Getting New Clients and Leveraging Technology Top List of Accountants’ Plans

top 5

Survey shows new sense of confidence – and urgency.

Get more updates: Join the survey; get the results.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

Tax and accounting professionals are hoping to make 2014 the year of working smarter, instead of harder, according to a new CPA Trendlines survey.

In general, the goals and objectives as described by more than 200 accountants suggest a new surge of confidence in their business and in their clients’ businesses, and a new sense of urgency in upgrading their practices or moving on.

The survey is part of a CPA Trendlines project, now in its eighth year, tracking the shifts in strategy and objectives in the profession. It measures sentiment on 21 or more strategies and tactics, and goals and ambitions across firms of all sizes nationwide. READ MORE →

When Should You Drop a Client?

The thought and calculation that goes into pruning a client list.

By Ed Mendlowitz

QUESTION: I want to clean out my client list of small tax clients because I am just too jammed during tax season, and don’t have enough business to hire someone. Should I just drop the lowest-paying 10% of my clients?  

RESPONSE: I never like dropping clients unless you just can’t stand them and are losing money on them and they never referred any new business to you. However, there are times when it is smart to prune your client list. 

Many times practices grow where you take every client that comes along. For some that is a good strategy. For others, the strategy could be to accept only the type of clients you feel you could service best and can get the right fees. We are in a personal service business and we make our money by the work we personally do or personally are responsible for and personally supervise. We literally give up part of our lives for the benefit of our clients (and also to make our living). Somehow the living comes – for some a little higher and for others a little lower, but it comes. It is the way we want to spend our time that we need to control. 

This starts with a clear assessment of your abilities and what gets you charged up, and where you think you can help clients the most, and for which they are willing to pay your fee based somewhat on the value of what you contribute to them. Regardless of when you started and how much you might have strayed from your original plan, you can always do an up-to-date assessment and start from that point going forward.  READ MORE →

What the Bitcoin Phenomenon Means for Accountants

It’s time to start to start thinking about the tax and accounting ramifications of digital, virtual currencies.

By Hitendra Patil
Pransform Inc.

Bitcoin is virtual currency much in the news these days. It’s peer-to-peer so there’s no central bank or government. But, because it necessarily represents income or asset, it needs to be accounted for and hence will have tax ramifications.

Accountants, the IRS and accounting software developers are starting to take it seriously. But in the absence of IRS rules specific to bitcoin taxability, accountants have to draw upon their knowledge of IRS rules that govern income, assets, capital gains or losses, and stock and bond transactions, and apply that corollary to bitcoin ownership and transactions. READ MORE →