Stop Looking for Talent that Does Not Exist

Change processes to pivot from people problems. 

By Jody Padar
The Radical CPA

If you’ve posted a job for an accountant in the past few years, you know people are hard to come by. The number of responses you received was likely down if you were lucky enough to find any at all.

MORE: Advisory Work Must Be Priced by Value, Not Hours | How Hard Do You Work to Keep Your Clients? | Four Things to Know About Social Media | Internal Communications Are Underrated | Four Things Better Than a Company Song | Let’s Lose the Word ‘Image’ | The Risk In Not Understanding Risk | What Your Marketing Program Can and Can’t Do | Nine Reasons That Prospects Say Yes | How Marketing Evolved to 3.0
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According to a recent AICPA Trends Report, the number of people graduating with a bachelor’s degree in accounting is down, and we’ve seen a steady decline since 2015. All this while half of U.S. CPA firms have increased the number of new graduates they want to hire. A lot of us are looking for staff that simply does not exist.

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Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life

Play the infinite game and 11 more takaways

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr for CPA Trendlines

“We’re ultimately in the people business. We’re in the relationship-building business. We just happen to do accounting.”

That’s how Clayton Oates, the founder of QA Business, views the accounting profession.

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Oates also believes accountants can choose whether they are playing a finite, zero-sum game with clients or the infinite game, which continues forever and results in an abundance forever mindset with clients, who will then be your clients for life. 

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Start Marketing Now for Next Season

No, it’s not too early to begin planning.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Marketing takes many forms. Further, many accountants are not trained in marketing. I also know that while most CPAs want more business, they are too busy with what they have to be actively seeking new business. Additionally, marketing can be external, internal or retentive.

MORE: 4 Reasons Not to Let Staff Go After Tax Season | Nine Keys to Success and Growth | What Kind of Accountant Are You? | COVID Tests Accountants’ Entrepreneurial Talents | Have You Gotten Where You Wanted Yet?
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External is where new clients are solicited. That takes effort, ingenuity, time and maybe even some money.
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Nine Keys to Success and Growth

Put them to work for you.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

What is needed for growth and success?

MORE: What Kind of Accountant Are You? | COVID Tests Accountants’ Entrepreneurial Talents | Help Your Clients and Yourself | 9 Overlooked Tax Season Resources | What’s NOT to Like about Tax Season? | Do Your Clients Feel Important?
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All these elements are essential:
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3 Questions for Determining Your Value

HandshakeHow necessary are you under Covid?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Know your value to your clients. Better, understand your business and what you really do and what you add to the client’s life.

MORE: Help Your Clients and Yourself | Ask This Before Clients Do | More Services for Your Tax Clients | Can Your Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | 5 Small Leaks That Can Sink a Tax Season | One Can’t-Skip Touch for Tax Season | 3 Steps to Tax Season Happiness
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I had a group of gastroenterologists as clients who were going to get into a business of inserting a gastric bubble into people’s stomachs. There were a number of issues to this.
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Ask This Before Clients Do

Stack of cards labeled with question marksPlus some suggested answers.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Here are two questions to ask yourself:

  1. Why should clients use you?
  1. Why should staff want to work for you?

MORE: 41 Items to Check on Business Tax Returns | 9 Overlooked Tax Season Resources | What’s NOT to Like about Tax Season? | Can Your Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions?
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You should be clear on the responses to the above two questions. If you can’t clearly articulate the reasons clients should use you and why staff would want to work for you, then why should they?
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5 Steps for Tax Season Success

Man talking to woman with checklistApply consistency to service, processes and standards.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

One way to guarantee extra work is to have everything always done differently each time it is done.

MORE ON TAX SEASON: Help Tax Clients Help You | 3 Steps to Tax Season Happiness | 12 Ways to Have More Fun This Tax Season | Bill with the Tax Return, Get Paid Faster
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Not establishing uniform procedures is bad business and unnecessarily consumes part of your life. Consistency in performance reduces work and review time and creates a greater reliance on the staff people.
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