3 solid strategies.
by carl george
tax reform – opportunity or burden?
more: 2020 outlook: talent shortage drags on | demand is high | business development goes borderless | data import on the rise | becoming the most valuable advisor | top three tips for 2020 success | where do you want to be? | dicey disruptions | upstream mergers | staffing gets creative
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.
the prevalent theme throughout the 2019 tax opportunity season was “…the hardest tax season that i have ever encountered!” system issues. cyber issues. tax reform. changing/last-minute regs.
those firms that embraced tax reform as an opportunity to provide (and charge for) high-value tax advice brought on by recent tax reform saw revenues increase significantly. they reported that tax reform in the 2018 tax opportunity season was more at the conceptual level, many regs were not completed and clients did not focus as much on reform.
however, the landscape in 2019 was different. reality set in, clients focused and firms focused on providing the high-value tax advisory services to their clients. in short, despite the challenges, those progressive firms reported very successful seasons. those firms that did not embrace tax reform as opportunities for firm growth, but rather more of a burden, had a long start of 2019.
it’s not too late to modify for 2020. many of the tax advisory opportunities are ongoing for clients for years to come.
a healthy economy has enabled clients to invest in their businesses and one of the investments has been for more high-value services from their cpa and consulting firms. in response, firms are migrating to an advisory model, but many are struggling with how that will look, given the specific circumstances and landscape in their firms. firms are asking the questions:
- how do we change partner behaviors toward advisory?
- how do we train our staff and partners to “discover” consulting opportunities?
- how do we balance our existing compliance practice with our advisory practice?
while i wholeheartedly agree the profession must provide more high-value advisory services, i also advise firms that balance between advisory and compliance is a key strategy. reason: advisory is more sensitive to a slowing economy or recession and firms must also prosper during those times. so, my strategic planning with clients focuses on three strategies:
- building and providing high-value advisory services,
- being more efficient and profitable with the compliance practice and
- modifying partner behaviors to adapt more quickly to the changes required to ensure the firm continues to thrive.