do you know your turnaround time?

cutting it is the shortest route to happier clients.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

todd rundgren sang, “i don’t want to work. i just wanna bang on the drum all day.”

i agree with half of that. i don’t want to work. however, i want someone else to bang on the drum all day for me. i’m not that ambitious.

the key to achieving hall of fame-level laziness is delegation.

more: tax season client meetings: kill them now | leadership growth is a two-way street | 12 subjective factors for pricing your next engagement | the six pillars for finance transformation | three strategies to keep emerging leaders engaged
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if i have no ambition to do anything, but want things to get done, someone else must do them. similarly, effective practice management is putting the right people in the right places accomplishing the right tasks at the right times. that’s a pretty damn good definition of effective laziness as well. there’s a subtle genius in that.

for example, our firm was looking at acquiring a really nice firm, where the two partners were working 100-hour weeks during tax season. as a result of the acquisition, they wanted to work fewer hours. they were preparing the vast majority of tax returns themselves, so we suggested having them act as reviewers instead. that would also transfer knowledge of the clients from them to us – a central objective of any successful acquisition.
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the great resignation or a reshuffling?

how many in-person days make sense for your firm… and who decides?

by steven e. sacks

the concept of “quiet quitting” is now mainstream thought. summer 2022 is over, and with it, for many companies and their workers, their remote work arrangements.

more: four accountability steps for firm success | how to build a standout team | five keys to becoming a high-performing firm | assessing your firm | the 4 traits of great cpa leaders | why leaders must ensure clarity | incremental vs. exceptional success
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many recognizable companies have sought to get back to some normality. some want workers to return to the office full-time, some have asked for a two- to three-day in-office arrangement, and some have viewed remote work as successful and see no reason to change anything for the foreseeable future.

workers will not easily accept these changes.

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survey: are you using too many monitors? or not enough?

half of firms use two. some use more. a surprising number use just one.

the accounting firm operations and technology survey

what’s the easiest way to see multiple projects at once?

bar chart

more: survey: are you still using a dell pc? | firewall choices, choices, choices | survey: webroot tops virus fighters | only 19% of firms host email | pandemic changed work for 64%
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multiple monitors, of course.

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eight things to stop doing now

superhero businesswoman wearing shadow capesometimes work belongs in other hands.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

a firm we worked with in philadelphia has a dedicated administrative assistant for their teams.

more: keep the accountants focused on accounting | which kind of team do you have? | you don’t have to do everything | what do you want advisory services to be? | meet the new bos | why ai is not the enemy
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she is not a bookkeeper. however, she is very organized and a dedicated team player. after she had been doing it for a while, i asked her what she now saw her function to be. her answer is: read more →

telling prospects too much

know when to stop.

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers

q. i usually give away too much info at a meeting to get a new client. we simply answer too many of their questions during the initial meeting.

more: how to improve quality control | how to get into your own cpa practice | when not to charge for an initial consultation | what good managers know about bad judgment
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we don’t know how much info to give away, so the possible new client will get hooked and not take the information and run to somebody else. usually, somebody else is cheaper.

how do i find the right balance?

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why no one listens to you

how long are you talking?

by ed mendlowitz
101 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice, the complete 2-volume set

q: i notice that most of the time my staff doesn’t listen when i talk. how can i make them listen?

more: when not to charge for an initial consultation | what’s your ‘kg’ value? | when clients call you at home | why partner retreats are worth the cost | selling your practice is not a retirement strategy
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a: err, what did you say?

just kidding! i find this issue very widespread. i believe there is an epidemic of people not listening, not just staff.
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when not to charge for an initial consultation

bonus: a sample initial business valuation consultation engagement proposal.

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: the complete 2-volume set

q: i was wondering what your thoughts are regarding initial consultation fees. currently, i do not charge a fee for an initial consultation, and it seems that most cpas do not charge either (at least not the sole practitioners that i know).

more: what’s your ‘kg’ value? | how to stop yourself | how to handle referrals with attorneys | why checklists? | thirteen things to know before selling your practice
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would the fee deter new clients or actually weed out the ones who are most likely not going to become clients anyway? if a fee is charged, then how much, and how long should the consultation last? should the fee be applied to any work that i am eventually engaged to do?

a: there seems to be a toss-up between two different philosophies:

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the kpi an absentee manager needs

psst … you might be that absentee and not know it.

by ed mendlowitz
77 ways to wow!

the author contends that almost every business owner or manager is an absentee owner or manager, regardless of the amount of time they spend at their business.

more on advisory: when an audit is a great thing | how to read a financial statementwhich kpis do you need? | 77 thoughts about client needs | the seven-minute financikal statement
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while many are ever-present either physically or virtually by phone, texts and emails, they are not managing but rather working in their business on what needs to be done at that moment or that day. they are responding to normal business routines; customer, supplier and personnel requests or problems; and myriad other situations that demand their time, such as banking relationships, cash flow planning, hr issues including hiring, discharging and compliance, interactions with outside professionals, including their attorneys and accountants, and regulatory and occupancy issues. some have partner issues and if they are managing a not-for-profit organization, then board and possibly funding and development issues. they are functioning as a necessary and essential employee and are not really running the business or organization – as if they were not there or were in another part of the country.
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