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Get Your Clients Talking About Retirement

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Man with briefcase climbing up ladder to top of giant piggy bankAre they over 50? Give them your counsel.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

This is a specific financial planning service that helps clients plan for their retirement. This involves calculating how much a client will have to retire on and how much he or she will need.

MORE: Use Constraints to Make Improvements | Ten Strategies for Smart Collections | How to React to Trends | Trends Are All Around Us | How to Prepare Business Plan Financial Projections | The Top 11 Financial Statement RatiosGoProCPA.com
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This work can take place one to two years before the expected retirement, or 15 to 20 years earlier. It depends on the client. You may also find yourself doing some quick calculations for a client in his or her early 50s who is being offered early retirement. Whatever the case, it is a matter of paramount importance to the client, and must be treated by the accountant as such.
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Yes, You Can Be an Outsourcer

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woman on video conference with four other peopleHow BOS work lets companies focus on what they do best.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

What do you want to do for your clients? Define it, implement it in yourself and build a team that wants to be a part of your defined image. Watch it grow, and adapt it to the changing times.

MORE: How Back Office Support Adds Value | AI Is Not Your Enemy
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Added knowledge and insights assist the client in taking future action on sustainability and growth of their company. Cooperation between the client, the account manager and the cloud AI makes this work in order to provide the space for advisory.
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Three Questions About Your Competence

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Confident businesswoman looking straight at cameraHow do others view your partnership readiness?

By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership

The Passport to Partnership study collated a number of responses in a conversational style.

MORE: Competence Is Step One of Seven | When Would-Be Partners Aren’t Candidates | Make Your Expertise a New-Client Magnet | Don’t Think of It as Selling | Experts: What It Takes to Become Partner | Where Is Your Next Money Coming From? | Your Website Promises. Do You Deliver?
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But two brief but succinct examples on the realities of how a firm assesses an individual’s “competence” for leadership are showcased really stood out:

  1. They need to explain technical data to me in a way that I know they understand.

  2. What kind of lifestyle does this person have outside of work? We’ll be looking at Facebook, Twitter, and Google to find out.

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Help Pros Become Experts through Thought Leadership

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Businessman smiling and talking on phoneBe certain to track results.

By Anthony Glomski and Russ Alan Prince
Your $5-Million High-Net-Worth Practice

An approach you can use and one that can strongly differentiate you from your competitors is to add value that helps the professionals reach their goals and become more successful. Some of the more viable approaches involve helping them become thought leaders and providing them with turnkey business development solutions.

MORE: Where to Find Wealthy Clients | How Everyone Can Win | Five Questions for Your High-Net-Worth Practice | Take Time to Tune Your Practice Goals | Nurture Referrals from Wealthy Clients | What Your Wealthy Clients Aren’t Telling You | Here’s Where Your Next $5 Million Is Coming From | Four Steps to a High-Net-Worth Practice | Three Ways the Wealthy Use Life Insurance | Help Clients Avoid Fallout from Personal Complications | Why Tax Planning Matters So Much to the Wealthy
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Adding value with thought leadership: Becoming a thought leader is one way just about any professional can become significantly more successful.
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Use Constraints to Make Improvements

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Scrambled thoughts enter man's head, straightened ones come outIf you want different results, you must change the system.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

Something is blocking the business from achieving its goal of making more money.

That something is what Dr. Eli M. Goldratt, one of the world’s most sought-after business leaders and authors, calls a constraint.

MORE: Ten Strategies for Smart Collections | Be Wary of Discounting Prices | Where Is Your Firm in Its Lifecycle? | Six Kinds of Loan Covenants | What’s More Profitable, Raising or Lowering Prices? | Insurance You Might Not Know You Need | Solos Need Plans for Death, Disability | You Don’t Need This, But Your Survivors Do
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A constraint is any element or factor that prevents a system from achieving a higher level of performance with respect to its goals. Goldratt developed the Theory of Constraints (TOC) to manage business systems better. It is a management philosophy of focusing on the system constraint.
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How Hacker-Proof Is Your Firm?

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Thieves always build a better mousetrap, so stay vigilant.

By Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA
On Cybersecurity for Accountants

In 2018, fraudsters posed as tax authorities and state accounting and tax professional associations. These were simple phishing attacks trying to get tax practitioners’ email usernames and passwords, allowing fraudsters to obtain client contact information and perform email-based password resets for other systems.

MORE:  Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | AI, OCR, NLP & CPAs: Oh My!   |  Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Dustin Wheeler: For Serious CAS Success, Hire Tech Teams | CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient | Donny Shimamoto Explains How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA Firms |  Staff Retention for Remote Workers | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory |  Ready for Non-CPA “CPA” Firms?
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The IRS reported seeing threats specifically targeting preparers in Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey and North Carolina. Additionally, the IRS received reports tied to a Canadian accounting association.[i]

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Five Ways to Overcome CAS Staffing Challenges

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number 5 drawn in sandQuestion your processes at every step.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

When we asked firms what is stopping you from offering client accounting services, their top response was that they don’t have the staffing.

MORE: Raise CAS Awareness Among Your Clients | Five Ways to Profit from CAS | CAS Is a Value Pitch | Accountants Are Perfect for Virtual CFO Roles | Raise Client Expectations with CAS
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The #1 CAS killer that emerged from the CAS survey results is, unfortunately, also the most misconceived perception. It is a myth.
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Four Ways to Prepare for New Business Development

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It’s going to take practice.

By August J. Aquila

I have often been asked, “What is the best way to prepare professionals to bring in new business?” I think the people who ask this question are trying to find an easy answer to a more complex issue.

MORE: Ten Keys to Marketing Success
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Unfortunately, there is no single approach that will do the job. Now having said that let me offer you the following four approaches.
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