today's features

what makes a great website? 

two women looking at a screen as they design a website

nine things to ask as you build.

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

don’t kid yourself: creating a great website takes a lot of time and creative talent. websites must also be constantly updated with new material.

more: losing can help you win more | three more strategies for growing your practice | understand the 10 steps of the buying process | calculate the cost of losing clients | eleven possible pitfalls of mergers | six ways to expand your client services checklist | ten questions to refine your successful marketing plan | four questions for choosing your marketing audit strategies | four steps to a successful email marketing campaign
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

if you plan to update your current website or prepare one for the first time, or if you plan to do it yourself or just hire a marketing communication specialist with website-building experience, make sure you have clear answers to the following questions:

  • who is your target market? accounting firms usually have more than one market they are going after. consider how your various markets will find themselves on your site.

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150 credit hours: helping or hindering?

one study suggests there is little if any upside but plenty of downside.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

four decades ago, the american institute of cpas promulgated a rule requiring accountants to complete 150 credit hours to qualify for certification, an increase from 120 hours. basically, it required a fifth year of college education.

more: can’t recruit? retain! | the accountant as a strategic business partner | report: efficiency still the top priority for accounting firms | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | global trends show many dissatisfied cpas | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads | seven enticements to keep talent on board
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

state boards of accountancy had discretion over when to enact the rule. by 2015, all states and u.s. territories had adopted it.

fun fact: the national rule did not impose any requirements on what courses the students had to take. it didn’t have to be courses on tax law or accounting standards. philosophy, music theory or basket-weaving would do. state boards, however, often mandate specific course requirements.
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bissett bullet: how healthy is your pipeline?

today’s bissett bullet: “it is no coincidence that the accounting firms that have superior profitability are those taking growth seriously and forecasting their new business income.”

by martin bissett

not recurring business, new business. your pipeline should be able to tell you, at any time, where the new business is coming from, how likely it is to convert, how soon you are likely to win it, how much the deal is worth and so on. if you are serious about growth, and you should be, your pipeline should be up to date and active at all times.

today’s to-do:

review your pipeline and score yourself honestly between 1 and 10. 10 being an active, up-to-date pipeline and 1 being no pipeline at all. what do you need to do in order to be in a position to accurately forecast new business?

see more bissett bullets here

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predicting the future with forecasts.ets statistical analytics in microsoft excel

quick tech talk: financial forecasting the fun and easy way.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: applegooglespotifyiheartdeezer, amazon music and audibleplayer fmaudacygaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

quick tech talk
with steve yoss
cpe today

one of my favorite tools is microsoft excel, the swiss army knife of any financial professional. did you know that you can easily do budgeting and forecasting inside excel?

more steve yoss here

in fact, forecasting has never been easier than using the forecast ets function.

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five areas to ground new metrics other than time

you need to measure your progress and success, but not by the hour.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

it may sound ridiculous, but the only people who are married to timesheets are professional services firms staffed by people who spend their professional lifetimes building their knowledge. every other company in the world has figured out how to sell and price products or services without relying on timesheets.

more: five reasons to ditch timesheets for good | productize services for consistent client value | four ways automation pushes the paradigm shift | how value pricing impacts your employees | why pricing is so disruptive | accounting disruptors are heading your way … with deep pockets | advisory work must be priced by value, not hours
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

why do professional services firms believe you should sell knowledge in increments of time? ron baker, an accounting visionary and author of “firm of the future,” once asked, “when you’re a knowledge worker, should you be selling your time?” i don’t think so.

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accounting arc: following a different game plan with vince lorusso

“keep learning, keep your eyes open, and play with technology.”

accounting arc
with donny shimamoto
center for accounting transformation

as a seasoned cpa and founder of trueup, vince lorusso offers a fresh perspective on the accounting profession by merging traditional roles with pioneering educational technology.

more: regenerative accounting: ingrid edstrom pioneers a holistic approach to financial practices | accounting arc: decoupling deib: a nuanced approach with jina etienne | accounting arc: what tech-savvy accountants know |accounting arc: where in the world are you seeing this? | accounting arc:breaking barriers – how becky dupree’s love for data analytics and her identity shaped her professional path

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

lorusso began his career at pwc, where he spent three years in audit. this foundational experience provided him with essential technical and soft skills. “the few years of audit propelled me to apply my accounting and audit knowledge to various projects,” lorusso tells donny shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma, in this episode of accounting arc. his subsequent roles in private equity and venture-backed companies allowed him to specialize in streamlining accounting processes and preparing firms for growth.

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can’t recruit? retain!

bar chart

other options: outsourcing, m&a, even freelancers with different skill sets.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

there’s no good news coming out of the talent pipeline. there are fewer accounting majors coming in at the college end, and fewer coming out at the cpa exam end.

the reasons are legion. kids these days have little interest in a career reputed to be boring and exhausting. they can make more money in some other area of finance or business. the extra credit hours take too long and cost too much.

more: the accountant as a strategic business partner | report: efficiency still the top priority for accounting firms | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the 2024 thomson reuters state of tax professionals report sums it up with illustrative stats.

