they see what can be automated.
by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide
we know that cas generally constitutes three key service segments:
- after-the-fact financial statement preparation, i.e., “write-up,”
- business transaction processing and
- outsourced cfo and controller services.
more: 8 ways to create your cas practice | the big money in cas for small firms | what cas is and isn’t | do you value your cas value? | the mindset you need for client accounting services
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tax planning/tax strategy services may also become part of your cas offering if you have interest/expertise in that segment.
have your clients’ needs changed now?
essentially, cas is an upgrade of your service capabilities to meet the needs clients always had but were not fully met so far.
the primary reasons why you can now meet those additional needs of clients are the technological evolution driven by the internet, the maturity of cloud solutions, and the automation and integration possibilities that turned into reality very quickly over the last few years.
clients’ needs haven’t changed; their expectations have.
clients have become increasingly aware of the new possibilities technology brings to them – and they expect accountants to deliver on those possibilities. clients know – and the accounting technology vendors are doing a great job of educating the clients about the dramatically enhanced capabilities of accounting software, more than ever before – that what constituted a lot of specialist “accounting processing” knowledge that only accountants had, software code and algorithms now include this core knowledge.
in other words, clients know that accountants can now apply more of their specialist training, knowledge, experience and expertise to the business situations clients face rather than being busy in creating accounting data and information. clients are expecting business intelligence and insights from accountants, in addition to information and facts.
how new expectations turn into new needs
you see what you believe!
human behavior science explains that this is not just a figment of the imagination. when your clients believe they can get some new outcomes from accountants, they want to see those outcomes. it becomes a “need.”
take an example of how smartphone technology integrated gps technology into apps. uber, lyft and other multibillion-dollar companies emerged from “new possibilities” that customers loved. soon, it became a need for millions of customers.
in the accounting profession, clients are more than ever aware of the possibilities technology has created. that increased awareness has led to different beliefs about how accounting can help them. those different beliefs lead to new expectations. clients believe more is possible now, and that expectation makes them feel they need that additional benefit from accountants’ services.
what are the (now expressed) needs of your clients?
the new outcomes accountants can provide to their clients may not be as evident as uber and lyft. it is important for accountants to “show the possibilities” to their clients. and accountants must do so before anyone else goes and shows their clients those new possibilities.
clients expect that professionals with impeccable integrity uphold their interests, not focus on benefiting themselves from clients’ (temporary) ignorance. not showing the new possibilities to your clients is too big a risk to take if you want to be the most trusted advisor of your clients. purpose and passion drive entrepreneurs to be optimistic about their chances. they are risk-takers, but they (more likely than not) are not necessarily financially savvy nor great at understanding accounting – and the value of accounting to their business. what they need is the wisdom, the expertise, the facts-based approach, the understanding accountants have about financial/transactional decisions that entrepreneurs make or don’t make, and how it all impacts their business and its future. in the years when accounting technology was maturing, accountants’ efforts predominantly went toward collecting and organizing information and less toward analyzing and interpreting it. advisory was expensive for clients – because it took far too much time (and hence costs) to produce advisory insights. the majority of businesses being smaller, entrepreneurs could not afford to buy advisory services. in the process, the “mortality rates” of new businesses, arguably, remained mostly unchanged.
now, the collect-and-enter-and-organize effort, time and costs can dramatically reduce when accountants leverage technology (and clients are becoming increasingly aware of this fact). when entrepreneurs find that their accountants are delivering more suggestions, analysis and advice to them, they feel the need to listen to the facts-based insights from their accountants. when that happens regularly, entrepreneurs consult their accountants when they have to make choices. many times, it is the accountant who makes entrepreneurs aware of the need to make choices to help their businesses do better. this cycle continues to make the new experience of clients into a regular necessity. and clients learn, know and appreciate that it is more brainwork than brawnwork that accountants do to fulfill the new needs. and they see the value of the impact ofbrain-work – and they are more willing to pay higher for such services – because they do not see it as a “cost” of obtaining relevant advice, they perceive it as an investment that brings them roi in several ways.
list of services in your cas offering
while advisory is the ultimate deliverable to your client, the process of getting there still needs to be done. it takes time, effort and cost. technology makes it far more efficient and hence reduces the cost. but if the process of producing the information required for analysis is a shared responsibility between clients and accountants, it becomes expensive again.
ideally, for optimizing the success of your cas offering, the information should be just a byproduct of the decisions entrepreneurs make in their business. why? you are the professional, trained to do the accounting in a proper, accurate way, not your client. accounting is not their business. one of my clients, the owner of a firm from cincinnati, ohio, which won the best accounting firm award in their region for many years, put this across beautifully. he always introduced himself as:
“i am an entrepreneur. and my business is accounting.”
if you noticed carefully, none of your clients could say the second part of this expression. only you, the accountant, can say, “my business is accounting.”
as accounting is your business, you own (and you are accountable for) the accounting processes. based on my experience and analysis of the services offered by hundreds of accounting firms across the country, following is a list of most commonly provided services that can be under the cas umbrella of the firm:
- write-up
- bookkeeping
- payables / bill payment services
- receivables / customer sales invoicing services
- payroll processing
- payroll tax filing / compliance services
- sales tax calculation
- sales tax filing / compliance services
- cash flow monitoring and management services
- budgeting services
- outsourced / virtual cfo services
- financial statements preparation
- business advisory / consulting services
- technology advisory / consulting services
- tax strategy advisory services
your cas practice will offer some or all of these services. each of these services has a direct impact on the accounting work you do for your clients. these are not the outcomes of processing the accounting work.
before you think any further, wait. stop.
you can add more services within your existing resources
you may not be offering some of these services now – and you may immediately think that it is difficult for you to provide many of these services as that would require additional resources and capital. you may think that some of these services are not as profitable compared to some other services you offer. it is critically important to keep in mind that cloud software coupled with innovative automation and integration, powered by your cas-specific internal processes, make cas significantly profitable.
i have personally witnessed several firms implementing processes and technologies that have enabled them to a) serve more clients and b) earn more from each client within their existing resources.