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outlook & analysis

kennedy & coe moves to “value” billing

top 100 firm “inspired” by ron baker.

over the past year, the wichita-based cpa firm has been moving to a new revenue model it calls “value creation.”

“when you talk about pricing you ought to be talking about value,” ceo kurt siemers tells the wichita eagle. “pricing is really driven by what the customer thinks (a service) is worth.”

highlights:

the value creation agreement process starts when kennedy and coe has its meetings with clients to determine what services they need for the coming year. those meetings lead to a value creation agreement, which lays out the services and payment terms for the year.

siemers

siemers said prices for services are determined in part from the client’s “expected value” of the service.

“it’s a pricing model that understands that value in the client’s eyes,” he said.

as a rule, he said, kennedy and coe is not generating any more or any less money from these agreements than it was using the billable hours model.

“from a client’s perspective it’s much more accepted,” he said of the agreements.

he said that if, in the course of the year, the need for additional services or another project arises, then the client and kennedy and coe get together to develop a change order to account for the extra work.

he said fewer than 25 percent of kennedy and coe’s clients are operating under a value creation agreement.

but he hopes to have converted all of its clients to the agreement by march 31. “the realist in me says it might be june or september (2010),” siemers said.

original here.

outlook & analysis

cpa credits facebook, twitter for wall street journal front page play

professional services firms of all stripes are working to kill the billable hour and move to flat-rate pricing.

wall street journal quotes cpa dan morris from verasage on value billing:

morris

companies — many of them smaller businesses that saw big growth in recent years thanks to generous corporate spending — are finding themselves suddenly squeezed in an economy where clients are loath to spend money on anything but the essentials.

“you’re seeing a lot of pushback” from customers, says daniel morris, co-founder of the verasage institute in san jose, calif., a think tank that works on finding alternatives to hourly billing at professional-service firms. “firm members are saying that customers want [a new way of paying], and we can make that a competitive advantage.”

full story here: firms try alternative to hourly fees – wsj.com.

how did verasage get the attention of the wall street journal? dan morris reports on the verasage blog:

i think today demonstrated the value of the social networks (facebook, twitter, etc.) and their ability to spread the word.  encouraging others to read our materials and help us with our mission to bury the billable hour.

visit dan morris at his cpa firm morris & d’angelo, or www.cpadudes.com on the web. by the way, dan is the real thing. he even takes a full vacation during tax season. no big deal he says, if you run your practice the right way. cpas have a lot to learn from dan and his partner at verasage, ron baker.

busy season management

why your clients need your optimism

as many busy season clients – individual and corporate alike – get hammered by a crashing economy and uncertain business conditions, cpas are doing their best to help.

by rick telberg

“clients are overwhelmed by the current state of the economy, imploding asset values and credit issues,” according to daniel j. domancich, a cpa and cfp in huntington beach, calif. the best you can do, he advises other cpas, is: “stay positive.”

“make sure you are adding value to your services,” domancich says, “by offering personal, attentive, proactive and knowledgeable services.”

read more →

outlook & analysis

new survey results: smartphones – perks or power tools?

the votes are coming in: cpa firms are powering up their competitive profiles with full-featured mobile phones that can do it all.

smartphones are proving to be a key ingredient for cpa success in today’s mobile world. but how do you manage the technology for maximum productivity and competitive advantage?

the initial responses are flowing in to our new survey, “accounting firm mobile phone productivity strategies.”

the survey is delving into some of the hottest questions in practice management today:

  • best practices in mobile phone spending and management.
  • maximizing staff productivity with mobile phones.
  • which mobile phone strategies are right for your firm.

the questionnaire should take only about three minutes, but the results could be immensely useful to you and your firm. join the survey; get the results. check back often as the survey results come in.

join the survey; get the results.

check back often as the survey results come in.

outlook & analysis

six yardsticks to test your ethics

look in the mirror and ask yourself…

tom hood, head of the maryland cpa association, recently met with a class of college accounting students. they picked the topics: corporate scandals and fraud, which, in itself, it an encouraging sign that some of our hopes can rest easy in the next generation.

but some of what tom delivered could be useful for anyone.

tom posts:

we finished with tips for them to stay ethical (the mirror test) and have the courage to “do the right thing”:

