the sleeter group<\/span><\/a><\/span>, best-known for its quickbooks training, and the author of the study with the involvement of cpa2biz, the american institute of cpas marketing unit, and emergent research, which maintains a long relationship with intuit. clients “don\u2019t think their accountant can or wants to provide technology planning advice.”<\/p>\nthe study is based on a survey of 160 small and mid-sized business owners with outside accountants, averaging about 50 employees each and revenues up to $1 million.<\/p>\n
it argues for a five-point action plan for accounting firms:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nif you\u2019re mainly in the compliance services business, move towards higher value added services such as strategic business, tax, and financial planning.<\/li>\n \u00a0educate your staff on new technologies and adopt a set of recommended products for your clients.<\/li>\n develop skills to connect systems together from multiple vendors.<\/li>\n use and recommend collaborative accounting technologies to broaden and deepen your client engagements.<\/li>\n be proactive with engaging your clients in strategic technology planning.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n“the new world creates new business process complexities for smbs that they are not equipped to handle alone,” according to sleeter. “when an smb starts selling online, taking credit cards, or streamlining their paperless workflows, they often don\u2019t have the expertise needed to evaluate options and integrate the chunks to create an efficient business system.”<\/p>\n
“for accountants who stick to financial statement and tax preparation services, the dramatic improvements in technology will continue to commoditize those services,” sleeter says, citing payroll and sales tax service, which “have become not much more than pressing the submit button on the software product.”<\/p>\n
there are lessons, too, for technology vendors. first, they should give up on trying to turn cpas into resellers. that’s not what small businesses want from their accountants. instead, they should:<\/p>\n
\nunderstand that the fastest road to success is to partner with cpas who provide the \u201clast mile\u201d of customer service.<\/li>\n provide education and tools for accountants.<\/li>\n engage accountants as partners who are critical to driving ultimate client success.<\/li>\n make their products \u201cplay well with others\u201d so that accountants and clients can connect one application to other applications and services.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nmost clients do, indeed, want their accountant’s help in planning and implementing technology changes. but just as many also say their accountant doesn’t even want to talk about it.<\/p>\n
in fact, 51% of clients would “never” ask their accountant for technology planning services. only 18% answered “usually” or “always.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
the gaps between what clients need and what accountants are delivering are huge. but then, so are the opportunities for the accounting firms that can separate themselves from the pack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
clients find accountants’ tech skills lacking. by rick telberg 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 as small and medium-sized businesses move increasingly online and adopt technologically integrated accounting systems, many tax and accounting firms will need to evolve or face extinction, according to a … continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2306],"tags":[120,629],"class_list":["post-30498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-outlook","category-tech-and-fintech","tag-tech","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nexpectations gap: what small business owners really want from their accountants - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n