  • 39 percent say recruitment will be “highly challenging” in 2024.
  • another quarter say it will be “somewhat challenging.”
  • 33 percent of firms with four or more employees say talent will be a top priority.

read more →

rosenbloom: don’t merge for the money

merge to make a better business.

this is a preview. the complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to pro members. 

the disruptors
with liz farr

ira rosenbloom has worked in m&a with accounting firms for years, but things are changing today. the community of buyers is shrinking, so firms are being more selective about with whom they partner. rosenbloom is also seeing more creativity in transactions, and acquiring firms are looking closer at the clients they may be adding.

more podcasts and videos: adam lean: get out of the accountant’s trapgeraldine carter: charging more is better for your clientsvimal bava: when working smarter, not harder, is the only option | dawn brolin says grow your firm by shrinking itjason blumer & julie shipp: move leaders out of client service | james graham: drop the billable hour and you’ll bill morekaren reyburn: fix your marketing and fix your business | giles pearson: fix the staffing crisis by swapping experience for education | jina etienne: practice fearless inclusionbill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid worksandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow |

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

“we’re bringing in more clients. are they the right clients?” he asks. “and if we bring in clients from this other firm, and we do some cutting, how do we let that other firm earn some money back?”

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startup creates legolike brick that can store air pollution

could something so simple save the planet?

by rick richardson
technology this week

a business supported by bill gates, graphyte, is bringing the pipe dream of carbon capture one step closer to reality by burying bricks made of plant material.

more: ai displacing more jobs in banking than other sectors | your brain can store 10 times more than anyone thoughthow many ev charging stations will we need?google launches new private space featuremicrosoft 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 nowai-engineered enzyme could be solution to plastic pollution
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the washington post described graphyte’s “deceptively simple” process for sequestering blocks of rice hulls and wood chips as “a game-changer” for the sector, which has been hindered by the high cost of alternative approaches.

read more →

steve yoss, quick tech talk: creating powerful and effective presentations using microsoft powerpoint

knock your next presentation out of the park with powerpoint tools and tricks.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: applegooglespotifyiheartdeezer, amazon music and audibleplayer fmaudacygaana (india), and boomplay (africa).


quick tech talk
with steve yoss
cpe today

powerpoint is incredibly useful for crafting a message and getting that point across to your audience. i use powerpoint all the time to design and curate content to present to audiences to help them understand how to better use accounting and technology in their day-to-day work.

read more →

move to advisory and assurance with relevance

relevance protects you from technological obsolescence.

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

the days of delivering an audit report months after year-end are numbered. how relevant is an audit report when it’s months after the fact? even when we move to continuous audit – which will happen sooner than you think – it will still be historical information. but what will make it more relevant is that it will be delivered more timely, even if we don’t change much about how we perform the audit.

more: how ‘business expert cpas’ get their own business wrong | say adios to audit fee pressure | eight items to cover in the audit exit to deepen client relationships and prove value | know your three audit w’splanning lays the foundation of audit relevance | how do we drive relevance in audit? | before the audit: more than just planning | are you correctly identifying the relevance intersection? | lack of relevance drives audit commoditization | five crucial attributes for successful audit leadership | traditional audits don’t deserve premium billing | four basic understandings every auditor must master
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

if you’re taking the time to understand the workings of the business, how that business works in relation to the industry, and how it serves its customers, you’re on the path to providing true relevance. that’s how you move into advisory and assurance. if you provide that baseline level of relevance and then build more real-time techniques and tools, you can expand on that knowledge base of the industry and the operating environment. then you can give your clients even more advice and suggestions for what they do.

read more →

the accountant as a strategic business partner

woman pointing to laptop screen while talking to man

shift from transactional to advisory to become vital to your clients’ success.

by katie thomas

traditional accounting roles are evolving, now more than ever, as client needs change. ask 10 of your friends, and most will assume that an accountant is a number cruncher and focuses on compliance issues.

and, to some degree, these people are correct.

more: is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | global trends show many dissatisfied cpas | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

certified public accountants know a lot about numbers. they analyze them, forecast them and “crunch” them, but over 50 percent of firms now offer client advisory services and have become strategic partners with clients. accountants are doing a lot more today than even a few years ago.

why?

client needs are evolving, and you, as their accountant, are in the perfect position to serve them. after all, you’re viewed as a trusted advisor and have access to the data to help your clients reach their goals faster and make better decisions.
read more →

losing can help you win more

man, woman, man having serious discussion around conference table

someone else got the client. do you know why?

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

this is not another sermon that tells you that each “no” gets you closer to a “yes” when you are selling. the purpose of this post is to improve your proposal success ratio so that you get fewer “nos” and more “yeses.”

more: three more strategies for growing your practice | four strategies for building your practice | market technology services through workshops and training | the secrets of great business developers | dodge the four curses of a production orientation | client acquisition never stops | ‘sales’ is not a four-letter word | maybe what you need is a marketing audit | three types of marketing message, and which is best
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i am an advocate of doing client and prospective client satisfaction surveys. if you aren’t doing followup surveys with lost prospects and clients you have lost to other firms, i suggest that you start now. you can gain a better understanding of why you lose prospects and clients, and then you can change whatever it is that you are doing wrong and be more successful in bringing in new business and keeping it.
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