seven steps to a stronger future

six people in business clothing lined up at start of athletic track

fees and business lines of course, but what about an operations person?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the aicpa’s national management of an accounting practice (map) survey took a good look at a lot of data – revenues and profits, staff turnover and professional salaries, services and fees.

more: accountants bullish locally, bearish nationally | top performers lead in leverage, culling, outsourcing | revenue up at 59% of accounting firms … and more good news | chatgpt for the reluctant accountant | survey shows challenges, priorities shifting | accountants torn over 2024 economy, offer advice | survey: are you offering the right services?
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and then, toward the end, it says, “but all the data in the universe won’t do you any good if you don’t do something with it.”

it then calls on cpa firms to evolve if they want to survive and thrive through seismic shifts in technology and marketing.
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tax stats still playing catchup

data tablerefund numbers are down but amounts are up.

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the end is in sight. documents are signed, buttons are pushed and tax returns are filed. the pile is growing smaller.

if you want optimism, don’t look at the latest internal revenue statistics. with the 2023 filing season opening jan. 23 and the 2024 season kicking off jan. 29, every week of 2024 reporting has seven fewer days of data than the corresponding period the previous year.

more: tax pros take the edge in e-filingstax pros handle 46.4% of e-filing | tax refunds, tax pro market share trending up | refunds up as tax pros tackle 41.5% of e-filings | tax pros handle 37.7% of e-filings | tax pros file 33% of early returns
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as of the latest report, for march 22, the irs had received 80.5 million individual income tax returns and processed 79.2 million returns, down 0.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively from last year. the impact on your firm? dare we say, none?

perhaps you’ve been the beneficiary of another stat, though … the one showing tax professionals gaining ever more ground on the self-preparers.
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letting staff go after tax season? bad idea

eight reasons they might be more valuable than you think.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

question: i am planning on letting go of some staff after april 15 and will hire replacements at a higher level. any suggestions?

more on tax season: ten tax prep questions that people forget to ask | try this clean slate exercise | offer your tax clients other services | can your tax reviewers answer these 10 questions? | the top 12 mistakes in tax return preparation | six types of person: which are you? | answer these two questions first | help your tax clients, help yourself | what’s your value to your tax clients? | are you excited about tax season?
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response: 1) your implication is that you will hire replacements at a higher level.

i do not like that. i like hiring out of school and training internally. i’ve written about this many times and shared my ideas ad infinitum and will not repeat that here because you can search back to previous q&as (or read my 30:30 training method book).
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want to merge? six steps to take

man writing in notebook

bonus: key considerations in evaluating a practice continuation agreement.

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

question: what i should do about merging? i need a specific answer.

more: how to raise your rates | courting a client? don’t give too much away for free | nine tips for a healthier tax season | fifteen strategies for first-time supervisors | measure knowledge gaps (then close them) | should you offer financial services? | ready to retire? selling your practice is no strategy | 20 things you need for a business valuation
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

response: i can’t give you an easy answer. i can give you a process to follow that should provide an answer. actually, this works pretty well and i’ve gotten good feedback from many colleagues. i’ve also rethought it many times, and still think this is the way to go about it.

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accountants bullish locally, bearish nationally

one-quarter of accountants see trouble ahead for the source of their bread and butter.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the trendlines 2024 busy season barometer is unearthing a perplexing paradox.

it seems that most cpas think their firm and their clients will do better this year – or at least no worse than last year, which itself was a pretty good year.

more: top performers lead in leverage, culling, outsourcing | auditing standards ‘yellow book’ updated | compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff? | cpas needed to help small biz adopt ai | survey shows that tech remains the great divide | will unclogging the accounting pro pipeline kill mobility? | accountants bullish on income | survey: which niche’s the best niche?
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at the same time, they tend to see things getting worse for the national economy and small businesses in general.

what’s going on?
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top performers lead in leverage, culling, outsourcing

two hands on keyboard, two hands doing other work with calculator

the causative difference? look at the amount of work delegated downward.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the aicpa’s 2023 national management of an accounting practice (map) survey has detected some of what distinguishes firms that stand out as top performers.

the survey defines top performers as the top 25 percent of firms based on net remaining per partner.

more: business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | can’t irs online accounts be more useful? | taxpayer assistance centers: a good idea that should be better | tax pros are expanding and earning more
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more, more, more

what makes a cpa firm a top performer? in a nutshell, more:

  • more leverage of partner expertise
  • more culling of clients
  • more cpas in the firm

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business booming, but not as much as last year

how does your firm compare?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if the early results from the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2024 busy season barometer: emerging issues, opportunities, and trends hold true through april, this will be a pretty good year for the vast majority of accountants and tax practitioners – not quite as good as last year, but still, pretty good.

more: busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | id theft a problem for irs even when it doesn’t exist | irs still falling short on service | eight ways the irs can speed up processing tax returns | treasury ig sees progress at irs | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks
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despite difficulties finding staff and professionals, 45 percent of respondents say they have increased their client list by at least 5 percent. (last year, it was 65 percent.)

in fact, 14 percent have seen an increase of over 10 percent. good, but not as good as last year’s 22 percent.
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the radical pricing model: start with $25k

deliver more value to clients while freeing your team from timesheets.

by jody padar
the radical cpa

consider the $25k rule.

because this method requires heavy lifting on the front end, a good rule of thumb is to only value-price engagements of $25,000 or more. if the client falls below $25,000, they are eligible for a fixed price or fixed price plus a value add. this rule is important because if your client is a small business, it doesn’t matter how much value they perceive in your services; they will not be able to afford value pricing above a certain level.

more: three critical factors drive the value pricing trend | accounting disruptors are heading your way … with deep pockets | the convergence of trends makes pricing changes imperative | stop looking for talent that does not exist | advisory work must be priced by value, not hours
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most services are fixed-priced, but based on conversations with the client, those prices may drop or be raised accordingly. some of the data points used to set pricing are the pita factor (pain in the a#%) and the client’s gross revenue.
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