Monthly Archives: April 2015

3 Ways to Convert Scheduling Practices to New Fees

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Martin Bissett
Bissett

Practice these disciplines every day.

By Martin Bissett
Winning Your First Client

You may be thinking right now, “Well, very good, Martin, but we have finite time. We’re very, very busy people and we need to get business in the door, and therefore creation of opportunity becomes the issue.”

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MORE ON SELLING: Selling vs. Attracting to Build Relationships | When Selling, Don’t Chase New Fees, Attract Them | Selling Accounting Services Doesn’t Have to Be Hard! | ‘Selling’ Isn’t a Dirty Word | 8 Factors in Practice Development Success | In Sales, Perception Is Reality | Success Begins With Accountability | Do You Realize You’re Failing? | Winning Your First Client

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4 Questions Radical Firms Must Face

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Embrace the laws of disruption.

By Jody Padar
The Radical CPA

With revolutionary change, comes disruption. You knew that, right? The three laws of disruption say that:

  1. Disruption comes to us all. So, if you’re reading this, you’re going to be disrupted. Congratulations, that’s a good thing!
  2. Disruption comes because of changes in the product-market fit.
  3. There are only three methods to change the product-market fit.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Being Radical Is All About Your Customer | Being Radical Starts with Being the Change | Why Start Being Radical Now? | Going Radical: The 4 Tenets of a ‘New Firm’ | Why Should CPAs Be Radical? | The Roots of ‘Radical’ CPAs | The First 3 Questions I Should Have Asked Before Starting My Own Practice

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4 Steps to Weather Any Economic Storm

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Woman pulls pack storm page and reveals sunset.And 3 to avoid.

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

According to an article published in Harvard Business Review, three scientists, Ranjay Gulati, Nitin Nohria, and Franz Wohlgezogen, conducted a study to discover the strategies that generated the most – and the least – profits in lean times.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Want to Be Stress-Free? Use Your Strengths | ‘Time Problems’ Don’t Exist | Could You Use More Energy This Tax Season? | 15 Items for Your ‘Business Bucket List’ | 3 Ways to Plug Your Firm’s Money Leaks

First, here’s a list of surefire ways to kill your business:
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IRS Criminal Investigations Drop with Staff Cuts

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Chart of IRS staffing levels

Investigations are down 20 percent.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Despite high-profile victories in the Credit Suisse and Bank Leumi cases, the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division is struggling with lower staffing levels and a continuing decline in the number of cases pursued. READ MORE →

Two Ways to Retire, and One’s Not Pretty

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Older businessman taking a coffee breakThe graceful way to slow down and phase out.

By Marc Rosenberg
Retirements & Buyouts

There are two ways that partners slow down as they approach traditional retirement age:

Announced – the “cooperative” way to slow down. The partner openly and willingly informs the partners that she wishes to slow down. This change in status is usually related to the retirement process, but some partners who are not retirement-minded may wish to work less than full time in order to pursue other life goals.

MORE ON RETIREMENT: Mandatory Retirement Varies by Firm Size | How to Transition Clients from Retiring Partners | Retirement Plan Funding? What Funding? | Retirement Vesting: The Devil’s In the Details | When Retiring Partners Take a Specialty With Them | Three Ways to Calculate Goodwill Payable in Partner Buyouts, None of Them Great | The Multiple of Compensation Method, Fully Explained | Clients Leaving? Time to Reduce Retirement Benefits | Partners May Balk at Guaranteeing Retirement Obligations

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Unannounced – the “uncooperative” way to slow down. In these instances, the partner is either unwilling to cooperate with his partners in working out a sensible, fair phase-down period or is unaware that he needs to phase out of the firm.

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Busy Season 2015: Worse and Worser

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z tax 2015 better or worseAfter a bad year for many practitioners, watch for the consolidation and shakeout to come.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research

Before Busy Season 2015 had even begun, tax professionals were worrying most about the new rules and regulations they’d be facing, among them, the Affordable Care Act.

Join the survey; get the results

Indeed, so-called Obamacare loomed largely over the 2015 season, but practitioners found bigger problems with Form 3115, tougher competition and fee pressures. So much so, that a significant number of practitioners swore this tax season would be their last. And with merger season coming close on the heels of busy season, the profession should brace for a new wave of consolidation and shakeout, according to the CPA Trendlines analysis.

See Comprehensive Coverage of Busy Season 2015 READ MORE →

Gender Bias Still a Problem

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Businesswoman opens door to brick wall5 ways men receive preferential treatment.

By Ida O. Abbott
Sponsoring Women: What Men Need to Know

Gender bias reflects entrenched beliefs and assumptions about women based on stereotypes about appropriate roles and behaviors for women.

Unconscious thoughts about the kinds of work women are and are not suited for, especially if they are mothers, remove highly qualified women from consideration for leadership opportunities and positions.

MORE ON SPONSORING WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP: Why Women Are Overlooked (And How to Fix It) | 3 Ways Men Are Favored in the Workplace | Women Need Promotions, Not Just Advice | Mentor or Sponsor? How to Distinguish Roles | 4 Ways Women Leaders Improve Firms | CPA Firms Must ‘Man Up’ and Get Women On Board

In the past, working women suffered overt discrimination and explicit bias. They were told outright they were not “fit” for certain jobs, were too emotional and unreliable to be given responsible roles, and were taking the place of men who needed to support families. Sometimes the bias was ostensibly intended to “protect” women and occasionally it was hostile. But it was out in the open and women understood the barriers they faced. READ MORE →