{"id":94132,"date":"2022-02-13t15:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-02-13t20:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/?p=94132"},"modified":"2022-12-22t00:40:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22t05:40:55","slug":"look-backward-for-your-cas-processes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2022\/02\/13\/look-backward-for-your-cas-processes\/","title":{"rendered":"look backward for your cas processes"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>smart design will save you time.<\/strong><\/p>\n by hitendra patil<\/i> we have examined how you can enhance your firm\u2019s internal processes and what factors influence those processes. in this post, we will focus more on cas-specific processes that can give you competitive advantages. however, this post is not<\/strong> about the technicalities of accounting processes. as a professional accountant, you already know the accounting fundamentals required to create your processes for each of the segments of the services you provide.<\/p>\n more: <\/b>make sure your differentiation is truly different<\/a> | is it time to outsource?<\/a> | your firm\u2019s cas team: who and how many<\/a> | two tech approaches to cas<\/a> | when to start building your cas tech stack<\/a> | stop derailing cas<\/a> | show your priciest cas package first<\/a> | your firm needs a cas champion<\/a> are client accounting services processes different than what you have been doing until now? yes, and no. no, because the fundamentals of the experience and expertise required to produce accounting information do not change.<\/p>\n in a traditional client-accountant business relationship, the accountant produces books and financial statements and delivers them to the business owner. it is up to the business owner to interpret what the books and reports mean, and (hopefully) take actions based on that meaning. while this may sound too simplified a way of stating how accounting work usually gets utilized, it is more true when it comes to small businesses. but it is important because small businesses form a significant part of the total number of clients firms of almost all sizes serve.<\/p>\n however, accountants can easily find crucial insights that can help small business owners make better and timely business decisions, and many times even avoid potential problems that can threaten the very existence of such businesses. so here are some core fundamentals in which your cas processes will be different:<\/p>\n if you are wondering whether cas needs a different set of reports, you are in the right place. at the same time, it may be confusing how you can produce reports that are different than those your software provides out of the box.<\/p>\n as we discussed earlier, cas is about the outcomes<\/strong> of your work, from the clients\u2019 perspective. cas outcomes are useful, insightful and advise clients in ways that routine, traditional reports cannot deliver. the outcomes you provide from your cas offering need to relentlessly focus on the relevance, usability and importance from your clients\u2019 point of view. one of my ex-clients, an experienced and expert cpa from san diego \u2013 who had mostly high net-worth individuals with multiple businesses as his clients \u2013 told me, \u201cafter 19 years in practice, i realized that small to medium business entrepreneurs are not really concerned with managing their balance sheets. it is the job of the accountant.\u201d<\/p>\n sure, cas reports will include traditional reports like income statements, balance sheets and so on. but that is just the baseline. cas is more than just the baseline. as a professional accountant, from all your work for the client, you need to deliver the outcomes that can contribute to enhancing the client\u2019s business. you need to present outcomes in ways that the client can find actionable, i.e., the client should not have to do too much of thinking, \u201cwhat exactly does this mean and what should i do?\u201d<\/p>\n let me share a real-life example here to bring clarity about how cas outcomes are different than traditional accounting reports. one of my ex-clients, a cpa firm that specializes in restaurant accounting, not only established different cas processes that leveraged their niche expertise but it also turned those processes into cas reports that restaurant owners cannot live without. here is what the firm provides to clients:<\/p>\n traditional accounting reports<\/strong><\/p>\n cas reports<\/strong> now, take a look at the non-cas and cas reports mentioned above. all of the cas reports give restaurant owners an instant insight into the business trend of their restaurants, how much to pay to which vendor and when, keep control on labor cost, which items are selling more and what is their contribution to total sales, and the most important management control insight. this prime cost report shows all the key costs that constitute the majority of any restaurant\u2019s core expenses. because these prime costs define a restaurant\u2019s profitability, a restaurant owner cannot afford to wait for a month or more to know what the prime costs are. hence this firm provides a weekly report.<\/p>\n if you noticed, all these cas reports provide actionable intelligence to the restaurant owners. if need be, the restaurant owners can course-correct on the fly to control the factors that can easily hurt the restaurant\u2019s viability. in other words, these cas reports provide the ability to restaurant owners to make data-backed business decisions, and also identify which of their immediate past decisions were good and which ones hurt them. all put together, this helps restaurant owners become better at managing and growing their restaurants. imagine what can happen if such cas reporting is not<\/strong> available to restaurant owners.