CPA Trendlines

Are Your State Society Dues Worth the Money? [VIDEO]

Illinois CPA Society 2010 chair tells CPAs what your state society should be doing for you.

Sara Mikuta, CPA and CFO of Leaders Bank in Oak Brook, Ill., says “the role of the state society is to make sure we give you value for your dollar.”

We asked Illinois CPA Society CEO Elaine Weiss the same question and her answer sparked a flurry of spirited comments, pro and con, here.

She also had some interesting comments on why banks aren’t lending and how CPAs can provide real value. See the complete Mikuta interview here:
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Four Generations in the Workplace: Who Are They? What Do They Want?

And why can’t we all just get along?

So… here’s the fix: Succinct descriptions of the four distinct generations working side-by-side in the workplace along with their most significant values, as provided by author, speaker and consultant Ira S. Wolfe of Success Performance Solutions.

Get the INSTANT DOWNLOAD: (PDF, 45 pages), Excerpted from “Geeks, Geezers, and Globalization” by Dr. Ira S. Wolfe,
CLICK HERE: How to Manage Multiple Generations in the Workplace

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Should You Be the Boss?

Many CPAs dream one day of owning their own firm.

But are you cut out for the entrepreneurial life? Are you any good at it? And how do you improve? If “yes” to any of the above, then Congratulations! You could be one of the millions of people every year who take the plunge and start their ventures.

Daniel Isenberg, a professor of management practice at Babson College says he’s “learned in my own years as an entrepreneur that there is a gut level “fit” for people who are potential entrepreneurs. There are strong internal drivers that compel people to create their own business.

So he has developed a 20-question, 2–minute “Isenberg Entrepreneur Test,” below, to help you test your temperament for running your own business.

Just answer yes or no to each question, and at the end, count up your answers.

1. I don’t like being told what to do by people who are less capable than I am.

2. I like challenging myself.

3. I like to win.

4. I like being my own boss.

5. I always look for new and better ways to do things.

6. I like to question conventional wisdom.

7. I like to get people together in order to get things done.

8. People get excited by my ideas.

9. I am rarely satisfied or complacent.

10. I can’t sit still.

11. I can usually work my way out of a difficult situation.

12. I would rather fail at my own thing than succeed at someone else’s.

13. Whenever there is a problem, I am ready to jump right in.

14. I think old dogs can learn — even invent — new tricks.

15. Members of my family run their own businesses.

16. I have friends who run their own businesses.

17. I worked after school and during vacations when I was growing up.

18. I get an adrenaline rush from selling things.

19. I am exhilarated by achieving results.

20. I could have written a better test than Isenberg (and here is what I would change ….)

If you answered “yes” on 17 or more of these questions, Isenberg says you could have a future running your own practice.

via Should You Be An Entrepreneur?

The Power Of Charisma: Yes, It Can Be Learned

Charisma effectively deployed can have electrifying results.

According to Richard Wiseman, psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire, in England, you don’t need divine powers to be charismatic. He estimates that charisma is half inborn and half acquired, which means you have to be blessed with certain qualities at birth but you can also nurture and develop them.

He says every charismatic leader shares three qualities:

1. He or she feels emotions very strongly,
2. excites them in others and
3. is impervious to the influence of other charismatic people.

But exactly what do charismatic leaders do differently? Here’s a list of traits to learn from:

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Small Biz Turns to Web for New Growth

“Online presence” tops business strategies for this year.

Interestingly, a list of CPA firms’ plans wouldn’t look much different. See Accounting Firms Dive into Digital Marketing.

Do Your Clients Really Want to Talk to You?

Or would they rather text?

It may depend on their age. Or yours.

New data from Nielsen suggests that today’s Twenty-somethings text more than they talk on the phone.

Maybe it’s time to redefine the rules of office communications and client relations.

via Why We Never Talk Anymore.

Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth from Your State CPA Society? [VIDEO]

Here’s what CPAs should expect from their state association in these tough times.

Elaine Weiss, chief executive of the Illinois CPA Society, says the recession makes society membership never more important.

She acknowledges “the economy is tough” and says it’s essential that associations give “our members the guidance to run an effective business and then serve their clients.”

“Most important,” Weiss says during a break at the Midwest Accounting and Finance Showcase in suburban Chicago, “you have to help your members who are in economic crisis.”

See more clips from the interview here:

Partner Pay Off 3% on 1.4% Revenue Rise

Strong showing from midsized accounting firms through recession.

