Today's Features
‘Radical Pricing’ Launches June 4 at AICPA Engage
The step-by-step process for building a more client-centric firm.
By CPA Trendlines
In Radical Pricing: How To Optimize Profits, Delight Customers and Build A Top Value Firm, which launches on June 4, Jody Padar guides accounting professionals through their pricing evaluation and remodeling.
Key points will be discussed at AICPA & CIMA Engage 24 conference at the Aria in Las Vegas on Tuesday, June 4, rom 7:00-7:50 a.m., sponsored bt ADP. Following the session ADP will host a book launch party where the first 50 attendees will receive a free autographed copy of the book. Registration is required at https://bit.ly/RadPricing.
The book and its accompanying workbook and tools are being published by CPA Trendlines and can be preordered at www.cpa.click/RadPricing.
Known as The Radical CPA®, Padar advocates for accountants to lead next-generation firms, and shares in her latest book why moving from a ticking clock will help firms retain talent, increase efficiency and create more loyal customers.
Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board
supports their career development.
Time is a concern, and so is performance.
By CPA Trendlines Research
The pipeline of incoming accounting professionals isn’t exactly gushing these days. To the contrary, it has slowed to an inadequate dribble.
The scarcity of qualified professionals makes talent retention more important than ever. It’s far easier and less costly to keep current people on board than to attract and onboard new people.
MORE: Employee Retention Is Easier Than Attraction | Let Interns Fix the Staffing Shortage? | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? | Seven Steps to a Stronger Future | Firms Culling Clients as Staffing Woes Persist | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff?
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But what do they want? What keeps them happily at their current job?
Well, for one thing, money.
But these days, that’s not enough.
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How a Case of Beer Saved the U.S. Financial System
Great businesses are formed by trusting others … even if they need a 24-pack to get there.
By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA
You’ve probably heard of the 1929 stock market crash, Black Monday, the dotcom bubble and the Great Recession. All of these combined pale in comparison to what almost happened back in 1986. Save for a case of Miller Lite, our financial world, as we know it, would not exist.
MORE: Even with Value Pricing, Time Tracking Matters and Here’s Why | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients…Seriously | Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | You Train Your Clients, Whether You Mean To or Not | Business Owners Face One of Three Exits
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I landed this job not because of my fabulous accounting qualifications. I was a double major in economics/finance in college. I would have taken a job sniffing used toilet paper out of college with those academic credentials. I got the job solely from my relationship with Paul Karstetter, the second name in what eventually became Stitely & Karstetter, CPAs.
Showing Leadership through Customer Service
Who needs to see you lead?
By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership
In order to become a commercially aware practice leader, we need to understand the DNA of leadership.
Any woman or man leading an accounting firm, who chooses to overcome each operational or client challenge as it if their future depended on it, will not only succeed in practice but will become capable of delivering advisory value to their clients unmatched by their competitors, thus achieving true differentiation.
MORE: Firm Not Thriving? Five Fixes | Five Questions About Facing Challenges | Be Clear About Your ROI Proposition | It’s Time to Prepare the Next Generation | Who Are You More Committed to, Your Firm or Your Clients? | Nine Checkpoints Before Every Prospect Meeting | Three Questions about Conversion | Six Keys to Turning Prospects into Clients | Don’t Overlook Internal Communication
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There has been enough behavioral evidence in practice management now observed, collated and reported upon to be able to draw a conclusion that a great leader needs to be at peace internally in order to become a great leader externally. Her or his personnel/staff need to see a consistency between that leader’s values and his/her most commonly perceived behaviors.
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More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads
Firms that overhired in the COVID-19 boom are now trimming their ranks.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Despite widespread concerns in the profession about a talent shortage, the largest accounting firms in a new survey are cutting back on their hiring of new college accounting graduates by 16.1 percent this year.
MORE in STAFFING & RECRUITING: Employee Retention Is Easier Than Attraction | Payroll Leads Job Gains in Tax & Accounting Sector | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? | Letting Staff Go After Tax Season? Bad Idea | Firms Culling Clients as Staffing Woes Persist | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff?
Reflecting broader economic uncertainties and budgetary constraints, half of all the biggest firms surveyed are gearing down for a recession, marking a sharp turnaround from the hiring spree sparked by a global pandemic that forced industries across the globe into transformational change, often staffed and driven by the biggest accounting and consulting firms.
Should You Merge? Here’s How to Chart Your Path
Lease renewals trigger this concern, but they’re not a good reason.
By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice
Question: I signed up with a broker who introduces buyers and sellers of CPA practices, to find someone who would buy my practice when I want to retire. I don’t want to retire yet, but am starting to think about it. The broker suggested a merger now combined with a buyout deal when I am ready to retire. Am I going about this in the right way?
MORE: A Friendly Chat or a Billable Discussion? | Busy Season Is Over, So It’s Time for Some Resolutions | Want to Merge? Six Steps to Take | How to Start Providing Family Office Services | Every Accounting Firm Needs Quality Control | No One Listens to You? Change How You Talk | 47 Types of Business Valuation to Provide | Thirteen Things to Consider Before You Sell Your Practice | Uncooperative Partner Might Not be the Problem
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Response: I get a lot of calls similar to this when lease renewals are coming up, or a tenant is lost and a merger could fill up the space, a key employee is lost or a major client is lost. In my opinion, these are not reasons to merge. Merging is a major change of life and needs to be done with great care.
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Planning Lays the Foundation of Audit Relevance
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future
Next time you have your planning meeting about an upcoming audit, print out a page or two of what you say on your website. Share those pages around, and ask the planning team members, “How are we going to deliver on what we’ve said on our website?”
MORE: How Do We Drive Relevance in Audit? | Before the Audit: More Than Just Planning | Five Crucial Attributes for Successful Audit Leadership | Put the Ethics Code to Work for Your Clients and Your Firm | Is Audit in Crisis Because of Definitions?
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Most people think of planning an audit as an exercise in filling out forms. Planning an audit is certainly much deeper than that. The ultimate foundation for success in your audits depends on what you do during the planning stage.