client accounting services has challenges and great opportunities.
by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide
client accounting services is becoming an increasingly important new revenue and growth segment for accounting firms of all sizes. yet, professionals are still grasping for the best practices, adjusting service bundles, searching for the right technologies, and optimizing prices.
more: which of your existing clients are cas-fit? | don’t wear a mask | the services that cas clients want | the services that cas clients need | the 8-step method for launching client accounting services | six reasons cas is king
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cas is, first, a mindset. it exists in every professional accountant. some know it exists in them. some don’t. some know that the cas mindset exists in them but do not make the most of it. instead, they try to become everything to everyone. they become more of “need-fillers” than “accounting entrepreneurs (accountaneurs®).” they find it challenging to become the “most trusted advisors” of their clients. those who don’t know that the cas mindset exists in them feel it will be overwhelmingly difficult to “learn” the cas mindset. they may try to acquire the mindset but give up too soon.
i will explain how accountants know they have the cas mindset in them. you will get insights from the actions they have taken – concrete action to leverage that mindset, behave, talk and take steps to make cas successful for their firms. you will also learn how to develop the cas mindset, or rather, how to reactivate the cas mindset that may have been dormant in you.
the why, what, and how of cas
several studies and surveys have confirmed that cas is a fast-growing, more profitable revenue segment for firms of all sizes.
top publications in the accounting profession have relentlessly published content about cas. many technology solutions providers, thought leaders and consultants to the profession have shared their insights about cas. there are some “certification courses” that teach cas.
yet, cas can be an enigma. what exactly is cas? why should i offer cas? how do i provide cas? these three are, even today, the topmost common questions accountants ask about cas.
i will explain the why, what and how of cas. the information and insights on these three foundational aspects of cas have been discovered, tested and confirmed from thousands of interactions with cas and non-cas accounting firms and corroborated with the quantitative and qualitative analysis of data gathered from perhaps the largest cas survey ever conducted in the accounting profession. in other words, this is not a work of fiction or only thoughts and musings. i will give you the powerful advantage of market intelligence that can save you years of effort and costs, significantly reduce risk of failure, considerably reduce the time taken to establish your cas practice and geometrically enhance the chances of success of your cas practice – if you embrace the insights and implement in the right earnest.
your firm’s cas
cas leads your firm to serve more needs and wants of your clients. cas means you will profitably serve the needs of all your clients, not just those who have larger needs and hence, can pay you more.
but how do you really know what are the needs and also the wants of your clients and prospects? if you are like most of the other accountants out there, you have a menu of services. almost all of your prospects see you from the narrow filters of your services menu. you get pigeonholed. if you have ever felt “clients do not value my services and expertise, they just want the lowest price,” you will know what i mean by “getting pigeonholed.”
you will learn about ways to identify your clients’ needs and wants. people want to pay the least when they have to do something, i.e., for their needs. but they pay premium prices for their wants. you will get insights on how to show them the life they will have when their wants are met. you will see some examples of needs and wants of the clients who buy each of the most common services accountants provide. we will then go more in-depth into learning the clients’ wants on a human level – and how to cater to each of the fundamental human wants through your services. we will then learn the easy-to-learn, practical, proven ways of knowing which of your clients can be “cas-fit.” we will also cover the not-so-easy ways of identifying cas-fit clients.
the communication challenge of cas
you are, by profession, great with numbers. but if you are like a lot of accountants out there who are not so great with words, cas will be a communications challenge.
it can slow down your cas journey considerably. in this book, you will find actionable intelligence and practical advice to overcome the communications challenge.
you will learn how to communicate the value of your cas offering. you will find ways to convince your partners to commit to cas, and how to get your staff on board for cas.
you will also get insights on how to communicate cas to your existing clients and prospects. armed with this knowledge, you will then dive into how to identify the right clients for cas.
how to prepare your firm for cas
knowing and doing are two different things. success needs both. what should you do to prepare your firm for cas?
we will first examine what technology stack you will need for cas success, depending upon how much your firm already uses cloud technologies. don’t worry. even if your firm is just partly into the cloud, there are ways to know what your next steps should be. you will also learn how your clients can interact with your firm using your technology stack and how it can dramatically enhance the client experience and reduce the cost of client servicing.
