delegate, partner, outsource … according to plan.
by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers
back office support for the accounting firm defines you and your firm. are you servicing clients who are part of the past, or are you servicing clients living into the future? remember the new generation of business owners has never owned a filing cabinet, fax machine, landline, printer and turntables (only if they are into retro music!).
more: what do you want advisory services to be? | meet the new bos | why ai is not the enemy
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the diagram above is how i think about “advisory services.” the traditional role of an accountant has been as steward and operator. if you’re happy there, then that’s ok, this post will help you streamline your processes and technology to deliver these services more efficiently and profitably. and if you want to move into higher valued (and higher paying!) work and play a role in transforming your clients’ businesses, and play the role of strategist and catalyst, then we’ll show you how.
over the last decade, i’ve developed an 11-step process for building a bos practice. i have my own bos practice using a team in chennai, india, and i have mentored hundreds of others in creating their own bos practices. i will walk you through those 11 steps so you can build a satisfying practice that helps small business owners achieve their financial dreams. this sequence worked for me, and it has worked for many others.
making this change means committing to doing almost everything differently. yes, change is hard, but tell that to the dinosaurs who didn’t survive the changes to their environment! i can tell you that if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll end up like those dinosaurs.
what do you want to do?
objectives
- finding the focus of your firm
- what will be your part?
“apps are not the answer, the relationship and talking to the client is.” – mike chawner, cpa
let’s examine the core competencies of an accounting firm. the first thing that comes to mind is taxes. we all depend on well trained, educated tax preparers to take on the onus of tax return preparation. whether you’re a business or personal tax client, your preparer requires all the financial documents related to the business or individual for the year. those source documents are then used to create a tax return. the tax preparer’s specialized knowledge is key here. that knowledge allows the firm to prepare tax returns quickly, efficiently and to the maximum tax benefit.
this specialized knowledge, core competency and trusted advisor status places the accounting firm in a unique position to utilize new technologies and to reinvent itself as a real-time managerial accounting office. many firms struggle to achieve this. just adding bos services to your website along with a portal is not enough. that’s just window dressing. reinventing your firm requires making changes to your processes, your back office systems – and possibly your firm’s culture.
to achieve this transition, the accounting firm needs to ask the following:
- what do we like to do?
- what are we good at?
- which of our clients are best suited for this?
- of the best suited clients, what parts can we effectively manage?
- what changes do we need to put in place?
focusing on what you like most leads you to what you do best and then to the best clients who need those services. finding a client and then attempting to work their needs into your abilities leads to disappointment for both parties.
partner with a firm that specializes in what you don’t want to do
recently we had a zoom call between a client firm in texas and our chennai office. at the end of the meeting, i asked one of the partners about another person who worked with them and had contacted us about some outsourced tax work. he okayed us to do that as it was a separate function and the gentleman in question only worked with them on special projects. he did mention that the young man was very focused on learning all the apps and felt overwhelmed. the partner told him to let my team at moneypenny run the apps and make suggestions on future ones. over several years of working with us, this partner had learned that he made a profit when he focused on his relationship with the client and spoke with the client. he never made a profit on running the apps. the apps and my outsource team gave him the time and information to talk to clients.
what are you doing versus what do you want to do?
- using the worksheet below, write down a list of services your firm performs.
- in the left column, enter the percentage of your time spent on each service.
- to the right of the list, enter your preferences using the traffic signals.
- go means i want to do this and i like this work.
- pause means you are not sure. if these services are critical, maybe we should outsource them.
- stop means no way, i do not want to do this anymore.
for anything you marked stop, your first project is to figure out how to get rid of that work. partner with another cpa or bookkeeper? sell those clients? whatever you don’t want, someone else will.
what do you need to do differently?
- people:
- do you have the right people for the right job?
- have you built a team that duplicates you or complements your skills?
- process:
- how well documented are the requirements of each role and each step in the accounting process? are the processes detailed, documented and revisited often?
- people should never document their own process, or at the very least, someone else needs to verify the documented process.
- whatever processes or procedures you currently use for historical and compliance work will not be valid. all will need review and change. trying to keep parts of the old system will lead to failure.
- profit:
-
- the steps above are required to reach this step.
managing and delegation
- what can you manage? what do you want to manage?
- how do you feel about delegating?
- activity: write down one defined item of work that you can delegate and be at ease with the assigned delegate. define all steps. tip: start with something simple – perhaps as simple as answering the phone. and now you’ve got your first process! the good news is that your clients and prospective clients will now have a consistent user experience.
do you have an onboarding process for new clients?
i gave this assignment to a group of partners at a workshop. there were 90 people from 70 firms in that workshop. as a group, they were to write down the process to onboard a new incoming client. not one of the partners knew what happened once a client signed the engagement letter. while they did not know what happened, they were confident that, regardless, it was an inconsistent experience each time.
first impressions are important for setting the parameters of a new client relationship and the expectations on both sides. the fastest growing firms have a clearly defined process for onboarding new clients that starts well before the engagement letter is signed. besides establishing the methods for communication and for sharing information, an onboarding process that starts before the engagement letter is signed is also an opportunity to make sure that a new client will be a good fit for the firm.
go back to your delegation exercise:
- how well do you know your team?
- if this is a service that you alone perform, then what can you delegate?
- are there any missing areas?
- do other people in your office have a different process than the one you outlined?
- are you positive that what you think is happening is really happening?
- have you built a team that duplicates you or one that supports different areas and interests?