By Ed Mendlowitz
“Tax Season Opportunity Guide“
QUESTION: I have many clients who always expect me to do extra work as part of our fixed fee agreement. How can I get paid extra for work beyond the scope of our agreement?
RESPONSE: This is a recurring theme, and one that has many answers. One approach: Don’t take on the extra work.
Here is another approach. READ MORE →
And the difference between smaller firms and larger firms.
By Marc Rosenberg
Author of How to Bring in New Partners
Maybe you’ve noticed this too: Many midsize and larger firms retire partners at one times annual fees or less, while smaller firms are often sold for well over that.
How can you reconcile those two very different valuations? The answer, of course, is in the math.
Here are the nine essential calculations… READ MORE →
Make the leap from accountant to consultant.
By Gale Crosley
Crosley Co.
Admit it. You’re good at what you do. Your clients trust your proven ability to help improve their businesses. Perhaps it’s time to take the step of enlarging your vision of yourself from accountant to consultant.
Also, PCAOB plans investigation into the Big Four return to consulting.
Talking bluntly to CPAs, the chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said:
“The public has trouble discerning the difference between one audit and another. With little information about particular audits, a conventional wisdom is gradually developing that the audit is largely irrelevant to the investment process today.”
In addition, Chairman James Doty raised questions about CPA firms’ increasing involvement in consulting as a potential conflict of interest. “What will firm management do to meet the compensation and cultural challenges that destabilized Arthur Andersen?”
The move toward consulting was spotlighted in October when PwC agreed to buy management-consulting firm Booz & Co. in an effort to beef up its consulting capabilities.
Moreover, Doty questioned: READ MORE →
Dealing with dysfunctional partners: The six-step process.
By August Aquila
Creating the Effective Partnership
As much as you would like to, you cannot ignore them; nor can you accept them as they are. Doing that would be unfaithful to your core principles and ultimately cause more harm to the firm than any one of them is worth.
That leaves us with three options: rehabilitate them, fire them or place them outside of the firm. But first, be sure it’s not you.
The IFRS Foundation says it has “solid evidence” that IFRS has already become the de facto global language for financial reporting in an additional 41 countries, bringing the total number of countries surveyed to 122.
Key findings based on all 122 jurisdiction profiles include: READ MORE →
Consumer demand creates an omni-channel buying experience.
By Webb Stevens
Avalara
How often do your clients tell you they aren’t very concerned about tax law and regulations? What they would rather know, in very simple terms, is their out-of-pocket tax liability, the accounting processes they have to change on their side, and how you, as the trusted advisor, can make all of this seamlessly happen. READ MORE →
By Ed Mendlowitz
“Tax Season Opportunity Guide“
QUESTION: What do you ask for when considering a merger?
RESPONSE: This is a “you show me yours and I’ll show you mine.” You should have this
information fairly well organized.
Also, look at it critically and try to imagine what a prospective partner would say, and how you would react if this were someone else’s information that were being presented to you.
Here’s a 23-item list: READ MORE →