how to get your cas team in place
what about your cas team? do you need a different one? do you need to re-skill/up-skill your existing team to turn them into cas ninjas?
if yes, how will you do that? if not, what should you do? you will get answers to many such important questions. you will see the “how to.” you will get an understanding of top success traits and drivers needed for cas. you will also acquire knowledge about how to enrich your team’s human skillsets and technical skillsets, as well as some ways in which you can train your cas team. you will also gain deeper insights about staffing choices and how to make sure you manage performance standards and risks.
cas processes and pricing
we will then examine how you can create your firm’s cas-specific processes. what should you include in your cas-specific engagement letters? why should you aim to make it an “engagement ring” concept-based agreement? will your client communication processes change because of cas? we will discuss several ideas and insights into all these critical questions.
cas pricing is a significant decision that can make you nervous and stressed. but help is here. we will first understand how the profession charges for cas, what the most prevalent pricing methods for cas are, and what the pricing trends are. after that, we will examine how you can decide about your firm’s cas pricing and keep adjusting it to make it more profitable for your firm. at the same time, we will dive into the details of key costs of offering cas and learn from the experience of the profession about how profitable cas is compared to other services firms provide.
marketing and selling cas
once you have something new to sell that the market demands and is more profitable for your firm, how should you market your cas offering? what should you do when your marketing brings in new prospects, to ensure your sales processes are effective? we will find many insights from the most effective marketing methods deployed by cas firms. from my personal experience of working with hundreds of cas firms, i will share ideas on how to market cas to existing clients and new prospects. i will also provide insights about generating new leads for your cas offering without spending much.
what about being a virtual/outsourced cfo?
another opportunity most cas firms aspire to make the most of is the cas-driven ability to offer high-value chief financial officer (cfo) competencies. many small but growing businesses will absolutely benefit from having the expertise of a professional cfo on their team, but such companies cannot afford to hire a full-time cfo. and any competent cfo worth the salt will not work full time for any smaller company as they are in high demand in the industry. this creates a real gap of demand-supply in the market that professional accountants are ideally placed to leverage by becoming part-time/on-demand/need-based/shared cfo for multiple companies at once. the billable rate for such virtual/outsourced cfo work is much higher than most other services accounting firms can offer. your firm’s senior, more experienced partners and team members can ride on the business intelligence cas creates to do much higher value, higher roi work. we will touch upon some ways your firm can start offering virtual/outsourced cfo services.
cas performance review
with experience, your cas will mature and become highly effective and more profitable. but it will still require you to review the performance of your firm’s cas segment periodically. why should you do this review? how do you evaluate your cas performance? why should you involve your clients in reviewing your firm’s cas performance? we will learn from the collective experience of the marketplace. many firms grow their cas practice to more comprehensive and sophisticated offerings, earning them even more per-client revenue and profit. the periodic performance review can help you connect the dots and bridge the gaps in your cas offering.
ideas, insights, tips, tricks, and best practices for your cas success
you will find ideas, insights, tips, tricks and best practices liberally sprinkled for your cas success. you will find many of those to be relevant from your perspective. i encourage you to think over, debate, analyze, and explore even those ideas that you may not find immediately applicable in your practice. several of my recommendations may sound very simple, but many are based on in-depth human behavior science research findings that i have been studying relentlessly for more than 25 years. i have married these findings with my experiences in the accounting profession so that you don’t have to spend a long time to figure out the connection and applicability.
i am thrilled to culminate this nearly three years of the process of research on cas. it took me that long because everything was ready with me for quite some time, but i wanted to test it against the real-world experience of cas practitioners out there. it took some recalibrations of concepts and explanations to align a few things. before publishing, i shared the pre-publication copy of my book with some leading cas practitioners across the country. i received great feedback from them. hence, i am highly – and realistically – optimistic and confident that i will significantly help you start/grow your own cas practice. i have no doubts in my mind that with what you will learn and when you earnestly apply what you learned, you will be on your path to the cas success you so richly deserve.
congratulations, and welcome! let’s get started.