outlook & analysis

what smaller firms must do to become firms of the future

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12 trends to consider.

by marc rosenberg
the rosenberg practice management library

it used to be common for practice management conference agendas to include a panel of luminaries – prominent consultants and rock star managing partners – to make predictions for the cpa industry. as an up-and-coming consultant (who was too new to be invited as a panelist), i saved several years of these predictions to see if, years later, the predictions came true.

more: when managing partners can’t | don’t let exiting partners double dip | how covid impacts partner retirements | covid-19: how your firm can respond | 8 ways comp systems get partners to do what the firm needs | buyers name 20 big merger turnoffs | why governing by partner ownership is bound to fail
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i was not surprised to find that only 10 percent of these predictions came true. (examples: the demise of small and midsized firms; outsourcing to become mainstream; tax law simplification.) i vowed then, as i continue to do today, to refuse invitations to make predictions.
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cloudy forecasts call for rainmaking

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have you assessed your clients’ needs, or just provided what they asked for?

the average monthly price paid for accounting services: clients who do not receive advisory services pay their firms an average of $1,108 a month. they’d be happy to pay $564 more.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

rainmaker alert! the cloudy skies of 2020 show a good chance of precipitation.

more in surveys & research: covid impact: 17,500 tax & accounting jobs lost | cas: critical success factors for the covid age | clients want to pay you more (really!) | the forecast: partly gloomy, chance of doom | busy season benchmarks in free fall | say hello to the new 24-month busy season | accounting firms take billions in ppp payouts | the more monitors, the better | the top portable monitors for working from home

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but praying for rain isn’t going to work. neither will a rain dance. the most effective action is often simply a matter of asking and offering.

a new survey of small and midsized businesses and their cpa firms finds that clients are generally willing to pay 50 percent or more for additional accounting-related advisory services … but only if their accounting firm offers them.

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clients want to pay you more (really!)

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new research shows opportunities to boost revenues by up to 31%.

what clients want: adding strategic advisory services to your tax prep and payroll bundle could increase fee income by more than 48 percent. (cpa.com)

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

as cpas know better than anyone, these are turbulent times. whatever the situation was, it just changed. cpas know because they are at the center of it all — the calm, analytic eye at the center of hurricane upheaval.

more in covid trends in surveys & research: the forecast: partly gloomy, chance of doom | busy season benchmarks in free fall | say hello to the new 24-month busy season | covid drives new m&a trends | re-thinking today’s firm with five global leaders | the no. 1 reason accountants fail to build advisory practices

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so consider for a moment the desperation of the businesses that are or could be your clients. they are suffering:

  • the financial and logistical onslaught of the pandemic,
  • the ever-evolving rules on taxation,
  • the constant change in compliance,
  • the lack of time for issues not within their core business (accounting, for example),
  • the problems and insecurities of their own clients and customers, and
  • concerns about the future.

in other words, clients have more important things to do than keep track of financial matters.

and they’re willing to pay for the freedom to stick to their core business.

the trick…

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covid drives new m&a trends

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buyers find good deals as baby boomers head for the exits.

by joseph tarasco
accountants advisory group

as the economic recession and health concerns in our nation are at a pivotal point and closely linked in a “perfect storm,” strategy-oriented cpa firm leaders will take more of a holistic approach to manage and lead their firms.

more on m&a: m&a surges ahead despite covid crisis | new rules: covid shifts m&a landscape | merging in sellers: what you need to know | how to start (or re-start) your own accounting firm | five keys to successfully selling a cpa firm | mergers: what could go wrong? | 10 questions to ask yourself before buying an accounting practice

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coming to terms with the recession and health risks, leaders must not only focus on the current and immediate issues affecting their firms but now they must also plan for the near and long-term future “new model.”

