Five Questions to Ask Clients Today

Make checking a client’s pulse part of your everyday habit.

by Rick Telberg

Busy season may be hectic and the hours may be long, but if you’re not making time to get to know your clients better, then you’re missing an opportunity that may not come again for another year. By then, a competitor may have beaten you to the punch.

Many accountants, auditors and tax professionals don’t realize how much busy season is, in fact, “opportunity season.” You have your clients’ undivided attention. They should have yours.

Beyond the routine tax preparation and tax planning, beyond the reconciliations and check marking, you need to be using client face-time to explore their greater needs and goals and your firm’s performance and opportunities.

Busy Season 2010: How’s It Going So Far?

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It’s not hard once you know where to start, according to Scott H. Cytron, a 20-year veteran of marketing and communications in the accounting profession.

Cytron

“Your clients may seem happy,” Cytron warns, “but how much do you really know about their satisfaction with your firm and services? Have you asked them?” Mostly, accountants don’t ask, and certainly not in a systematic way. I call it “Don’t ask, don’t know.”

The reason? “Mainly,” Cytron says, “accountants just don’t really know how to ask the question. They’re afraid they’ll hear bad news. And then what would they do? But, honestly, is that any way to run a business? There should be no surprises.”

Take the opportunity to do more than just ask “How are we doing?” Ask how the client is doing. Find out what the client wants from their life and business. See if there are ways you can help, professionally or just as a friend.

Cytron suggests five questions to get started:

They key is to make checking a client’s pulse part of your everyday habit. When you ask “Hi. How are you?” you should mean it. And be prepared to ask for more.

On another level, the firm should be checking client-satisfaction levels at least annually through methodical surveys. Cytron says the surveying doesn’t always need to be completely scientific, and, in fact, rarely is. “But you can get a pretty good idea of where you stand with a just a few responses,” he says. ”And then you’ll know what you need to do next.” Which could range from damage control on a particular client relationship to more in-depth research.

But accountants need to break the habit of answering e-mail with e-mail, text with text, voicemail with voicemail. Every client query is an opportunity for an old-fashioned conversation. Try the phone. Get lunch.

Who knows what could happen?

Copyright 2010 AICPA
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Posted on February 8, 2010
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NY CPA Society Falls into Line on Mobility

Society Board Finally Endorses UAA Section 23 on Interstate Practice

The NYSSCPA Board of Directors has voted unanimously  to support Section 23 of the Uniform Accountancy Act, which would, if made law, allow out-of-state licensed CPAs to provide attest services in New York without having to notify the state or pay a fee as long as their home state is deemed to have licensing requirements “substantially equivalent” to those outlined in the UAA.

New York state has had a long and sometimes ambivalent relationship toward Section 23 of the UAA.   In 1999, the NYSSCPA first supported and legislators introduced an accountancy reform bill that included Section 23 UAA mobility.

“Differing requirements for CPA certification, reciprocity, temporary practice and other aspects of State accountancy legislation constitute artificial barriers to interstate practice and mobility of CPAs,” sponsoring legislators said in their memorandum of support for the 1999 bill.

However, the effort failed and continued to do so for as long as the provision was included in the subsequent accounting reform bills over the next nine years, according to NYSSCPA.ORG.

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Posted on February 8, 2010
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Peace Treaty Signed at H&R Block’s McGladrey Units

RSM McGladrey and McGladrey & Pullen Finalize Definitive Agreements

via PRNewswire

RSM McGladrey, Inc., one of the nation's leading accounting, tax and business consulting firms, and McGladrey & Pullen, LLP (M&P), an independent, partner-owned public accounting firm, have signed definitive agreements to continue their decade-long business relationship. The two firms previously announced their intention to extend their collaboration subject to this definitive documentation.

Andrews

“With the completion of these agreements, our focus is on moving forward and building the success of our respective firms by enhancing client service and accelerating growth,” said C.E. Andrews, president of RSM McGladrey, a wholly-owned subsidiary of H&R Block. “We have a clear opportunity to enhance our competitive position by taking the collaboration between our firms to a new level.”

Scudder

“We now have the framework to build on our heritage of delivering the highest quality services to all our clients, while providing growth opportunities for our people and ensuring the independence of M&P,” said Dave Scudder, managing partner of McGladrey & Pullen. “We look forward to increased collaboration with RSM McGladrey and the renewed sense of enthusiasm and commitment that both firms have brought to this process.”

