cpe and training needs are evolving.
by roman kepczyk
last year’s extension to july 15 made for a very drawn-out busy season but did allow firms to shift resources to assist clients with ppp loans and other compliance. second, the move to remote/cloud was forced rapidly and pointed out the advantage of firms already utilizing cloud vendors and hosting providers as their transition was seamless.
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third, the difficulty and caution in physically meeting firm members and clients face to face forced adoption of virtual solutions such as zoom and microsoft teams and pointed out the value of having a digital workflow tool as well as the importance of having all files in a digital format accessible remotely.
now that most personnel have experienced remote work, there will be a strong push to keep that at least partially available. staff will point out the many benefits both financially and personally in regard to time to keep the option open. the use of video calling and screen sharing will harken in the advisory era, in that accountants will be able to meet with their clients for specific discussions throughout the year rather than having to trudge into the firm annually to grind out their tax return. learning approaches will change as we adapt to smaller cpe sessions that are more specific (tailored and technical) to our needs rather than just getting required hours.
from a financial perspective, one survey pointed out that roughly one-third of large firms plan to downsize their real estate footprint, which, when combined with the amount of available space that will come on the market because of small business bankruptcies, could change the real estate market for the next decade. the silver lining is that firms that have significant growth/merger plans or simply want to relocate will have incredible opportunities to do so. however, a word of caution in that you must know your competitors and the likelihood that they would reduce real estate costs to provide more competitive salaries and benefits for potential employees.
firms will need to specialize and expand their advisory skillsets to remain competitive. working remotely both with firm personnel and interacting with clients will be that new normal. training needs will evolve so firm personnel can quickly adapt, unlearn and relearn an ever-expanding skillset. value metrics will merge in with traditional kpis to more accurately measure the contribution that personnel provide to the firm. security will become paramount and we are already seeing firms backfill the gaps created with the covid-19 rush that sent firm personnel home just a few short months ago.
2019 was simply great with the majority of firms hitting on all cylinders during a solid economic period. movement to cloud applications and adoption of business information automation tools exploded onto the scene and firms “saw the writing on the wall,” making adoption of these tools a cornerstone of their firm’s expansion from cas (client accounting services) to caas (client accounting and advisory services). an expansive cornucopia of caas training ramped up at the end of the year with virtually every consultant and training group offering their unique process to direct firms toward providing advisory services to their clients. common themes among people pitching that narrative were
- niche/famous person development,
- marketing approaches for growth and
- building an advisory practice upon the firm’s cloud-based technology stack.
the tech stack trend is based around the explosion of applications and automation tools that integrate data from multiple business systems into the client’s accounting product to create a near-real-time accounting information platform, which provides the data and analysis for more proactive advisory services. frankly, this automation has benefited right networks as we were already an integral part of many cpa firms’ technology infrastructure and were providing resources to help them build out their own “tech stacks.”