today's features
audit & assurance

how to upgrade c and d clients

use relationship building and a little bit of detective work.

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

ideally, if you’re practicing business-mindedness, you only keep the a and b clients. if a client is below that level, you must consider whether that client is salvageable. if the answer is no, you need to exit the relationship.

more: eleven types of audit clients and which to fire | don’t risk losing good employees for bad clients | four questions to make your firm more successful as a business | say adios to audit fee pressure | deliver more audit value by getting out of the conference room | six essential elements in audit planning | before the audit: more than just planning | five crucial attributes for successful audit leadership | put the ethics code to work for your clients and your firm | is audit in crisis because of definitions?
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for c and d clients, you want to try to grow them into a or b clients by developing a relationship with them. if they don’t reach that level within three years, they can be passed off to another firm. there’s always more than enough work to go around with a and b clients.

read more →

marketing & sales

is pricing a marketing function?

ten steps to designing your pricing strategy.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

yes, pricing is indeed a fundamental marketing function. it plays a crucial role in determining the value of a product or service in the eyes of customers and has a direct impact on a company’s profitability and market positioning. pricing decisions are typically made based on various factors such as production costs, competition, target market, positioning strategy and customer perceptions of value.

more: develop your personal marketing plan in ten steps | five ways to make partners fall in love with marketing | losing can help you win more | eight areas to cover for personal goals | service quality: the key to client retention | how life cycle changes your marketing | clients buy solutions, not features | make sure you know what you will get from your marketing | three pillars support a successful accounting firm | clients have six reasons for needing you | six ways to market your technology consulting practice | sixteen marketing activities to try
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here are a few reasons why pricing is considered a marketing function:
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featured video

allison schlegelmilch: leadership lessons from firm mergers | capstone conversations

capstone conversations
informal and informative discussions with leading growth strategists from the nation’s most dynamic cpa firms.

stream, listen, download, and subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google/youtube, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, rss


with jean caragher
for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

i was delighted to have a capstone conversation with allison schlegelmilch, director of marketing at rkl llp and an association for accounting marketing marketer of the year.

follow jean caragher on 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 here. | get her best-selling handbook, the 90-day marketing plan for cpa firms, here | catch jean caragher every friuday with gear up for growth here |

why was allison named marketer of the year? well, let me give you an idea. read more →

podcast

steve yoss: advanced data visualization techniques in excel | quick tech talk

bring complex financial data to life with advanced visualization techniques.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

quick tech talk
with steve yoss
cpe today

have you ever checked out microsoft power bi? it’s microsoft’s business intelligence and visualization tool. it can take any type of structured and digital data and turn it into beautiful interactive dashboards.

more steve voss | more tech | more podcasts

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it’s difficult for most non-accounting folks to read a balance sheet or make sense of a cash flow statement. what’s beautiful about tools like power bi or tableau is that they can take your financial data, bring it to life, and allow decision-makers to get the information they need in the way that they want to receive it.

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2022年世界杯抽签

bissett bullet: innovation

today’s bissett bullet: “what do meta, uber, ali baba and airbnb all have in common?”

by martin bissett

they have all become the biggest in their industry without owning the very thing that they offer. they have all innovated on traditional business models and grown by embracing technology and connecting with people.

what can we learn? moving to the cloud in this profession has huge advantages, but it means nothing without the ability to demonstrate that benefit to our clients in order to convince them to experience the power of real-time accounting.

the work we do for clients is fueled by relationships. the closer the relationship, the better equipped you are to talk about new technology in terms of how it aligns with their business goals and the benefit it will bring to them personally.

today’s to-do:

what is happening right now in accounting tech that would be of benefit to your clients?

see more bissett bullets here

read more →

pricing, fees & billing rates

perfecting the client needs assessment

standardization will make you more efficient, effective and profitable.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

a client assessment is an onsite or virtual session where you observe the client’s accounting system on which you’ll be working. this is your opportunity to see how they run their business: their software, their processes and who does what. this is when tasks and responsibilities are clarified and assigned. both the client and your firm need to understand their responsibilities in this new partnership.

more: four steps to scoping for alignment … and the #1 rule to remember | getting aligned on scope helps your team and your clients | create more meaningful kpis | here’s how profit sharing improves your firm | five areas to ground new metrics other than time | five reasons to ditch timesheets for good | productize services for consistent client value | digitize clients for standardization | six steps to creating a standardized practice | four ways automation pushes the paradigm shift | are you the key signal caller for your clients?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

this assessment also allows you to fully understand the client’s service needs. it is a real-world assessment of services, budget and the work required to provide deliverables. it will also allow you to understand what it will take to onboard them. again, this assessment goes both ways. it’s worth assuming you have competition, so take advantage of this time to impress the client with some consultative advice demonstrating the value you bring to the table – this is especially true if you are charging for the assessment.

one of the key benefits is the ability to limit your risk and as you:

read more →

marketing & sales

three ways to make it easier for prospects to say yes

woman staring at watch in waiting area

bonus: checklists to implement each one.