<\/p>\n to be able to provide all such reports, insights and outcomes that help clients make critical business decisions, the firm has implemented appropriate internal processes to capture the relevant data elements at the time when the firm does the bookkeeping. \u201cyou control the books, you control the business,\u201d and \u201cstart with the end in mind\u201d are the mantras followed.<\/p>\n now you see how the outcomes that are important from the client perspective can, and should, define your firm\u2019s cas processes.<\/p>\n but how do you create your firm\u2019s cas specific processes? where should you begin? how would you know what to change and what to add to your processes?<\/p>\n it is both difficult and easy to create your firm\u2019s cas processes. it will be difficult, not impossible, if you do not have reasonably deep insights into what your clients need and want. it will be easy if you have periodic interactions with your clients.<\/p>\n here are some guidelines to get you started on creating your firm\u2019s cas processes:<\/p>\n \u201cyour company\u2019s profit declined from 16% last month to 14.5% this month.\u201d<\/p>\n when you describe the numbers, you are leaving it to the client to draw the inference and conclusions from what you tell the client. instead, use the words that the client will think in his\/her mind. make it conversational. you want to sound like an advisor or consultant, not an accountant. in the same example quoted here, you can say something like:<\/p>\n \u201cyour company\u2019s profit declined from 16% last month to 14.5% this month, but your sales in the same period increased from 13% to 19%. your lower-cost products\/services are selling more this month. the cost of goods sold for such products\/services is higher than that of your other products \u2013 meaning profit margin is lower in your faster-selling products\/services. you should focus on selling more quantities of other, more profitable products or take steps to reduce the cost of your fast-selling goods.\u201d<\/p>\n the story you tell should be the narrative going on in the minds of your clients. that makes clients respect you as the most trusted advisor because they observe that \u201cyou get it.\u201d now, to be able to tell the story like that, do the reports you produce give you enough insights? if not, identify the storyline-making insights, work backward and find out the process steps that need to be changed to produce such insights.<\/p>\n one simple formula to use to structure your \u201cinsights\u201d is the what-why-what formula:<\/p>\n with this approach of \u201cstorytelling\u201d through the what-why-what formula, work backward to find out where in your process steps you can identify these what-why-what insights. if needed, change\/adjust the process\/steps to be able to create such insights.<\/p>\n once you identify such insights that are valuable for your clients, work backward to review your process steps. add\/adjust the steps to produce and relay such useful information as and when it emerges. be in your client\u2019s shoes. if you are the client, would you not take steps to avoid such instances that lead to the failure of making required payments in time? don\u2019t wait for the end-of-the-period reports to be compiled.<\/p>\n we have discussed how you could evaluate your firm\u2019s technology stack for your cas offering. if you assessed that your firm\u2019s technology stack is not ideally suited for cas, it is critically important that you decide about your cas technology first before altering your firm\u2019s current processes. this is because newer, more advanced, more mature and artificially intelligent technology solutions that make integrations and collaboration more possible can significantly reduce repetitive, duplicated process steps. once you identify such efficiency- and productivity-enhancing opportunities in such technology solutions and implement those at your firm, some of your processes will transform as a result. the remaining parts of your firm\u2019s processes can be easier to analyze from the cas angle.<\/p>\n also, such solutions can give your firm new abilities to deliver newer, more useful, more relevant outcomes to your clients. you will need to take into consideration which processes\/process steps your firm will need to provide such new outcomes to your clients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" smart design will save you time.<\/strong>
\n<\/i>client accounting services: the definitive success guide<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n
\nexclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\nyes, because cas is about the outcomes<\/strong> of your work, from the clients\u2019 perspective. cas outcomes are useful, insightful and advise clients in ways that routine, traditional reports cannot deliver. the outcomes you provide from your cas offering need to relentlessly focus on the relevance, usability and importance from your clients\u2019 point of view. compare this with general perceptions of what accountants deliver \u2013 financial statements and tax returns, i.e., more of compliance assurance rather than competitive business intelligence.<\/p>\nhow are cas processes different?<\/h3>\n
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creating cas reports<\/h3>\n
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creating cas process steps and timelines<\/h3>\n
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technology and your firm\u2019s cas processes<\/h3>\n
\nby hitendra patil<\/i>
\nclient accounting services: the definitive success guide<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1363,"featured_media":48696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[3058,1363,3120,3002,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-client-accounting-services","category-featured","category-pro-member-exclusive","category-special","category-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n