The soon-to-be-released Rosenberg MAP Survey of over 400 mid-market CPA firms is expected to show average net income per partner of $354,000, down 3% from the year before.

Marc Rosenberg

Marc Rosenberg, the creator and author of the survey for the last 12 years, said many partners are grateful it wasn’t worse.

Meanwhile firm revenues inched up a bare 1.4%. But the disparities between the high performing firms and the rest was pronounced, with 38% of firms reporting growth of 5% or more and 41% reporting a decline.

For 2010, firms are projecting revenue gains of 2.6%, with few expecting any declines, a considerable improvement over the latest year.

Will the profession get another Golden Age, like the period from 2002 to 2007 as the result of Sarbanes-Oxley? It’s possible.

“Whenever legislation changes,” Rosenberg said, “accounting firms clean up.” Even in recession, accounting firms have already been out-performing most of the rest of the economy.

Visit www.rosenbergsurvey.com to purchase a copy of the full report.

Four Tough Questions Facing Every Accounting Firm about Client Service

And dozens of possible answers!

At a recent staff workshop, there was a brainstorming session to answer some key questions about what constitutes excellence in client service. Four questions were placed on the table:

1. How can we make it easier for our clients to do business with us?

2. How do we meet and exceed expectations?

3. How do we overcome an attitude of indifference on our part towards the customer?

4. How do we make the workplace a more positive place to work?

Here are the results from the attendees. How many of these items could you deploy in your office?

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Is Your Firm’s Corporate Culture Getting in the Way of Great Client Service?

Developing excellence in client service requires a change in organizational culture.

Kevin Phillips, director of consulting services, ProHorizons Network Inc.

And culture change is very difficult.

As valuable as a brainstorming session might be in shaking loose new ideas, Kevin Phillips, director of consulting services at ProHorizons Network Inc. says it’s even better to identify just one or two behaviors that will move the entire organization in a new direction.

“If the firm is profitable, it is probably doing a lot of things right,” he says. “If the firm is human, there is probable one or two adjustments one could make to make it even more profitable. The trick is to identify them.”

To get at culture, Phillips recommends ask these questions:

1. What behaviors do we repeat over and over again out of habit that limits the quality of our customer service?
2. In what ways to do each each staff member feel constrained, limited or shut down? Where do these experiences overlap?
3. Who sets the cultural norm around here? And what benefit does the norm-setter gain at the expense of better customer service?

So before brainstorming begins, it might be helpful to invest some energy in really understanding the firm’s culture.

The Big Mistake CPAs Make in Client Service

How to find new success by shifting your firm’s focus from service-centric silos to client-centric goal-setting.

Most accounting firms believe they provide pretty good client service. And most of them are probably right. Until they hear Edi Osborne, a client-service evangelist.

Osborne

There are other firms that strive to deliver more than just satisfactory service. They are seeking to go a step further, something beyond merely satisfying clients, something akin to wowing clients. Perhaps they know what Bain & Co. consultant Fred Reichheld discovered in 1995: Even among clients who say they are perfectly “satisfied,” half will change providers anyway. Clearly, customer satisfaction is not enough. Something more is needed.

To be sure, more accountants today are focused on pushing fresh tax returns out the door than on esoteric discussions of client service. But it’s exactly when you have the client’s most ardent attention that you have a real opportunity to vault past mere satisfaction.

Read more….

Can Your Clients Tell if You Are Faking It?

Take this quick, 10-question quiz to find out.

Do you seek out opportunities to learn new things that will help your clients overcome their most difficult challenges?

Selling value-creation advisory services is truly a slam dunk with most modern business owners, according to Edi Osborne of MentorPlus. The bad news is that, although most CPAs would say they are their clients’ most trusted advisor, few could answer the following questions in the affirmative.

How well do you do on this quiz?

1. Can you name your clients’ biggest competitors and outline their key differentiators?

2. Have you ever accompanied your clients to one of their industry conferences?

3. Have you ever signed up for a business seminar for you and your clients to attend together?

4. Do you routinely read your clients’ trade publications?

5. Do you routinely read business publications, such as Inc., Fast Company, or Fortune?

6. Do you monitor the activities of your clients and their industry with Google Alerts, and send them a note or pick up the phone to acknowledge the press they have received?

7. Have you ever come across an article that speaks to your clients’ issues and sent it to them with a personal note?

8. Have you ever sent them a personal note? Maybe a birthday card? Maybe an anniversary card of the day they became a client?

