management

clayton oates: one way to keep clients for life

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play the infinite game and 11 more takaways

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the disruptors
with liz farr for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

“we’re ultimately in the people business. we’re in the relationship-building business. we just happen to do accounting.”

that’s how clayton oates, the founder of qa business, views the accounting profession.

more: randy crabtree: follow these three rules to keep employees happy | erik solbakken: yes, you can work less and make more | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshift | jennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone loves | mike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practices | hector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be free| private equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinson | when financial statements go extinct with corey schmidt | can geraldine carter save accountants from themselves? | re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

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oates also believes accountants can choose whether they are playing a finite, zero-sum game with clients or the infinite game, which continues forever and results in an abundance forever mindset with clients, who will then be your clients for life. 

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solos need plans for death, disability

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"sorry we're closed" sign hanging in windowchecklists for pre-planning … and for recovery in a worst-case scenario.

by ed mendlowitz
77 ways to wow!

every sudden death or disability is a tragedy. for those who own a business and do not have a contingency plan in place, their legacy is confusion, high costs, stress and anxiety for their family, employees, customers, vendors and everyone else who depends on that business in some respect.

more: when an owner dies without a buy-sell agreement | are you ready for a co-owner to drop dead? | simple controls can prevent fraud | charity directors must take theft seriously | forensic techniques can be fraud deterrence | the hazards of poor internal controls | rule #1: start with cash
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businesses are organic in that many people depend on them for many things and do become part of people’s lives. owners who do not plan, shortchange those they leave behind … saddling them with doubt and many times with unnecessary and unfavorable consequences. lack of planning is not done through ignorance, but through arrogance. making plans for your death is difficult and unpleasant … but it is a necessary part of life. it is a courtesy for those closest to you who contributed to your success.
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put a little zip in your zoom

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come on. sit at the cool kids’ table.

group corporate video conference computer monitor screen

by beth ziesenis
app of the week

i don’t think the founders of telecommuter appreciation week could have anticipated worldwide adoption.

more apps of the week:  make your computer a clean slate | recycle and repurpose old devices | enlist ai for more productive meetings | keep teams on task with project management apps | apps to put your affairs in order | app of the week: celebrate black business month | app of the week: cheap flights | help your clients save money | time to upgrade your spreadsheets | app of the week: secretly stash cash | easy apps for increasing client engagement with video | app of the week: grow your business knowledge and career skill sets | app of the week: upgrade your resume | app of the week: end procrastination | 
see all: apps of the week here |
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the date is a tribute to telephone pioneer alexander graham bell because it’s the week of his birthday (march 3).

so much of the working world experienced telecommuting in 2020, many millions of people learned to say, “you’re on mute” on cue. read more →

what makes an excellent tax return reviewer

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bonuses: a 10-question test (and answer key), plus 18 other issues you might want to test.

by ed mendlowitz
how to review tax returns: the field-tested update

firms have to decide who will do the tax return review, and how qualifed they are for this. ideally, trained tax department personnel are the primary reviewers. however, the bunching and compression of work often shifts some of the review to higher level, non-tax personnel such as audit managers and partners who might not have the comprehensive training, background, knowledge and experience to handle everything that comes up during the tax preparation process.

more: ‘quick and dirty’ tax review | when returns should be submitted for review | tax follow-up worksheets can mean more revenue | stop tax return review shortcuts | routine is key to reviewing tax returns | seven types of tax return reviews
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additionally, in many firms, almost everyone on the staff will prepare some returns to ease the almost insurmountable burden on the tax department. that lack of trained preparers, though, places an added burden on the reviewers, making it important for them to be more aware and alert when they perform the review.
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why you need standard naming conventions

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man's hands typing on computer keyboardsixteen suggested guidelines to use … and document.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

one of the most time-consuming parts of reconciliation is attempting to discover why or where to allocate expenses. you want to find and pay the correct vendor. you also want to be sure that you have the vendor’s correct name and tax id number when 1099 reporting time rolls around, yet it won’t be easy to do so if you do not have a consistent vendor naming convention.

more: procedures require regular revisiting | how to use onenote to create a firm playbook | how to develop procedures for bos | choose your little black dress of technology | keep the accountants focused on accounting | what do you want advisory services to be?
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consistent naming conventions are a critical component of good file management. the same is true if customer names are in the accounting program. any list really needs to have consistency of entry. duplicates and linking to the wrong record are common mistakes that take time to find and fix.
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why time tracking still matters