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the forecast: partly gloomy, chance of doom

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almost three in four accountants now foresee a deeper downturn for the u.s. economy.

it gets worse: almost 25 percent of accountants forecast a “much worse” outlook for the nation’s economy over the next 12 to 18 months. and another 48 percent predict “somewhat worse.” (卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research)

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2020 busy season barometer results bear bad tidings for cpa firms, their clients, and their families. the forecast is not good. accountants know numbers, and the numbers they are seeing do not bode well.

more busy season 2020: busy season benchmarks in free fall | fiinal rs efiling stats: the end of tax season? | say hello to the new 24-month busy season | 9 big ways the irs could help accountants | the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | tax pro e-filings down 20 percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings |   percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings | 2020 tax season comes to a screeching halt | the tax season 2020 dumpster fire | tax pros fall behind 6.2% in returns filed
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as the u.s. braces for a summer surge in coronavirus infections, the economy is crashing – with gdp down at an annual rate of 33 percent last quarter, and a 10 percent drop from the first quarter – the worst declines in more than 70 years of record-keeping. and new jobless claims in the latest week rose by 867,000 to 17 million.

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busy season benchmarks in free fall

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major declines in all kpis: clients, revenues, profits, revenue per client, and profit per client.

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

last year’s busy season was complicated, no doubt about it. the tax cuts and jobs act and the irs shut-down made life difficult for tax practitioners. but ultimately, they had a good year. a good 56 percent enjoyed an increase in clientele, and only 16 percent saw a decrease.

flash forward to the annus horribilis, aka 2020. according to this year’s 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, only 46 percent of accountants are gaining clients — a 10-point reversal from last year. and another 25 percent are losing clients – a 15-point swing from 2019.

more busy season 2020: fiinal rs efiling stats: the end of tax season? | say hello to the new 24-month busy season | 9 big ways the irs could help accountants | the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | tax pro e-filings down 20 percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings |   percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings | 2020 tax season comes to a screeching halt | the tax season 2020 dumpster fire | tax pros fall behind 6.2% in returns filed
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it’s impressive that so many tax offices have actually expanded their clientele during such hard times. and it’s not surprising that so many have lost clients.

what happened?

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down by 400,000 returns – the end of tax prep?

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red alert: tax professional e-filings drop by 0.5% year-to-year, first year-to-year decline ever.

final irs stats for busy season 2020 shows professionals filed 0.5% fewer returns than last year and lost market share to diy’ers.

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

in what may be an alarming turning point for the profession, tax practitioners finished an already chaotic and bruising tax season 2020 after preparing a total of 73.8 million e-filed returns – a decline of 400,00, or 0.5 percent, from tax season 2019 – the first such reversal on record. ever.

jon baron

more on tax season 2020: say hello to the new 24-month busy season | when covid ‘got real’ | tax pros hold efiling market share as tax seasons winds down | the top six irs #fails this tax season (so far) | how covid has pulverized irs operations | the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | covid cuts accounting profits | why busy season may never be the same again | covid tests accountants’ entrepreneurial talents | pro tax prep stalls to a crawl amid covid-extended season | clients, revenues, profits – trending down, down, down |

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

“if you are in public accounting and relying on personal return revenue, the results this year are troubling as it is the first time that professionally prepared returns actually fell from the prior year,” says jon baron, the longtime ceo of thomson reuters tax & accounting, and now a venture capitalist with more than a couple startups in stealth mode.

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bill reeb: new rules for the covid era

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steven sacks explores how the coronavirus crisis is exposing all the bad habits of bad management.

with steven sacks
the new fundamentals

cpa firms are ill-prepared for the new era of virtual, work-from-home partners and staff, according to bill reeb, a leading cpa firm practice consultant, in this conversation with 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 contributor steven sacks.

more covid conversations:  when covid ‘got real,’ with gabby luoma’ |  the covid outlook with darren root and joel hughes: a long, slow climb back to recovery | steven sacks: covid crisis management | jean caragher: how to fight ‘fear’ and ‘insecurity’ | sarah dobek: learning how to operate in the new normal | august aquila: what comes next? | jody grunden: covid and client communications | andrew argue: on a mission | martin bissett: covid slams u.k. accountants, too | bill reeb: separating the winners and losers |

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management at all levels will need to adapt, reeb says, requiring new processes and procedures.  but more than anything, it requires new metrics of productivity. and, most of all, new habits.

or, listen to the podcast:

after a painful, wrenching re-positioning, reeb says, firms will emerge stronger, more agile, and more profitable than they were before.

