5 Steps for Increasing Your Connection With Clients

Your clients drive your business model. This is why, in these tough times, it’s so important to connect with them and show them you care. Your clients have likely felt a sense of panic over the public health situation, the economy, their own customer base, and their employees.  They may be facing a tension between…

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THE KEY TO CLIENT ENGAGEMENTS IS REFRAMING “SALES” AS “COMMUNICATING VALUE.”

In our last post, we talked about how the accounting industry has been disrupted. High-volume, low-profit services such as tax returns are being pushed out by large commercial organizations, leaving small and medium-size accounting firm owners to work increasingly harder for decreasing profits. The solution is to allow your business model to adapt by following these…

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10 Keys to Success for Emerging Leaders

It’s an exciting time to be an emerging leader in the accounting profession! We’re in the middle of a convergence of four opportunities that provide fantastic potential. The profession is undergoing a transformation from automation, machine learning, and big data. Leadership is turning over at a record pace as Boomers retire and Gen X and…

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THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION HAS BEEN DISRUPTED.

This probably isn’t an earth-shattering revelation if you’re an accountant. Over the last decade, your ability to make a decent living doing compliance work has decreased dramatically. Commercial tax operations are offering tax returns for incredibly low prices–in some cases, companies are even doing tax returns for free. If you’re the owner of a small or…

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Your Best Source for Content Ideas: Your Clients

Content marketing is a powerful tool and one that more and more firms are relying on to effectively communicate their work and differentiators. As it grows in popularity, we hear the same concern from a growing number of clients: How do we figure out what to say? Deciding on content to address is a crucial…

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2016 CPAFMA Technology Survey Findings-Workstations

The CPA Firm Management Association recently conducted its first comprehensive technology survey tailored specifically to member firms with the goal of identifying the applications, products and processes utilized by peers.  Where possible, the survey attempted to identify which applications firms are moving to in the cloud compared to traditionally on-premise managed solutions.  The survey was…

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Critical Thinking

Many skill sets are needed as professionals enter the workforce. As I travel around the country to conferences and meet with clients, one concern seems to bubble to the top. The lack of critical thinking skills.  I would challenge the reading audience to consider this has nothing to do with age, but possibly more with…

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Improving the Client Experience

Caught in the busyness.  March and April are busy times in CPA firms.  We have multiple tax deadlines, calendar year-end audited financial statements are often due to clients and third parties, client meetings spike, phone calls and emails increase, and on and on.  It’s easy to get lost in this busyness and feel entitled to…

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Building Your Culture – Teach What You Learn

Building a great CPA firm culture doesn’t happen automatically. Leaders must work at it and give culture-building a lot of attention. Managers must do their part and everyone down the line must be fostering the firm culture. Improving culture is not “flip the switch” type of activity. You build it bit-by-bit, over time and embracing…

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