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if your team dismisses timesheets as old school, you may want to rethink that strategy.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

pen ready to fill in blank timesheet

because capacity is the denominator in the lean six sigma equation, and employee productivity is a big factor in capacity, employee productivity becomes a big factor in determining turnaround time.

more: business owners face one of three exits | don’t let clients dictate tax workflow | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | how small firms can win the talent wars | easy ways to avoid ‘done but’ tax returns | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm | do you know your turnaround time?
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first, let’s dismiss all the consultants who tell us time tracking and productivity metrics don’t matter. for the most part, these consultants have never managed or owned cpa firms. rarely have they worked in firms for any length of time. they have never known the struggles of meeting payroll the first pay period in february, when employee hours are up but the tax season money is not rolling in yet.

here’s an example that shows why time tracking and productivity metrics matter:
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procedures require regular revisiting

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woman drawing flowchart on a blackboardremember it’s not just your team on board, it’s also your clients.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

once you have your procedures, you can assign tasks to your team members. because we perform back office work for many accounting firms, we often adapt to other firms’ workflows. we are often on their workflows for our tasking but internally we also needed a simple means of tasking. another easily integrated app with slack provided this, teamline. with teamline we just type /teamline into any channel and:

  • create a new task on the fly or use a premade template
  • assign it to a team member
  • set a due date
  • attach a file
  • add a checklist of items

more: how to use onenote to create a firm playbook | how to develop internal procedures | proper workflow demands consistency | workflow tools can deepen client relationships | going viral: today’s top marketing strategies | top ten types of clients (and 24 more reader suggestions)
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teamline notifies both the assignee and the creator as to the progress of the task automatically. integration to our google calendar puts the teamline task into the calendar. we never leave slack while doing this as the integration between slack, teamline and google calendar is seamless.
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how do you value your most important asset?

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yes, your employees.

by steven e. sacks
the new fundamentals

skills, abilities and experience are the elements recruiters use to assess candidates who come before them. but what is interesting is despite a skill set playing  a dominant role in the value that an employee brings to the organization, it may not be recognized as such. this is not a new concept. i came across research conducted in 1918 by harvard university, the carnegie foundation and stanford research center.

more steve sacks: how to build a winning proposal | six ways to fix your firm agreement | the great resignation or a reshuffling? | listen to learn | build the framework to a solution with five answers | try for success, not a win
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the study discovered that almost 95% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills (better referred to as life skills ) and people skills, while  only 5% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge — hard skills.

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how to use onenote to create a firm playbook

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portrait of investment advisor businesswoman sitting at office in front of computer and consulting with young professional man.client-specific information that should be included.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

we use onenote to create a firm playbook for each client we work with. this program allows you to record voice and video and save it to a page or implant videos directly into the relevant onenote page.

more: how to develop internal procedures | why federated search matters | tips for getting clients started on bos | the best tech for your team and clients | marketing? know your goals first | eight things to stop doing now | you don’t have to do everything
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we get lots of zoom recordings on procedures from firms. in our world, the onenote template has a specific page for all videos as a subpage for each client. this onenote book resides on the shared server so that all the team members can access it at any time to verify, review or update procedures.
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business owners face one of three exits

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businessman putting a card with text "don't resist change, embrace it" in suit pocketexpect to sell your practice? not if you resist change.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

in talking to firms from around the country, i realized there are three types of firms out there:

  1. firms and practitioners that are sliding into retirement, whether they know it or not
  2. firms that see the need for change, but don’t know where to start
  3. firms that see a clear path to the future through better practice management

more: don’t let clients dictate tax workflow | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | how small firms can win the talent wars | easy ways to avoid ‘done but’ tax returns | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm | do you know your turnaround time?
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since publishing my first book and launching my firm’s workflow and collaboration application, i have talked to practitioners from firms of all types and sizes. my cpa firm pursued a few acquisition opportunities. during the process, i learned there are a lot of practitioners who are either incapable of adapting to our profession’s 21st-century changes or unwilling to adapt. that’s okay, if you are making an informed choice to retire and don’t care about realizing much in value by selling your firm.

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accountants need each other more than ever

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don’t ditch live events. we need human connection.

by seth fineberg

at large

“we didn’t realize how hard accountants party, and we had a difficult time keeping up. we’re also still recovering from the ‘socializing’ and contemplating having a recovery section at our next booth.”

more fineberg: what bogs down accountants | your classic business model won’t allow growth

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certainly, event creators need to consider content first and foremost as a draw. you need a “why” and a practical purpose.

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