1. publicity test – how would your action look on national tv or in a headline?
2. conscience test – listen to your inside voice
3. parent test – if you had children looking over your shoulder would the be embarrassed?
4. role model test – would your role model approve?
5. universality test – what if everyone did this?
6. golden rule – would you like to be treated this way?

and he left some recommended readings:

  1. madoff fraud – markopolis whistleblower memo (pdf)
  2. sherron watkins – memo about enron
  3. macpa’s accounting reform task force report – circa 2002 during enron-worldcom – download macpa accounting reform white paper (pdf)
  4. wired magazine – xbrl – road map for financial recovery
  5. wired magazine – recipe for disaster: the formula that killed wall street

and, don’t miss tom’s post on transparency, accountability, efficiency: time for a revolution

management

new survey results: how smartphones help cpa firms compete

join the new survey here, get the top-line results.

a smartphone — like a blackberry, iphone, or palm — handles more than just phone calls. accounting firms are finding that a well-managed mobile strategy adds competitive advantage, improves client service and satisfaction, and even helps maintain a sensible work/life balance

a new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research project is yielding some interesting and useful early results.

for intance, we’ve been asking: “what’s the single most important thing that a smartphone helps accomplish for your firm?”

here are a few snippets from the comments:

  • expands productivity beyond the normal “8-to-5”—both a blessing…and a curse.
  • allows us to maintain real-time communications.
  • client service and responsiveness.
  • reduces back log of phone and email requiring attention upon return to office.
  • can be away from office & stay in touch
  • communication with clients
  • access
  • access to the firms lifeline of contacts and stockpiled emails and voicemails. keeping those in check allow me to stay on top of them or they are like an unruly haircut.
  • keep in touch
  • saves time in getting information needed to manage client service
  • access to outlook calender, email & tasks for improved time management & organization
  • constant communication with co-workers to maintain productivity.
  • client response time
  • email and schedule
  • be in contact with clients and staff
  • manage email, be accessible
  • faster response time for e-mail questions from clients
  • allows us to be in contact with our clients outside of the office.
  • help balance life and work
  • work life balance
  • stay in touch with office and clients while out for field work.
  • manage and monitor my networks.

join the new survey here, get the top-line results.

outlook & analysis

robert fligel: you got the first job meeting, now what?

here are some sound do’s and don’ts.

by robert fligel, cpa

robert fligel, cpa
fligel

let’s face, this is a really tough economy and it’s very difficult to find a new job opportunity. what that means is more and more people are networking like crazy with family, friends, former co workers and the like. one of the natural outgrowths of this is the informational or exploratory meeting.

if you are having an informational job interview as part of your job search there are steps you should take to make the process more of a two way exchange of information. this will allow the company to learn about your expertise while allowing you to lean how the company may benefit your career. here are some sound do’s and don’ts.

continued at rf resources.

management

new survey launched: how accounting firms leverage mobile productivity

smartphones are proving to be a key ingredient for cpa success in today’s mobile world.

but how do you manage the technology for maximum productivity and competitive advantage?

we expect to get the answers in our new research project, “accounting firm mobile phone policies and productivity.”

click here to start the survey now. as always, participants will get an early peek at the topline results.

this survey will answer some of the burning questions in practice management today:

  • best practices in mobile phone spending and management.
  • maximizing staff productivity with mobile phones.
  • which mobile phone strategies are right for your firm.

the questionnaire should take only about three minutes, but the results could be immensely useful to you and your firm.

thanks again for your interest and support. just click on this link to get started.

sincerely,
rick telberg

outlook & analysis

how cpa business gets done today: with laptops and usb sticks at starbucks

some cpas are ahead of the curve. here’s one of them.

kathleen huston, head of mcguire williams cpas, posts:

huston

ah, how do you make tax meetings less painful and less dry?  meet and greet at starbucks. you get to swill some tasty java while giving some sage tax advice. this is the new meeting place chosen by the gen-x society. so, i decided to go with the flow.

on wednesday or friday when i am already working remotely, i schedule meetings with those clients who are the city dwellers and many don’t even own a car.

first thing they want to know when scheduling a meeting is where the nearest metro station is. of course, our office is about 1 mile from the springfield metro. not a walk in the park!

