Monthly Archives: January 2012

What Accountants Are Learning about Marketing

By

Ultimately, Professional Services Marketing 3.0 is a new kind of partnership.

Bruce W. Marcus

by Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

Today’s accountants understand that, unlike most other occupations, they must be active participants in the marketing process, at least as suppliers of grist for the marketing mills, and certainly as part of the ultimate selling process.

What’s more significant is that they begin to see the professionalism in marketing, and particularly the selling aspect of it.

READ MORE →

NEW SURVEY FINDINGS: Tech Investments, Better Economy, More Complex Returns Buoy Busy Season Outlook

By

Four in five expect the same or better  than last year’s busy season.

by Rick Telberg

As Busy Season 2012 gets into full gear, tax and accounting professionals are holding steadfast to their confidence that this year’s results could show a marked improvement over last year’s, according to current readings of the profession by CPA Trendlines.

With January 2012 just beginning, 55% of accountants expect 2012 to be overall  “somewhat” or “much” better than 2011, which is relatively unchanged from readings in November and December. To be sure, 26% expect no change from last year, and 19% are bracing for “worse.”

In other findings from the CPA Trendlines busy season barometer and related reports:

Complete findings are published in The CPA Trendlines Practitioner’s Tax Season Performance Review and Outlook Report. (Learn more here)

 

READ MORE →

Two Smart Ways to Keep the Marketing Engine Running During Tax Season

By

Two days of smart marketing that can actually benefit your practice for the rest of the year.

By completing just two marketing tactics in January, you will be able to “touch” clients, prospective clients and referral sources throughout busy season even if your schedule doesn’t permit face-to-face communication.  You will have been “seen and heard.”

Marketing consultant Debbie Andrews at Marketri, a Philadelphia-area marketing agency, says:

1. YouTube Video Series: Film 6-10 short video clips that contain (1) Planning advice and /or (2) Tax news / law changes.  These videos should be no more than 60-90 seconds in length.  When developing the material for your shoot, think about the many questions that you were asked by clients throughout the year.

READ MORE →

5 Success Tips for Tax Season

By

The eminent sage, August J. Aquila (right), has an eminently practical to-do list to help firm managers get ready for tax season. (RELATED: Click here for more about managing busy season.) 1. Prioritize issues and work on the low hanging … Continued

Will Overtime Lawsuits “Reform” the Big Four?

By

Entry-level auditors at KPMG win class-action certification.

A New York federal court conditionally certified a national collective action lawsuit that alleges that KPMG LLP violated the federal labor laws by denying thousands of entry-level audit employees overtime pay.

“Denying associates overtime pay is a problem among all of the Big Four accounting firms, not just at KPMG,” says attorney Justin M. Swartz. “We hope that this case, as well as audit, advisory, and tax cases against Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young will reform the accounting industry.”

READ MORE →