advisory & consulting

creating a back office support playbook

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process touch screen showing workflow design

how to develop procedures every client can follow.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

as back office support, you assist your clients in making timely and accurate business decisions. in the past, you worked on hourly billing doing compliance management. everything was about time.

more: tech tips for back office support | 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 | how back office support adds value
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when you did work for a client, you may have billed out an $18-per-hour employee at a rate of $60 per hour. when your employee took the time to call the client for the documents, walked down the hall to ask someone how they had previously handled a transaction, then waited for a document to show up with nothing to do until it showed up – all of this time was billed hourly.
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accountants to the rescue as startups struggle

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line chart

 

three ways that you can help.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

small businesses rarely make the headlines, but as a whole they represent a huge portion of the american economy. more than 98 percent of all american businesses have fewer than 100 employees, and 77 percent have between one and 10. together they account for 36 percent of the national workforce.

more: talent gap widening: be very scared | accountants hopeful, concerned and confused about ai | looking for recent grads? good luck | cpa biz is booming, but for how long? | survey respondents see exciting year coming up | survey: accountants economic outlook brightens | research: accounting pros cautiously optimistic about generative ai
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americans, generally an independent bunch, are known for cranking up new businesses. one in 10 small businesses is less than one year old. the attrition rate is high, of course, but 45 percent have held on for one to 10 years, and they account for 34 percent of small business jobs.
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james graham: drop the billable hour and you’ll bill more

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firm poised to double in size with cfo services.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

the disruptors
with liz farr

james graham’s firm, richtr financial studio, gave up the billable hour 10 or 15 years ago, and graham points to that choice as making the biggest difference in his firm.

more podcasts and videos: karen reyburn: fix your marketing and fix your business | giles pearson: fix the staffing crisis by swapping experience for education | jina etienne: practice fearless inclusion | bill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid work | sandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow | jody padar: build a practice that works for you, not vice-versa | ira rosenbloom: with m&a, nobody wants a fixer-upper | peter margaritis: the power skills every accountant needs | joe montgomery: find the sweet spot of the right clients, right services and right prices | marie green: your bad apples are ruining you | megan genest tarnow: hire for curiosity rather than compliance | clayton oates: one way to keep clients for life |

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he said it’s because “it really changes the nature of your relationship with the client” when the client is no longer looking at the clock with “that dollar per hour in the moment, always hanging over any interaction.” by removing the focus on time, “it allows everyone to move forward better because the focus is on running the business.”

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workflow tools only as good as their users

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software is just the beginning. consistency is the key.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

workflow. tasking. these two words are thrown around quite a bit and sometimes they are used interchangeably. so, let’s get this part defined a bit more.

more: tech tips for back office support | 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
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workflow definition: noun, the sequence of industrial, administrative or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion

tasking definition: noun, a piece of work to be done or undertaken

verb, assign a piece of work to

workflow is always a noun and tasking can be either a noun or a verb. no wonder people get this confused.
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how to outline your client’s big picture

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three worksheets to guide you.

by anthony glomski

i realize that not all of your clients are entrepreneurs. but, consider this: 90 percent of all the wealth in the u.s. is owned by business owners and 10 percent is inherited. nearly every cpa i know works with business owners and their families. with all the changes impacting the cpa profession today, it’s imperative that you get comfortable changing lanes and adopt a more consultative role with your clients.

more: your entrepreneurs need advice, but which kind? | three ways to work together on wealth | target the family ceo | how to implement collaborative wealth management | five challenges of liquidating a business
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if you’re a cpa and you’re not actively overseeing all the people helping your clients with their financial lives, then you’re missing a big opportunity with your practice. you’re overlooking the opportunity to make a massive impact on the lives of your best clients, their families and the causes they care about.
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tech tips for back office support

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bonus: a case study with lots of specifics.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

i love the question i get when i set up someone on back office support systems. “what do i need to have to get this started?”

more: accounting tech tools to minimize your pain | 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.

i tell them i need to know your name, address, phone number, ein/ssn and your passwords. except for the guy who closed his bank account and had to have the old statements mailed to him, i run with a chromebook and make sure there is accessible wi-fi when i go onsite. if i need to collect documents that have never been digitized, i just have them download dext and start snapping pics. no paper, no pen, no mess and typically a stunned prospect who wants to become a client. see, i can’t sell, so i let the technology do the selling for me.
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ai and the future of advisory

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or, ‘the real battlefield: ai’s inroads into value creation within accounting’

by ric payne

four university professors sat the 3.5 version of chatgpt for the cpa exam in may. and it failed. rather badly, it turns out! averaging a score of 53.1 across all sections.

however, it passed when the same researchers repeated the experiment on the upgraded chatgpt version 4.0 only a month later. rather impressively, actually.  with an average score of “the chatbot received an 87.5 in the part that rated highest, auditing and attestation (aud),” the researchers reported.

more on artificial intelligence: chris vanover: question the why or stay with the status quo | ai + mri = diseases that doctors might miss | the art of prompt engineering for accountants | staff need good pay and tlc | two words define your work future in the ai world | becky livingston launches “the b2b marketer’s guide to ai” | getting real: accounting tech decisions you need to make today | generative ai: should you avoid it or adopt it? | the disruptors: al anderson on the new manifesto for accountants | should accountancy account for sustainability? | firms rev up expansion plans | what an a.i.-powered workforce means for accountants | jody padar: build a practice that works for you, not vice-versa. | ai systems just for accounting in development | ai is not your enemy |

more 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 coverage here.

