nine reasons not to specialize

think about what you really want.

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice

question: can you recommend a specialty i can get involved in to generate more revenue for my practice?

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response: my discussion with the cpa indicated that his practice consisted of a large individual tax return practice and many monthly business clients. he thought financial planning or business valuations would be a way to expand his services and make more money. it did not seem he had an intellectual interest in these areas.

i told him to spend the time getting more business clients similar to what he had. my reasons were:

1. he wasn’t interested in personal growth – just wanted to make more money.
2. both specialties he mentioned required obtaining designations that would require study and time – an investment he didn’t want to make. i told him there was no pill he could take that would make him instantly adept in fp or bv, but if i heard of one, i would certainly let him know.
3. he did not seem to have an awareness of the scope of the specialties he mentioned. for instance, fp could include asset allocation assistance, budgeting consulting, retirement, education funding, estate or succession planning – all different specialties requiring different types of knowledge and training, and staffing. bv could include estate and gift valuations, buying a business analysis, due diligence, divorce valuations and forensic investigations.
4. he actually has a very good practice – whenever he got a new business client his “annuity” income increased and went on and on and on. getting a check every month is a pretty great business model.
5. fp or bv specialty work would require a large amount of his time. his present clients are primarily serviced by staff. he has about three or four meetings a year with each client. his time including client meetings and calls, supervision, training and review was about 25 percent of the total time servicing the client. he was using leverage and delegating work very effectively. if he went to the next level and invested in another staff person, he could probably reduce his time and possibly use the freed-up time to cross-sell clients some business advisory or consulting services (which is a specialty he should further inquire about). he could also examine his client base to see if he has a preponderance of clients in an industry, positioning himself as an “expert” and using that to perform additional services and in marketing for new clients.
6. fp and bv work are primarily one-shot assignments. unless you sell product or manage money, the cost of getting new clients has to be covered by the work generated, which is very difficult without a critical mass of continual work being referred to him. with his present model, the acquisition cost is spread out over a period of time because the revenue stream from the client lasts for quite a while (many years based on his track record).
7. he did not have a critical mass of contacts to feed him fp or bv work and developing it would take “years” and substantial time and cost on his part.
8. in fp and bv niches, he would need to demonstrate an expertise such as writing articles or teaching cpe, which also would require large blocks of time.
9. his income was above average for the size practice he had. he also had quite a bit of time off in the summer and toward the end of the year. he indicated no interest in working harder – he said he wanted to work smarter on higher-fee services. i told him that while he would receive higher hourly rates on the bv work, much of that work is time-sensitive, causing rushed conditions, making it more difficult to schedule around his other commitments. if the bv expanded into forensic work, a lot of his time would be at the command of the attorneys he would be working with.

sometimes, it’s better to stick to your knitting.

posted on july 1, 2024