May 2015 - Page 4 of 5 - CPA Trendlines

Even Partner Agreements Must Face Death

May 7, 2015

5 life insurance questions you should consider.

By Marc Rosenberg
Retirements & Buyouts

Issues related to the death of a partner should be addressed in the firm’s partner agreement. Consider the following:

Does the firm wish to accelerate vesting in any manner? Does the firm wish to accelerate the payment frequency, vesting or both? Partners are often tempted to be generous out of sympathy for the deceased partner’s family. What stops them from acting on this generosity impulse is the cold reality of how expensive this is. As a result, most firms treat death the same as an ordinary retirement.
What must be done to assign the deceased partner’s clients to other firm members and to retain the clients?
To what extent does the firm want to purchase life insurance on the lives of some or all of the partners? If they opt to purchase the insurance:

MORE ON RETIREMENT: 6 Ways to Leave a CPA Firm (Retirement’s Just 1) | How to Juggle Tax Considerations for Partner Retirement Benefits | Two Ways to Retire, and One’s Not Pretty | Mandatory Retirement? 4 Reasons The Firm Comes First | How to Transition Clients from Retiring Partners | Retirement Vesting: The Devil’s In the Details | Eat What You Kill? Then Maybe ‘Book of Business’ Is for You

4 Reasons Women Hold Themselves Back

May 6, 2015

By Ida O. Abbott

They have to see politics as leadership to get ahead.

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

Many women are uncomfortable calling attention to their achievements and ambitions, dislike politics, have difficulty asking others for a career boost or underestimate the importance of powerful backers. This makes it harder for potential sponsors to recognize how worthy these women are of their support.

Some women hurt their own chances for sponsorship by failing to let sponsors know what they want and why they merit it. Sponsors are drawn to star performers who display confidence and a drive to succeed. Where a man might insist he is the right person for a job and ask to be promoted, a woman who is equally or even

better qualified may downplay her qualifications for the job. Instead of aggressively pursuing promotions and opportunities, she waits to be asked, and then, when asked, may turn the offer down. Why?

MORE ON SPONSORING WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP: Bias About Women with Families Lingers | Judged on Performance, Not Potential? Must Be a Woman | Gender Bias Still a Problem | 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 PC Monitors, More Is Better

May 5, 2015

By Roman H. Kepczyk

No, just one 40-inch monitor won’t do… and three reasons why.

By Roman H. Kepczyk
Quantum of Paperless

The best place to start the discussion on hardware is with monitors as it is the easiest place to see an immediate return on your IT investment. Your monitors are your windows into all digitally stored information and are the foundation for improving every aspect of firm production.

https://cpatrendlines.com/shop/qop/ — Learn more

MORE ON TECH SPENDING: Make Virus Protection a No-Brainer | 3 Steps to Truly Reliable Backup | Moving to the Cloud? Do These 6 Things First | 4 Steps to Save On Hardware Spending | In a Pinch, Use Your Phone as a Scanner | Do You Have 3 Computer Monitors? Why Not?

Transitioning tax production processes from physical to digital requires that all input screens and source documents be simultaneously viewable in a convenient format, which today means more screens per workstation.

Yes, You Should Send Rejection Letters

May 4, 2015

By Edward Mendlowitz

Some people expect them…and say so.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

QUESTION: Do you recommend sending rejection letters to someone I interview and do not hire?

RESPONSE: Yes. Early on I did not send them, but when email came more universal, we sent them messages that way. Now we use postal mail and send the letter on our letterhead. We feel it is more courteous and respectful. The letter is similar to this:

When Your Business Card Works Against You

May 2, 2015

By Sandi Smith Leyva

Are you making any of these 12 common errors?

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

The lowly business card: We don’t give it a second thought before we get the thing printed up, and we just do what everyone else does.

Many people, new in business, get the business cards printed before they’re really ready to, which causes many of the mistakes I list below. Experienced or new, you’re missing huge opportunities to let your business card take some of the work off your shoulders. We may take it for granted, but I feel that your business card is one of your most important pieces of marketing collateral – and the most underutilized.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: 10 Ways to Ruin a Website | 4 Steps to Weather Any Economic Storm | 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

Here are my suggestions for how to get your business card working as hard as you do. If you want to play along, pull out your business card, and see if your card is guilty of any of these first four no-no’s. READ MORE →

ON SCENE: New York Accounting Show

May 1, 2015

By Rick Telberg

The season’s first big confab, Flagg Management’s 7th Annual New York Accounting Show & CPE Conference, attracted throngs to a midtown hotel April 29-30, where CPAs caught up on CPE, chatted up vendors and hobnobbed with luminaries. More Flagg-managed shows … Continued

The Tech Risks Accountants Would Rather Ignore

May 1, 2015

By Rick Telberg

New study reveals widespread weaknesses in accounting firm technology strategies.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research

Accountants aren’t known for their risky decisions. Quite the opposite, in fact. In most things, accountants are paragons of caution and care.

That’s, “in most things.”

But as the “Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey,” published by CPA Trendlines, shows again and again, accountants are taking sometimes potentially disastrous risks with their firms and – worse – with their clients. READ MORE →

You’re Radically More Than You Realize

May 1, 2015

By Jody Padar

Are you guilty of random acts of consulting?

By Jody Padar
The Radical CPA

To me, the most trusted business advisor is the small business advisor. That’s what my customers see. My firm serves small businesses from the ground up to $10 million. Yes, we look at their numbers, but practically speaking one gains a lot when you’re in their financial underwear drawer.

Most of our conversations are around their questions. It’s a natural extension of the work we already do – financials, taxes, payroll, cash flow and forecasting.

MORE RADICAL CPA: 5 Radical Transparencies; Are You Ready? | 4 Questions Radical Firms Must Face | 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

These people are not asking complex tax questions. They’re asking about IT, human resources, general licensing and for help with some decision-making. We’re small business consultants.
READ MORE →

Monthly Archives: May 2015