More here: RSM McGladrey: “The sharks are swimming”

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Posted on February 7, 2010
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Five Quick Tips for Surviving Change You Didn’t Ask For

Change, in business as in life, doesn’t always happen the way we want it.

It’s at those times when we may need some help. Here, from “change expert” M.J. Ryan, author of “Adaptability,” are a few helpful thoughts…

1. Focus on the solution, not the problem. Because society rewards analytic thinking, we believe that identifying the cause of our troubles is the answer: Why is this happening? That’s a starting point, but don’t spend too much time there. What are you going to do about where you are?

2. Because feeling in control is so crucial to resilience, and unasked-for-change can leave us feeling very out of control, try asking yourself this question during the day: What am I free to choose right now?

3. What if you don’t believe you have the confidence or talent to find a solution? Pretend you do. Turns out that “fake it till you make it” has validity in brain science—the thoughts you hold and actions you take really do create new pathways in your brain. “As we act, so we become,” as Sharon Begley puts it in Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain.

4. Find things to laugh about. People who thrive during change work their funny bones. Says psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Thrivers’ happiness is not dependent on external factors or life circumstances alone. It derives from their chosen state of consciousness and ability to cheer themselves up when things are looking down.” Laughter has been shown to relieve stress, lower blood pressure, and improve breathing as well as mood. Best of all is when we can laugh at ourselves for not being perfect or when we hit some road block in the direction we wanted to go. It helps us stay lighthearted and resourceful.

5. Celebrate success along the way, no matter how small: a new connection, a possible lead, a small savings. Give yourself credit for moving forward in a difficult situation. At the end of the day, look at what you’ve done and celebrate whatever accomplishment you can. Celebration creates positive energy and forward momentum.

Read the rest of the list by Change Expert MJ Ryan.

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Posted on February 7, 2010
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Top Five Ways to Get Sued

Camico, the California-based malpractice insurer, describes five ways CPA firms can increase their exposure to lawsuits and what preventative measures to take.

Highlights:

1. Accounting rules: While accounting rules don’t require certain procedures, e.g., confirmation of information in a compilation engagement, juries may not take that rule into consideration. So if something doesn’t seem right to you, it is best to do some probing and make sure it is right. Then be sure to document it and communicate it.

2. Documentation: If you advise a client to take certain steps, or to avoid certain actions, put it in writing and send it to the client. Juries may conclude that if the advice was not written, it was not given.

3. Partnering with clients: Investing in client ventures can backfire. If the venture sours, juries may believe the CPA did not act in the client’s best interest. Disclosure of the conflict of interest may not help, especially if the client’s acknowledgment was given without the advice of its attorney. And be sure to check with your insurance company to see if its policy excludes losses on these kinds of ventures.

4. Advising both sides of dispute: Avoid doing this. One side may assert that the CPA favored the other.

5. Suing to collect fees: This often precipitates a countersuit by the client. And your insurance policy might not cover it.

Source: Camico via CPA Leadership Institute.

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Posted on February 6, 2010
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Accounting Adds 9,400 Jobs in January

BLS reports workforce at seasonally adjusted 930,500.

January’s 930,500 roster represents a seasonally adjusted gain of about 10%, one of the largest month–to-month changes in recent memory.

January’s gain followed a 2,700-jobs gain in December, to 918,4000, a figure which remained relatively unchanged in the BLS’s monthly revisions.

On a not seasonally adjusted basis, January’s accounting and bookkeeping services payroll advanced to 1.035 million from, 925,600 in December.

Overall, the U.S. unemployment rate fell from 10.0 to 9.7 percent in January, and nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged. Employment fell in construction and in transportation and warehousing, while temporary help services and retail trade led in job growth.

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Posted on February 5, 2010
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Size Matters: Three Ways Larger Monitors Boost Productivity

Bigger is better. Speed is second best.

In “Upgrading the Human Component for Increases in Human Performance,” Professor Robert Ball, PhD, says, “It is often assumed that the faster our computers operate, the more productive we will be. However, is that assumption true?”

The answer is “No.” More screen real estate is more important to productivity than faster computers.

Citing peer-reviewed research, Ball cites three reasons:

Read more

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Posted on February 5, 2010
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