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

change is hard on all of us, and there’s no exception when it comes to new customers taking a first step to do business with you.

more: make your next busy season easier now | how to put your strengths to work for you | are you throwing away profits? | three steps to becoming a millionaire | how to use chatgpt to create images | create a bad website in ten easy steps | leverage your strengths to beat stress | are you crossing off your business bucket list? | ten ways to make your business irresistible | five ways to target the low-hanging fruit
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the question is, how can you make it easier for clients to get through that change so that they will do business with you?

the key is to be as approachable as possible, and here are some tips to do that. read more →

accounting arc

rubik yeriazarian: smaller firms offer big opportunities for rapid skill development in forensic accounting | accounting arc

don’t just follow the traditional path; seek mentors and learn constantly.  

stream, listen, download, subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google/youtube, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy.

accounting arc
with donny shimamoto.
center for accounting transformation

for many accounting professionals, the big four firms represent the pinnacle of success—a destination for those with high aspirations. but for rubik yeriazarian, cpa, cfe, cff, they were just the beginning. specializing in forensic accounting, yeriazarian knew from his college days that this was the path he wanted to follow. “back when i was in college, big four were the only firms that offered forensic accounting,” he recalls. “i knew that was my ticket in.” 

more accounting arc

at the big four, yeriazarian was exposed to complex forensic cases that shaped his career. he learned the ropes in an environment that offered vast resources and support, but something was missing. “you have a lot of support at a big four, but i felt like i needed more hands-on experience,” yeriazarian says. this realization led him to a boutique firm—a move that many of his peers questioned. 

read more →

client accounting services

cas can play a critical role in clients’ vendor selection

the needed skills are already part of the accountant’s skill set; they just need to be applied outside of the finance function. 

by donny c. shimamoto, cpa, citp, cgma
center for accounting transformation

historically, vendor selection has been primarily driven by operations or it teams. however, recent research by the chief executive group for the cfo leadership council shows that finance teams play a critical role in vendor selection. forward-thinking cas teams should take a cue from these finance teams and broaden their service offerings to help clients be more successful. 

more donny shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma | more cas | more cfo services

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how finance teams support vendor selection 

as shown in figure 1 below, more than 7 of 10 finance teams are involved in the final selection of vendors and products. many people often see finance’s involvement as just the final stamp of approval, but the research clearly shows that finance teams are involved throughout the purchasing process. 

read more →

growth strategies

ingrid edstrom: true wealth is not financial | the disruptors

work-life balance means integrating work and life so that the work we choose to do expresses who we want to be in the world.

this is a preview. the complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to pro members. 
subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

the disruptors
with liz farr

ingrid edstrom wants accounting to be not just a more sustainable profession but one that’s regenerative. “this idea of sustainability is really operating from the idea that things can continue to perpetuate as they are,” she explains. a firm may be financially sustainable, “but at what cost to our families, to our personal health?”

more podcasts and videos: caleb jenkins: firm growth requires owners to shift roles | chris hervochon: be the leader you want to work for | ira rosenbloom: don’t merge for the money | adam lean: get out of the accountant’s trap | geraldine carter: charging more is better for your clients | vimal bava: when working smarter, not harder, is the only option | dawn brolin says grow your firm by shrinking it | jason blumer & julie shipp: move leaders out of client service | james graham: drop the billable hour and you’ll bill more | karen reyburn: fix your marketing and fix your business | giles pearson: fix the staffing crisis by swapping experience for education | jina etienne: practice fearless inclusion | bill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid work | sandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow |

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the regenerative approach recognizes “that we’ve already passed a threshold of harm that needs to be healed,” edstrom says. “regenerative accounting is starting to reframe those ideas around ‘what does it look like to go about business in a different way that is truly life-supporting for all peoples and our planet, rather than being extractive of our planet and exploitative of our peoples?'”

read more →

marketing & sales

four reasons accountants struggle with selling

businessman with head in hands

reframe your thinking.

by martin bissett
business development on a budget

let’s take a look at the last 20-plus years of my experience and my research as to where new clients come from in an accounting practice. i don’t think there are going to be too many shocks here.

more: think of it as service, not selling | eight questions for personal preparation | how to prepare for partnership | stop waiting for business to come to you | are you projecting confidence? | do you deliver on your website’s promises? | showing leadership through customer service | firm not thriving? five fixes | the real math behind the sales pipeline | five questions for grading prospects | be clear about your roi proposition | don’t let recurring fees kill your practice | two steps toward mastering selling | nine checkpoints before every prospect meeting
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what i’ve found is that 82 percent of all new clients in a given year who come into an accounting firm come in from a referral source. this may be a bank or a lawyer or some other source, perhaps an existing client, who has recommended that a particular business meet with your firm and come on board as a client.
read more →

pro member exclusive

new warehouse robot could revolutionize efficiency

mytra’s innovative system lessens the need for forklifts, maximizes storage space and automates heavy-lifting tasks.

by rick richardson
technology this week

the warehouses of the world are surprisingly empty spaces. there’s a lot of material in these vital nodes of the complex global commodities of our transportation system, but there’s also a lot of vacant space on the floor between their racks. the space is there to make room for the forklift, the workhorse of the warehouse, which must have room to maneuver when lifting and carrying pallets loaded with hundreds or thousands of pounds of merchandise. a forklift needs plenty of space and a professional driver to do a mundane but dangerous task.

more: new pacemaker powered by light, no batteries | microsoft patents an encryption system to block visual hacking | recently discovered antibiotic spares ’good’ bacteria | is nasa about to make air travel cheaper? | startup creates legolike brick that can store air pollution | ai displacing more jobs in banking than other sectors | your brain can store 10 times more than anyone thought | how many ev charging stations will we need? | google launches new private space feature | microsoft discovers a security flaw impacting android apps | what is an ai pc, and should i get one? | fool’s gold may not be so foolish now | ai-engineered enzyme could be solution to plastic pollution
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a new robotics firm recognizes an improved approach to warehouse management. mytra, a company created by former employees of tesla and rivian, wants to automate and combine warehouse activities by using a robot and a storage rack system to improve the efficiency of product movement. this could also make the forklift obsolete.

read more →