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this is a very interesting development for several reasons.

first, it’s amazing how quickly chatgpt has improved. i doubt a human, even a smart one, would achieve a 32 percentage point improvement in an examination score in just a few months. this performance improvement begs the question: are we looking at the likelihood of close to 100% shortly? read more →

accounting tech tools to minimize your pain

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a businessman with some jigsaw puzzle pieces in his hand

concrete ways that small to midsized firms can build their back office support.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

obtaining the source documents is the most difficult aspect of being a virtual back office support (bos). waiting for documents is the death knell for this type of work.

more: strengthen client ties with workflow tools | decoding accounting tech (and all those acronyms) | digital marketing strategies level the playing field | eight tasks to delegate today | advisory services done your way | ai is not your enemy
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luckily, technology has provided tools to take away this pain.

here are just five of the tools we use currently to collect information from our clients:
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20 things you need for a business valuation

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man reading in paper notebook in front of two screens

how to help a client who wants to sell their business. (hint: it’s about them, not you.)

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

question: i have a client who’s thinking of selling his business, and he asked me to recommend a consultant to help him get his business in shape to sell. i am afraid that if he finds someone on his own i’ll lose control of the client. he might end up not selling and i could lose the client. i do not know anyone to recommend. what do you suggest i do?

more: valuing a family-owned business: eight options | business valuation comes down to cash flow | 50 ways to create value for business owners and board members | what earnings mean for a business valuation | use organization charts to rewrite the future | what clients don’t know about cost variances | why and how to track payroll costs
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ed’s response: i suggest that you decide what is best for the client and proceed that way. you can find consultants by contacting other cpas, attorneys, or business brokers that work in this area.

however, i also think that this is something where you can probably do most of the work yourself or through your firm. it is not a magic process, but a four-part process.

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would you buy your own services?

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don’t expect potential clients to if you don’t know what sets you apart.

by steven e. sacks, cpa, cgma, abc

do you ever wonder why after spending many hours on drafting, editing, proofing, and polishing—and proofing and polishing just once more—your engagement proposal efforts did not result in winning the engagement? and if this happens on a semi-regular basis, the frustration is never easier to take.

more steve sacks: how do you value your most important asset? | how to build a winning proposal | six ways to fix your firm agreement | the great resignation or a reshuffling? | listen to learn | build the framework to a solution with five answers | try for success, not a win
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you may have the requisite knowledge, experience, and perhaps even a broad view based on a diverse set of clients. however, you may have become complacent by maintaining a “cookie-cutter” approach to developing your proposals. like the old joke defining a consultant: “a person who takes off your watch, tells you the time, and gives the watch back to you,” implies an approach that you believe is best for your potential client, yet reflects no understanding of what the client actually needs.

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bundle tax services with financial planning

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businesspeople having a meeting over coffee sitting together at a table discussing a document, young man and two middle-aged women present

two sample engagement proposals.

by ed mendlowitz
how to build a stronger tax practice

following are two sample engagement proposals for tax return preparation bundled with additional financial planning and business planning services.

more on marketing: when clients haven’t filed taxes for years | seven keys to a complete succession plan | the tax effects of buying or selling a business | elder care: not sexy, but vital | how to guide clients through divorce | help clients manage their investments
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letter 1:

dear _________________:

it was good meeting with you last week. ed and i are excited to be working with you and look forward to a long and satisfying professional relationship.
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strengthen client ties with workflow tools

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bonus: a solution for authentication code headaches.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

managing tasks and workflow through email, handwritten notes, telephone messages or walking down the hall is a recipe for disaster. a web-based tasking app, preferably linked to your document management system, allows the back office support to inspect what they expect:

  • recurring tasks done on time and accurate load leveling of resources
  • audit trail of work
  • set up, review, make notes, share information and complete tasks while maintaining the relationship with the client

more: decoding accounting tech (and all those acronyms) | do your apps play well with others? | it’s ok to have favorite clients | ten questions for teamwork | yes, you can be an outsourcer
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tasking applications come on the market regularly and there are a few that are specific to the accounting industry. they can run the gamut in price ranges and capabilities. from advance flow to 17 hats, a firm large to small can find one that will work and fulfill 80 percent of their needs. below are some we work with and that get high reviews with our staff:
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