and since i need my daily starbucks hit in the afternoon, a meeting at starbucks is pretty palatable in my book. there is one close to my remote office and right at the metro stop.

so, there i sit today across from a new tax client. we are both sipping coffee and typing away on our laptops. then i swap my data stick between laptops.

and we had never met either, but he had our website page on his laptop screen when i got there. my bio and picture let him know who i was. i was no strange face in the crowd.

so, get connected … who needs an office anyway?

visit mcguire williams and their blog life and times of accounting.

see original here.

outlook & analysis

are the big four accounting firms too big to fail? ask ifac’s bob bunting

bunting tackles the hottest topics in talk to students. how would you grade him?

in a speech last week at loyola marymount university, bunting, new head of the international federation of accountants (ifac, in french), told accounting and auditing students they were needed now more than ever.

in addressing the credit bust, he chiefly blamed “corporate governance failures.” and said the solution lies in new global-sized initiatives:

bunting

what makes all of these problems so much worse, of course, is our global interconnectedness. there’s no such thing as a local meltdown anymore-and shockwaves don’t only emanate from the most powerful nations. who would have thought, for example, that banking failures in tiny iceland would be felt in russia, the uk, and scandinavia, and that they would put the life savings of thousands of retirees in those countries at risk? this is only one example of how the interconnections that work so well in good times-as we sell, borrow, and do business with entities a continent away-can cause such havoc in bad times.

suffice it to say that no national system of regulation can protect its citizens unless it is integrated into an equally rigorous international system.

are the big four too big to fail? he said:

plain and simply, the combination of unlimited audit firm liability in many countries coupled with limited choices of audit firms for the largest international corporations injects additional risk into the financial system. the majority of large global corporations use the big four accounting firms for auditing work. if one of the large firms should fail for any reason, and liability is the most likely possibility, the viability of the whole system would be placed in jeopardy. this concentration issue is thus one we must address.

and

putting the public interest first is a priority for our profession, but we must ensure that there are professional accountants who can carry out this responsibility.

he also covers convergence and auditor rotation, among other hot topics.

read the whole speech: read more →

management

what’s your audit committee worried about?

these are the things should be keeping cfos awake at night.

according to a survey of 150 audit committee members, the top five concerns are:

1. liquidity, access to capital and cash flow;
2. risk management;
3. financial statement issues;
4. maintaining internal controls; and,
5. alignment of business goals, incentives, culture, compliance, controls and risk.

the survey also showed:

  • 89 percent said the financial crisis had caused their company’s board or audit committee to change the nature and scope of its oversight.
  • 53 percent said that they are only or not satisfied that their board exercises appropriate skepticism about management’s risk perceptions and assumptions.
  • 50 percent said that they are only somewhat or not engaged in discussing the assumptions that underlie management’s accounting judgments and estimates that might be impacted by the financial crisis.
  • 38 percent said that they are only somewhat or not satisfied that management has timely and accurate financial forecast information about earnings and cash flow.
  • 31 percent of the representatives from those companies that issue earnings guidance said that the audit committee has reconsidered the company’s policies regarding earnings guidance in light of the financial crisis.
outlook & analysis

how twitter launched a cpa firm into the top google rankings

are you twittering yet? here’s what can happen.

andrew rose, director of marketing and business development at naden/lean cpas in timonium, md., reports on the association for accounting marketing listserv that he went from twitter newbie to twitter success story. (the listserv alone, by the way, is worth the price of aam membership.)

here’s his tale:

i was a little leery of jumping on the bandwagon, but after the talk, i began to formulate a strategy. i put up four accounts, one personal, one for the firm, one for a niche practice area that is hot, and one for a project i’m working on related to the niche practice area.

once i set them up, i started twitter searching to see what people were saying, er, tweeting, about us. you can imagine my surprise when i found a post related to an industry niche blog we run describing how valuable our advice was. it was from someone i didn’t know. so i began following him and thanked him for recognizing us in this public fashion, unsolicited.

and, the kicker? his tweet, reposting a link to our industry blog now ranks in the top 20 for a keyword in an organic google search….

not bad eh?

not bad at all, indeed.

rose and like-minded cpa firm marketers will be swapping more stories at aam’s annual conference in austin, june 2-5.  see you there.

and don’t forget to follow the firm at www.twitter.com/nadenlean.