9. Have you ever conducted an employee exit interview on behalf of your client?

10. Do you have a copy of your client’s strategic plan? Are you included in meetings where the client discusses overall business strategy?

If you haven’t scored a perfect “10,” clip and save this list in your pocket. You might be able to use it sooner than you think.

Teresa Mackintosh: The Client of the Future… Today [VIDEO]

Demographics Shifts Aren’t Just about Staffing. Clients Are Changing Too.

When it comes to bridging the generation gap, most accounting firms focus on what it means for their staff and their own firms.

But there’s another dimension to the demographic shifts that are bringing Gen X’ers and Millennials into positions of influence — the shifting client base.

In this 3:28-minute clip, Teresa Mackintosh, senior vice president and general manager for workflow and service solutions in the Americas Professional Division of Thomson Reuters’ tax and accounting unit, explains how those demographic trends are changing the client of the future.

Today, she notes, the workforce is made up of 48% Gen X’ers, 38% Baby Boomers, 10% Millennials, and a few Traditionalists. But that’s not at all the client base for today’s CPA firms.

According to data from Thomson Reuters, the aging client base is much more pronounced than the aging workforce.

“As a whole,” she says, “firms are not successfully serving that layer of younger demographic.” If firms don’t try to capture that generation today, she wonders, will they be there as a market in the future? “We really need to worry today about what clients will need tomorrow?”

More from Mackintosh here:

• Message to Accountants: Master the Pace of Change or Get Left Behind [VIDEO]
• How to Find Opportunity in the New Normal
  

See more videos at the YouTube CPA Trendlines channel here.

[March 13, 2010]

Client Service: The Only Thing That Matters Today

Steve Erickson, national consultant to CPA firms

Four ways to prove you’re serious about customer satisfaction.

by Steve Erickson
www.SteveEricksonLLC.com

Most partners in CPA firms tell me that client service is one of their primary concerns as work is often delivered at the 11th hour before a deadline or they have failed to meet their client’s expectations.

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43 Steps to Gold-Plated Client Service

Never lose a client again.

How do you dazzle a client these days?
Add your ideas in Comments

With client retention replacing the staffing shortage as the most troublesome issue facing CPA firms, it may be surprising that so few firms are taking a proactive approach to the problem. Certainly, many firms are stepping up client service levels, but Jerry Lopatka, managing principal at Dugan & Lopatka CPAs in Wheaton, Ill., is deploying a particularly systematic and disciplined program.

Jerry Lopatka, managing principal, Dugan & Lopatka CPAs, Wheaton, Ill.

“A year ago we started a renewed focus on client retention and business development,” he says. At the firm, they call it “Biz R&D”  for business retention and development.

Jerry sent us a 43-point list of tactics based on six broad strategies:

• Go the extra mile on the current engagement
• Increase the amount of client contact
• Build the business relationship
• Build the personal relationship
• Increase knowledge of client’s industry
• Increase knowledge of client’s business

“We try,” he says, “but we can always do better. As I often tell our employees – our good clients are on our competitor’s radar screen.”

Here’s the complete list…

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15 Reasons to Dump a Client

You know the type.

They’re the clients that keep you awake at night, bother you on weekends, and drive your staff crazy. They’re the clients you’d rather you didn’t have. Wouldn’t it be great to dump them and make them some other accountant’s problem?

But how do you spot a problem client before they swell into a catastrophe? Arvid Mostad, president of Mostad & Christensen, a supplier of marketing materials to accounting firms, outlines 15 habits of bad clients:

1. Slow paying or non-payment of fees.

2. Write-downs always exceed write-ups.

3. Client frequently complains about billings.

4. Client is unwilling to pay for added services.

5. Not profitable when compared to other clients.

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Eight Essentials for Measuring Client Service

Don’t wait until the end of the year to find out how well you are serving clients.

August Aquila, CEO of AQUILA Global Advisors, a full service consulting firm serving the accounting profession.

by August Aquila
AquilaAdvisors.com

You can ask clients at the end of the year about how well you met their expectations, but that does not give you any time to change your current modus operandi before year-end.

A better way is to have leading measures that tell you how you are doing during the course of the year.

Let’s look at eight.

1. Number of personal meetings with clients. If you meet if your key clients on a regular basis you will gather the necessary information to improve service and increase client satisfaction. Each partner should have specific goals to meet with clients. Feedback should be shared with all partners and changes and improvement in your service delivery system should be made during the year.

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