your best advice: get smart, get tech, get moving

what accountants are telling other accountants about how to weather the pandemic economy.

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by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间-avalara business confidence index

new readings from the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间-avalara business confidence index are unearthing a lot of good advice for firms venturing into the post- (let’s-hope-) covid-19 world.

related: survey: worries for small business clients |  busy season forecast: more chaos   |  survey: drake takes the cake in tax apps  |  there are 4 types of professionals  |   |  pop quiz: can you find $330,000 for your clients?   |  remote work is here to stay   |  salt: the small business disaster waiting to happen   |   |  survey: cpa firms reject staff vaccine mandates

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in five nutshells:

1. adapt technology to virtual service.
2. innovate to deal with government tax and economic measures.
3. look for cloud-based apps accessible anywhere.
4. automate to stay competitive.
5. look for new revenue streams to replace older services.

 

tech and tax

accountants are telling us tech and tax are the biggest impacts resulting from covid-19.

• 54 percent say adapting workflows for a more online or virtual environment is a highly important impact, and another 32 percent say it’s at least moderately important.
• a paltry 2 percent say online/virtual tech has no long-term impact on their firms, though another 12 percent say it could have some minor impact.
• government tax and economic policies may have an even longer-term impact. some 88 percent of practitioners foresee moderate or major impact.

the advice of enrolled agent babette smith, of morgan hill, calif., summed it up: “stay up to date on technology,” she said. “times are a-changing and we need to change with them.”

jeff raizen shifted that focus over to clients, telling us, “our clients rely on us to help them navigate through all of these disruptions and changes, and we need to serve those needs. stay on top of the changes and be proactive in helping your clients with all of it.”

reach for the cloud

we also saw a strong majority of respondents telling us accounting firms need to connect with constantly updated cloud-based software to facilitate access anywhere, anytime.

• • • • • • • • half of the respondents warned that cloud access will be highly important.
              • a third said it will be moderately important.
              • 26 percent belittled the cloud as having little or no long-term impact on how firms will be doing business.
        • among those who said cloud-based software will have no long-term impact was lesley orr, who alerted us to a negative impact. “beware of the cloud,” she said. “read the license agreements carefully. identity theft is a genuine issue.”

          maybe wait to automate?

          the race to automate seemed to be a little less important, though 35 percent said automation will be highly important for those who want to compete. but 29 percent ranked it as only slightly or not at all important.

          one anonymous respondent said simply, “automate asap.”

          another, however – one of the “slightly important” persuasion – offered a way out: “unless you just want to automate, double down on your personal relationships and targeted personal services.”

• • • • •  

          new streams, new services

          

           

• • • • • while 35 percent cited finding new revenue streams to replace the fading demand for write-ups and 1040 jobs, 32 percent said a need to offer new services will have a major impact on accounting firms, and another 34 percent said this will be of moderate importance.

          lucas vandewoestyne suggested bumping up services.

          “raise prices and service levels,” he suggested. “leave some clients behind that refuse to change and/or pay for a higher level of service and higher rate of labor.”

          a certain cpa saw opportunity in the situation, telling us, “there is plenty of work available. build an overall knowledge base and find a niche. understand changing demographics.”

          in a similar vein, someone said, “provide more services that your clients don’t realize they need until they’ve tried it. be more than just a numbers cruncher.”

          most of the comments on this particular question were very client-oriented. rachel wehr, for example:

          “deep breaths,” she suggested. “eventually we’ll laugh about this nightmare and feel stronger on the other side. keep helping your small business clients; they need you now more than ever and are going to be eternally grateful that you were there to look out for them.”

          other advice

          here’s some more advice coming in, briefly stated:

          • • • take care of staff.
              • double down on personal relationships.
              • use your analytic abilities.
              • maximize cpe.
              • be flexible.
              • get off your butt.

        • bottom line: as rick fields of louisville’s associates in accounting put it, “adapt, adapt, adapt – something that isn’t natural in our industry.”

posted on october 11, 2021