advisory & consulting

use timesheets for productivity, not billing

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back office support calls for flat rates. here’s why.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

let’s get to the big questions that confound professional service providers of all types in today’s tech environment:

  • how do i charge my client for these services?
  • how do i continue to get paid?
  • how do i charge hourly for processes that will be taking less and less time because of the application of technology?

more: best practices for source doc permissions and handling | sixteen guidelines for naming conventions | you have to manage three kinds of procedures | tech tips for back office support | decoding accounting tech (and all those acronyms) | digital marketing strategies level the playing field | eight tasks to delegate today | advisory services done your way
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

fixed pricing

flat-rate billing is the logical choice for back office support (bos) services. this fixed pricing is typically used for monthly recurring work. we can do this by knowing how long it takes to create any given transaction. there will be swings in time, but the idea is that the fixed monthly rate considers the busiest season or months for the business. that way, on less heavy months, you receive the same rate and it makes up for the times when the workload increases.
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see your client to a graceful exit

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man in glasses looking at document held by woman

it takes a few years, so get started.

by anthony glomski

research from the family firm institute shows that only three in 10 (30%) closely held family businesses survive into the second generation. just one in eight (12%) are still viable into the third generation, and a mere 3 percent operate into the fourth generation or beyond. those statistics are even more disturbing because the same research shows that the vast majority of business families are overly optimistic – they believe they will be in control of their companies five years hence.

more: is your client’s wealth truly protected? | eight questions for estate planning | clients who don’t listen | how to outline your client’s big picture | target the family ceo
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given this gloomy success record for family business transitions, it is no wonder that 60 to 70 percent of family wealth is lost by the second generation and that 90 percent is lost by the third generation. it does not have to be this way.
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best practices for source doc permissions and handling

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woman wearing glasses typing on laptop in front of wall of windows

four steps to asserting control.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

permissions are key. in our company only three people have a connection to their local c drive from our managed server. also, we can track who is logged in, from where, how long and what they accessed.

more: sixteen guidelines for naming conventions | revisit your back office support procedures | federated search: what it is, why it matters | accounting tech tools to minimize your pain | do your apps play well with others? | it’s ok to have favorite clients
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

if documents are in our cloud storage, the permissions to download them can be turned off. viewing is done from within the document storage app. nothing is perfect. they can still take a screenshot but we attempt to keep things as closed as possible while still allowing for work and efficiency.
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is your client’s wealth truly protected?

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man holding umbrella while standing in stormy ocean

many policies are too small. here’s another option.

by anthony glomski

no matter where your client grew up or how they accumulated their wealth, they can be a target for a host of unscrupulous people. many affluent investors, including entrepreneurs, are worried about keeping their assets safe from potential creditors, litigants, children’s spouses, ex-spouses, and disgruntled former employees and partners. they also want to protect their assets from catastrophic losses that could cripple them financially. as a cpa, you have an important role here.

more: eight questions for estate planning | check tax effects before liquifying | why you should function as a fiduciary | your entrepreneurs need advice, but which kind? | how to implement collaborative wealth management
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

wealth protection involves strategies you can use to ensure that your wealth is not unjustly taken from you by potential creditors, litigants, ex-spouses and children’s spouses. wealth protection is also designed to protect you against catastrophic loss. identity theft is another emerging threat to wealth protection that should be addressed carefully with your clients.
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seven things you must know about ai

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be serious, not amused.

by hitendra patil
rise of the aiccountants

unless you live under a stone, you would have heard about all the craze chatgpt has created recently. and most likely, you, too, are amused by it.

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

an artificial intelligence-powered tool, it is one of the first that allowed people to directly interact with ai in a familiar way how we use chat functions on mobile phones and websites. this ease of access and usage gave it a huge fan following. moreover, it triggered a tsunami of new ai tools emerging all over the internet.
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sixteen guidelines for naming conventions

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hands on keyboard

why they matter so much.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

one of the most time-consuming parts of reconciliation is attempting to discover why or where to allocate expenses. you want to find and pay the correct vendor. you also want to be sure that you have the vendor’s correct name and tax id number when 1099 reporting time rolls around, yet it won’t be easy to do so if you do not have a consistent vendor naming convention.

more: revisit your back office support procedures | every back office support client needs a playbook | creating a back office support playbook | strengthen client ties with workflow tools | understand your online marketing options | narrow your prospects by choosing a vertical | build your team, then choose your clients | how back office support adds value
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

consistent naming conventions are a critical component of good file management. the same is true if customer names are in the accounting program. any list really needs to have consistency of entry. duplicates and linking to the wrong record are common mistakes that take time to find and fix.
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revisit your back office support procedures

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woman drawing flowchart on a blackboard

remember it’s not just your team on board, it’s also your clients.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

once you have your procedures, you can assign tasks to your team members. because we perform back office work for many accounting firms, we often adapt to other firms’ workflows. we are often on their workflows for our tasking but internally we also needed a simple means of tasking. another easily integrated app with slack provided this, teamline. with teamline we just type /teamline into any channel and:

  • create a new task on the fly or use a premade template
  • assign it to a team member
  • set a due date
  • attach a file
  • add a checklist of items

more: every back office support client needs a playbook | you have to manage three kinds of procedures | tech tips for back office support | decoding accounting tech (and all those acronyms) | digital marketing strategies level the playing field | eight tasks to delegate today

teamline notifies both the assignee and the creator as to the progress of the task automatically. integration to our google calendar puts the teamline task into the calendar. we never leave slack while doing this as the integration between slack, teamline and google calendar is seamless.
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every back office support client needs a playbook

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woman and man looking at laptop screen

here’s the specific information that should be included.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

we use onenote to create a firm playbook for each client we work with. this program allows you to record voice and video and save it to a page or implant videos directly into the relevant onenote page.

more: you have to manage three kinds of procedures | federated search: what it is, why it matters | accounting tech tools to minimize your pain | do your apps play well with others? | it’s ok to have favorite clients | ten questions for teamwork | yes, you can be an outsourcer
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

we get lots of zoom recordings on procedures from firms. in our world, the onenote template has a specific page for all videos as a subpage for each client. this onenote book resides on the shared server so that all the team members can access it at any time to verify, review or update procedures.
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you have to manage three kinds of procedures

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smiling woman using smartphone

need help with internal procedures? here are three apps for organizing them.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

there is a symbiotic relationship between your technology and your processes. you have to consider both, or you won’t get the full benefit.

more: federated search: what it is, why it matters | creating a back office support playbook | strengthen client ties with workflow tools | understand your online marketing options | narrow your prospects by choosing a vertical | build your team, then choose your clients | how back office support adds value
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

mckinsey global has been researching the impact of automation around the world, and (no surprise) found that when companies try to retrofit technology to fit into existing processes, “companies end up with a patchwork of incongruous technology tools that automate separate and distinct parts of the process. this approach is fine for capturing the first 5 percent or so of automation’s impact. but unlocking the full potential requires a fundamentally different way of thinking. to capture that potential, managers must be willing to re-engineer their processes completely.”
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should you offer financial services?

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couple meeting with investment advisor.

10 points to consider before adding them to your practice.

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice

question: i am thinking of adding financial services to my practice. what are your thoughts?

response: for starters, “financial services” means selling investment products or managing money.  this is different from adding financial planning, which i see as an extension of and a next step to sound tax planning for clients.

more: thirteen things to consider before you sell your practice | how much is your tax practice worth? | ready to retire? selling your practice is no strategy | uncooperative partner might not be the problem | merge in lower-priced work without losing out | 20 things you need for a business valuation
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

getting into the financial services business requires tremendous effort, training and a long startup period until a critical mass can be attained where there will be a reasonable cash flow and profit. this business involves the ability to sell and then deliver.
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why you should function as a fiduciary

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diversify and figure out which assets not to own.

by anthony glomski
your $5 million high-net-worth practice

the first thing you and your clients should understand as investors looking to make smart financial decisions is this: the broad asset classes you choose to own (such as stocks, bonds, alternatives, real estate, private equity and so on) and the percentage of your household wealth that you allocate to each of those asset classes will have a greater impact on your future investment returns than any other decision you make – including which individual stocks you buy.

more: how to flip the switch to wealth preservation | how to outline your client’s big picture | your entrepreneurs need advice, but which kind? | three ways to work together on wealth | how to implement collaborative wealth management | five challenges of liquidating a business
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

this means your first question as intelligent investors must be: how should i allocate my assets among the major asset categories?
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women-owned businesses upbeat but need help

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line chart

access to capital is a concern … and an opportunity for accountants.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

despite a few challenges, small businesses are somewhat optimistic about their immediate future. according to the bank of america’s “2023 women & minority business owner spotlight,” 67 percent expect their revenue to increase over the next 12 months, and 46 percent plan to expand their business.

more: survey: 42% of accountants turn away work over staff shortages | ethics on sustainability puzzle some accountants | accountants hopeful, concerned and confused about ai | survey respondents see exciting year coming up | the 7 categories of cybersecurity solutions firms need | how auditors can beat ai | why the u.s. must act now to protect our online privacy
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

this guarded optimism is in the face of several perceived problems. only 34 percent think the national economy will improve in that timeframe, a number unchanged since last fall. a few more – 41 percent – see their local economy improving, though that number has dipped 2 percentage points since last fall.
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start with existing clients to add cas

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their questions will help shape your pitch to others.

by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide

you will use very similar fundamental steps to generate words and content to express the value of your client accounting services offering. you will focus on each component of your cas offering to do so, e.g., different content to talk about bill payment services, different for advisory and outsourced cfo services, and so on.

more: your clients’ words = your new cas marketing | attract clients through facebook groups | want higher profitability? turn to cas | structure insights as what-why-what | set your processes apart in nine steps | five ways to overcome cas staffing challenges | think cas isn’t for your firm? | convince your firm of cas value | ten ways to tell a client is ready for cas
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

you will also use the “contrast principle” to differentiate between your “usual” services and “cas offering.” marketing cas to your existing clients will be different than marketing cas to your prospects.
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