘overwhelm’ level
easy ideas for a quick business boost
four new mega-trend marketing strategies
how to stop leaving money on the table

near the top, you will have all of your lowest-cost offerings, perhaps those under $100.  in the middle, your medium-priced products and services will be positioned, and at the narrow, bottom, you will have your most expensive offerings.

the funnel is a fairly simple concept; however, we can glean quite a bit if we ask ourselves these questions: read more →

marketing & sales

the cpa’s castle is crumbling

is change coming too fast for firms to handle?

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

i’m puzzled by the accounting firm that continues to function today as it did many decades ago – in so many areas, as if the world continues to be as it was decades ago.

at the same time, in the midst of all that’s changing in the professional world, i’m surprised that change in the marketing process for professional services is evolving so slowly. there are indeed exceptions, in which a handful of firms have extensive programs that are innovative, and very large staffs to execute them. these few firms have specialists in such activities as business development, media relations, and so forth. but considering the vast number of accounting firms, their number is a small percentage of the professions.

bruce w. marcus

more bruce w. marcus:

my address in space: the dynamics of change at accounting firms
six quick reasons why cpa firms will never be the same
14 steps to find the right “value price”
it’s not just accounting anymore. today, everyone’s in marketing.
how listening to clients can shape success
how one california accounting firm may be revealing the future of the profession
what accountants are learning about marketing
when practice drives marketing and marketing drives practice
old-fashioned accounting marketing dies slowly
get real: six practical goals for accounting marketing
15 reasons why accounting marketing isn’t like selling toothpaste
technology is overrated
accounting firms redefine value…
change your thinking, change your future
five new realities for accountants

there are many reasons for this, not the least of which is the amorphous nature of professional services management and marketing education. the quality of academic and firm marketing education in this field is dismal and retrogressive. the relationship between the marketers and the accountants is too often built on mutual misunderstanding. and perhaps it’s because accounting firm marketing is so subsumed by a firm’s professionals with too little understanding of the process, that too many marketers are either unwilling to risk innovation or else are incapable of it.

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outlook & analysis

cch opens platform to connect 3rd-party apps

 

new partner program with other software vendors supports immediate integrations.

via cch wolters kluwer

tax and accounting professionals now have a new way of working, integrating applications from different sources on cch’s new “open” integration platform, sharing common data and streamlining workflows easily between systems. applications available for integration include those created by cch, and other applications by third-party providers – and even applications developed within a firm or corporation.  

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