Consulting

Five Ways Your CAS Practice Traps You

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Know the pitfalls … and how to avoid them.

By W. Michael Hsu, CPA

Are you working tirelessly but not seeing the benefits and results you deserve? Essentially, do you feel trapped in the cycle of your business? If so, you’re not alone.

MORE: Review Your CAS: When, What, How | Be Serious About AI, Not Amused | How to Offer Proof to CAS Prospects | How to Market CAS to Existing Clients | 12 CAS Profitability Killers | How Weekly CAS Reports Help Businesses | CAS: Much More than Bookkeeping
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Many firm owners, as well as the entrepreneurs they serve, feel exhausted by their business, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

In this article, we’ll identify common signs that your business is trapping you, and show you how to optimize for freedom. By addressing these issues and implementing some simple strategies, you can reduce stress, achieve more and live a life you love.

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O.D. Lanier: Stepping into Advisory

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Transformation Talks: A leader at one of the fastest growing firms in the country describes transforming his career, pros and cons of building versus buying and the four (or five) steps to becoming a consulting firm.

 


Transformation Talks
With Bill Penczak
Center for Accounting Transformation

Center for Accounting Transformation

How does an accounting expert journey from audit and Big Four to starting his own firm and becoming a consultant? Odysseus (O.D.) Lanier, a founding partner of one of the fastest growing firms in the country, describes his start, why he left “boring” auditing (but why it is critical experience), as well as what he sees as pros and cons in building a consulting firm versus buying a consulting firm.

MORE on McConnell Jones: Five Global CPA Leaders: Four Survival Strategies

MORE VIDEOS & PODCASTS:  Why Doing Nothing Is Not an Option | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be Free| Private Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  |  Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Private Equity vs. the CPA Firm Partnership The FinTech Flood: Accounting Will Never Be the Same  |  Think Small to Think Big with Matt Wilkinson | Your Sales Tax Headaches Are Only Just Beginning | When Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey Schmidt  |  Can Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves? |  Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson |  Turning Client Service into New Revenue

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Why are CPAs moving from tax and audit to get into consulting? Lanier said the bottom line is that consulting is lower risk with a higher margin.

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Why Accountants Fail at Consulting

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Couple meeting with investment advisor.The move requires commitment and resources.

By Gary Bolinger

Most all CPAs in public practice talk about transitioning away from traditional compliance services to offer more advisory services.

MORE: Advisory vs. Low-Value Clients | What + Who Leads Firms to Better Service | How Accountants Are Profiting in Disruption | Ask the Right Question(s) | Seven Elements of Engagement for CPAs | True Advisory Work Isn’t Just Consulting
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When I have talked to firms in the past few years and I ask about percent of total firm revenues in A&A, tax and advisory, the percentage for A&A and tax constitutes a significant majority of total fees. But advisory alone is usually 10 percent or less.

Even then, those advisory consulting fees are generally closely tied to some aspect of compliance. So, I’m not sure that I would really say that’s advisory. So, with all the talk – for maybe the last 20 years – about the need to grow advisory revenues, why are the revenues so low in relation to compliance services?
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How to Offer Second Opinions

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Two people sitting across from each other at a deskIt’s an old service under a new consultant label.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

Second opinions are just that – an outside look at a client’s business or personal situation.

MORE ON MARKETING: Offering Elder Care Assurance Services | How to Counsel on Retirement Planning | Investment Clubs and How to Counsel Them | Offering Second Marriage Assistance | What You Need to Start a Financial Planning Discussion | Tax Projections: How and Why
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We used to call them second opinions and promoted them as such. We no longer do that, but offer this as a separate and distinct service or product such as we do for performance measurement services. We feel that the difference is how the service is marketed, not how it is performed for the client.
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36 Consulting Services You Might Be Overlooking

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business meeting of a woman and two menPlus 38 events that trigger those needs.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

In today’s business world, the greatest growth and margin opportunities for a CPA firm are in the consulting area, as clients outsource specialized skills to deal with business challenges that they cannot handle internally.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: How to Implement Industry Practice Groups | Why You Need Marquee Clients | Net Profits: How Much to Whom? | How to Drive Partner Performance with a Smart Compensation Plan | 3 Tools to Boost Your Metrics
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Presented below is a summary of the most typical CPA firm service offerings, together with opportunity triggers and market trends.
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Why I Became a Consultant

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By Ed Mendlowitz The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor While I was working full-time early in my accounting career, I was also picking up clients that I did on the side, also known as moonlighting. One of the clients was a … Continued

6 Ways to Move Beyond Compliance Services

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Dollar Concept, Financial Adviser Or Finance AdvisoryBecoming a ‘trusted advisor.’

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

Here’s a question: What portion of your revenues are derived from compliance work – e.g., tax preparation and IRS representation; bookkeeping; QuickBooks setup, cleanup and training; payroll; and audit work – versus value-added work, e.g., revenue improvement, business consulting, profit margin analysis and workflow improvement projects?

If you answered 100 percent compliance work and no value-added services, you’re not alone.  There’s a lot of lip service about moving from compliance services to becoming a “trusted advisor.” There’s an equal amount of confusion in how to get started.

Here are a few tips to help those of you who want to move in that direction. READ MORE →