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say hello to the new 24-month busy season

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deann auman hill and mike shost at aicpa engage: “the 24-month tax season?”

covid chaos turns busy season 2020 from bad to worse.

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

last year—the good old days!—busy season seemed to be about as bad as it could get. congress enacted the tax cuts and jobs act without explaining how it was to be enacted, and then changed some things. and then the irs shut down before the rules could be set and the new forms and schedules made available. and all of a sudden it was april 15.

more on the 2020 season: the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | tax pro e-filings down 20 percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings | 2020 tax season comes to a screeching halt | the tax season 2020 dumpster fire | tax pros fall behind 6.2% in returns filed
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

tax practitioners had little good to say about 2019. according to last year’s 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, 46 percent said 2019 was worse than the previous year. only 13 percent thought it was “much better.”

that was then.

this is now. and, now is worse.

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the seven simple steps to thrive in the covid crisis

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//www.g005e.com/2020/07/21/thriving-during-the-covid-19-crisis-and-beyond/leveraging the relationships you already have. step 1: make a list.

by anthony glomski and russ alan prince
your $5 million high-net-worth practice

the covid-19 crisis has put a lot of financial pressure on many businesses, including many accounting firms. at the same time, a percentage of professionals, such as accountants, lawyers, and wealth managers, are strategically taking action to deal with the economic pressures.

see also: the three new business models delivering significant profits for accounting firms | the 5 meetings of the (true) wealth management process | collaborative wealth management: defining the framework | protect your clients’ assets | even entrepreneurs must diversify | when clients cash out: four smart financial moves |

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the result is that they are doing well as the crisis progresses and are smartly positioned to do exceptionally well as the crisis abates.

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when covid ‘got real’

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tax season turns into ‘advisory season,’ and a whole new niche is born.

^ click to play

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

gabrielle luoma, long one of the profession’s leading innovators, says the future under covid-19 belongs to the quick and the smart, in this exclusive video interview with 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. firms will need to deploy new services to attract new clients who may have not realized that they needed a firm like yours but now do.

more covid conversations: the covid outlook with darren root and joel hughes: a long, slow climb back to recovery | steven sacks: covid crisis management | jean caragher: how to fight ‘fear’ and ‘insecurity’ | sarah dobek: learning how to operate in the new normal | august aquila: what comes next? | jody grunden: covid and client communications | andrew argue: on a mission | martin bissett: covid slams u.k. accountants, too | bill reeb: separating the winners and losers |

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

^ play or download the podcast version

in this conversation, luoma talks about what’s going on in the business, what’s going on with tax season, and what the future holds for cpa firms and the clients of cpa firms.

speaking from her base in tucson, ariz., the ceo of mod ventures is bringing some of her dna to regional powerhouse beach fleischman through a joint venture.

we started by asking about “when it got real?”

she responds, “we truly are affected by the whole world. we have clients in new york. things changed for them rather quickly. and when they started changing, we started realizing, ‘oh, my goodness, we’re going to have to really buckle down.’ in arizona, we started seeing shutdowns mid-march. that’s when things really got real for us because then we started seeing that the businesses that we work with on a regular basis – we’re outsourced accounting, so we work with clients weekly, – we knew that we could be in trouble. we started working really hard on transitioning, and seeing what we needed to do to help our clients quickly.”

for pro members-only: get the transcript:

[pro member bonus]
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the covid outlook: a long, slow climb back to recovery

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why right networks’ acquisition of rootworks may be just what the doctor ordered

^ click to play

with rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the accounting world shifted a little with the acquisition by right networks, a cloud-hosting vendor, of rootworks, a technology platform provider to cpa firms.

though conceived before the pandemic, the deal was closed as the first wave of coronavirus was crashing against the shores of the u.s. and it may be a sign of the times under pandemic conditions, as accountants — and, indeed, business in general — race for new technology solutions and business models.

see: right networks acquires rootworks

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in this exclusive interview with 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间, right networks ceo joel hughes and rootworks founder darren root, explain the reasons for the deal, and their forecast for the future under covid. warning: their forecast for the future under covid is not pretty.

but the combination of the two companies may augur hold clues to the future of the profession.

transcript

here’s the full transcript, only lightly edited:

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