survey: rough seas ahead for small business
their best advice: innovate, adapt, go online. hang on.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
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growth strategies
when siblings battle over the family business
succession plans can get dicey… for the advisor.
by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting
someone has to be the boss. when the founder is active, he or she is usually the boss. but what about arents who step aside to have their children run the business? particularly where there is more than one child working in the business?
more: readers rip: ‘she wanted her shoebox back’ | when parents, children hit an impasse | wealth is a state of mind | the six types of “impossible” clients | you’re not just taxes | granting unconventional request pays off | 20 best practices for staff training and retention | what does the client want to see?
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i’ve seen some situations where two siblings can run the business as equals. and then, there are other situations where they can’t. what do you do?
why accountants fail at consulting
the move requires commitment and resources.
by gary bolinger
most all cpas in public practice talk about transitioning away from traditional compliance services to offer more advisory services.
more: advisory vs. low-value clients | what + who leads firms to better service | how accountants are profiting in disruption | ask the right question(s) | seven elements of engagement for cpas | true advisory work isn’t just consulting
when i have talked to firms in the past few years and i ask about percent of total firm revenues in a&a, tax and advisory, the percentage for a&a and tax constitutes a significant majority of total fees. but advisory alone is usually 10 percent or less.
even then, those advisory consulting fees are generally closely tied to some aspect of compliance. so, i’m not sure that i would really say that’s advisory. so, with all the talk – for maybe the last 20 years – about the need to grow advisory revenues, why are the revenues so low in relation to compliance services?
read more →
she wanted her shoebox back
one of the oddest ways i ever lost a client.
hoisted from comments
looking at comments, ed mendlowitz seems to have hit a nerve with this piece. 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 readers are reacting with knowing nods and war stories of their own.
by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting
who would ever think that the most important part of a shoebox with a client’s tax information was the shoebox?
more: when parents, children hit an impasse | how bickering can ruin a family business | one hour a year since 1972 | 50 ways to make more money in busy season | 20 good ways to boost tax season production
not me, and i lost a client because of it. read more →
would you buy your own services?
templates are handy but don’t show understanding of what the client wants.
by steven e. sacks
the new fundamentals
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: the future of the accounting profession | 7 signs your accounting firm agreement falls short | five common negotiating mistakes | reaching for authenticity in client service | deadlines? ha! don’t make me laugh | organizational change starts and ends with people | busyness isn’t the same as productivity
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you may have the requisite knowledge and 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.
read more →
tax season is over; now what?
how are you marking this year like no other?
by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting
i always ended tax season with my office closed the next day. we once gave employees a choice of taking off either the day after or friday after tax season. those who chose the friday said they should have taken off the day after. that day off provided a way to unwind and just be lazy.
more: when parents, children hit an impasse | how bickering can ruin a family business | one hour a year since 1972 | why annual staff evaluations fall short | why create an accounting firm business model? | the clients that keep you awake at night
one year, one of my partners, a close friend and i all bought new cars that day. it is a day to clear your mind and come down from a high-performance mentality.
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advisory vs. low-value clients
where is your energy best spent?
by gary bolinger
all firms have low-value clients. sometimes, they take more time than they are worth. there is never any growth with those clients. same thing, year after year.
more: what + who leads firms to better service | how accountants are profiting in disruption | ask the right question(s) | seven elements of engagement for cpas | true advisory work isn’t just consulting
it isn’t all that much fun to work on those engagements. these clients are generally interested in the lowest fee possible, but they create a lot of work or anxiety in many ways.
read more →
what do you sell on?
8 key questions to get you started on your accountability journey.
by martin bissett
tax alert: irs pledges to fix secure act 10-year rmd rule
the irs teases new update on ira beneficiary distribution rules.
by seymour goldberg, cpa, mba (taxation), jd
special for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
when parents, children hit an impasse
four ways to proceed.
by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting
many family-run businesses have parents and children who perform excellently together, and i have worked with many proud companies. however, occasionally there is a stumbling block, in that a parent and child just cannot get it together. what to do?
more: how bickering can ruin a family business | ceos don’t always know numbers | finding new business in sustainability | 14 simple, easy tips for a better tax season | how to recoup staff training costs | 10 ways to stay in control
in many small businesses an underperforming employee hurts, and oft times there is a reluctance to get rid of them. they linger on, holding back the company. it is inevitable that they will be gone at some point, but that point seems to be delayed past when it should have been dealt with. biting the bullet is necessary, and when the owners realize they are better off in the long run, they take the necessary step.
read more →
how bickering can ruin a family business
advise without getting in the middle.
by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting
i have had many clients where children work in their parents’ business and have seen a lot of private interactions that shouldn’t have ever occurred, but did.
more: ceos don’t always know numbers | wealth is a state of mind | the six types of “impossible” clients | you’re not just taxes | granting unconventional request pays off
you might think the time i saw a father and son punching and wrestling with each other would be the worst, but it wasn’t. the worst are the psychological games parents and children play with each other, many times without the arguing or evident disagreements.
read more →
ceos don’t always know numbers
it’s worth your time to ask about what they do know.
by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting
one time i had a client who became his company’s ceo. this was a public company and i knew him as well as i could know someone whose tax returns i prepared and met with two or three times a year and spoke to over the phone another two or three times a year.
more: wealth is a state of mind | one hour a year since 1972 | 50 ways to make more money in busy season | 20 good ways to boost tax season production | why annual staff evaluations fall short
at one meeting i asked him how he spent his days and how he managed the transition to ceo.
read more →
gary cokins: the truth about activity-based costing
how to implement progressive management accounting techniques.
> download and subscribe to the podcast on itunes here
with steven sacks
the new fundamentals: thriving in disruption
management finance expert gary cokins says there’s nothing wrong with activity-based costing. except that you’re probably doing it all wrong.
more gary cokins: the myths of performance management
more steven sacks: effective networking is an art | business development activities shouldn’t be a chore | cpa’s best role: leveraging knowledge, not just process | avoid last-minute deal making | five common negotiating mistakes | the myths of performance management | business is about relationships | reaching for authenticity in client service |
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.
the problem is, cokins says, it’s convenient for the accountants to allocate the overhead based on allocation factors, like labor hours, number of units produced in a manufacturer, headcount, number of employees, and square feet, even though none of them reflect the unique consumption relationship between how the outputs products and services consumed.