timesheets: the nuclear option

lamentations on the billable hour: jamey johnson’s “the dollar.”

nuke ’em: kill timesheets before they kill the profession.

by ed kless

the litany of “challenges for the profession” repeats the narrative that has been well documented and continues to grow for over the last decade:

  • while there are more people graduating with degrees in accounting, fewer of them are sitting for the cpa exam. this is leading to fewer new hires for firms.
  • the new hires they do have are “millennials” who desire a challenge and think they should be made partner sooner rather than later.
  • attrition, especially at the mid-career level, is over 10 percent and is mostly initiated by the professional, not the firm.
  • the loss of people in the middle and bottom of the pyramid is eroding the traditional economic model. non-equity partners are increasing and funding for partner buyouts is disappearing.
  • cries of “we must become more efficient,” and/or, “we must embrace new technology,” and/or “we must hold people more accountable,” reverberate in meetings.
  • compliance work continues to flatline and while new offerings are growing revenue, they are not growing fast enough. worse still those that do this work are often not even cpas!

more ed kless at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间: your time has no inherent value  |  ed kless: what is strategic pricing?  |  ed kless on factors affecting price sensitivity  |  a radical close look at value pricing  |  billable hour in the extreme  |  the four factors for fixed pricing

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

presentation after presentation is viewed on the modern equivalent of the campfire, the conference room projector. “our profession is sick, even dying. we might have cancer. we really don’t know, but it is bad.” it’s true, the profession does have cancer. the good news is, we know the cause and it is curable.

it is called “a timesheet.” it be must cut it out completely before it kills.

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i lost a client to an accounting firm with cheaper fees

businessman holding two papers with happy and angry face each on themwhy they came back.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

i have never been the lowest-priced accountant, but neither was i the highest.

more: getting a referral from an adversary | the background to saving a business | secret success formula: e=fs4uh | becoming an expert in irs collections | how hidden bias taints results | when to keep some plans to yourself | when writeups went extinct | kennedy’s acceptance speech | what consulting is
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

sometimes prices charged are subject to the perception of the client and not reality. fees are always related to the value provided, although that isn’t always evident.
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busy season: the busiest ever?

tax professionals expect a very busy busy season.

today’s bonus question:
the tcja impact on your practice and your clients
join the survey: get the results.

busy season barometer: 63 percent expect an increase in clients this year, and 78 expect higher revenues.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

one thing’s certain about the 2019 tax season: nothing’s certain.

the early results from the 16th annual 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer show tax practitioners hopeful but nervous.

more busy season:  tax season 2019 launches with a whimper  | 16 big questions for tax season  |  survey: tax accountants alarmed by tcja & shutdown  |  shutdown: what to tell tax clients during “the lapse”   |  beware the leeches and consultants   |  charitable giving under tcja  |  why padding tax deductions is a risky proposition  |  handling the delay in 199a regs |  survey: clients rush for tcja answers |goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

for many, the season seems to be shaping up for more clients and increased revenues. at the same time, however, practitioners are showing unprecedented concerns that instead of success, they could end up with a mess.

and mess or success, they’re in for a lot of work. read more →

value pricers ignore half the pricing puzzle

profits.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

the best thing about value pricing is that you can succeed with just one piece of information – the value of your services to clients. you can toss your time sheets or any other cost tracking.

more stitely: beware the leeches and consultants | 2 lessons clients taught me | no consultant can solve your biggest problem | the great marketing hoax | what the value-pricers get wrong | 3 rules for asking great tax-return questions

goprocpa.com

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

the income statement for a value-pricing cpa firm consists just of revenue – no expenses. expenses are irrelevant when we have forward-looking metrics such as client and employee satisfaction.

let’s have a little fun with the core tenet of value pricing. you only need know the value of your services to a client. you can ignore the cost of providing the services.

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the cure for commoditization

managing for profits beats price-cutting.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

in the beginning, the irs created the 1040 and saw that it was good. shortly thereafter, the first cpa crawled out of the primordial muck and asked, “how can i make money preparing tax returns?”

more stitely: what the value-pricers get wrong | four amusing millennial myths | the annual tax meeting is dead. clients killed it. | 3 rules for asking great tax-return questions | where workflow management runs off the rails | three ways your office tech is ruining your firm | when value pricing works | the 4 dark clouds hovering over cloud accounting software | value billing on the 19th hole | the irs and big data gone bad | will zero data entry end your tax practice? | three trends that will transform your tax practice or eliminate it | value, billem & dunn: a value billing case study | how to make an extra $72,000 by working smarter

goprocpa.com

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

the green eyeshade-wearing neanderthal cpas eventually evolved into cpas experienced in electronic data management, but today, we are still trying to answer that first question.

effective project management isn’t the entire answer, but it’s an essential building block.

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what the value-pricers get wrong

and 5 ways to fix it.

by frank stitely

beeeeeep.  briiinnnnggg.  boooooop.  you reach over to turn off the alarm.

but it’s not your alarm, and it’s not 6 a.m. yet.  it’s the coffee maker.  or is it the dishwasher?  or the washing machine?  it turns out to be a text message.  you glance down at your smartphone, and you see 14 app notifications, 27 e-mails, and three texts.  your smartwatch yells at you for not meeting your “fitness” goal yesterday.

by 6 a.m., half of humanity competes for your attention.  every computer programmer on the planet believes his notifications rock your world.  when everything beeps, do any of the beeps really matter?  the rock group, chicago, wrote, “does anybody really know what time it is?”  yes, it’s time for another notification.

we don’t suffer alone.  our clients share our pain.

the value pricing people tell us that we aren’t selling time.  but we are.  we aren’t selling our time.  we are selling our clients’ time – back to them.  21st-century clients want perfect compliance, fast service, and a competitive price – as a start.  most importantly, they want us to save them time.

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