By Ed Mendlowitz, author of “Implementing Fee Increases“ Question: I haven’t raised my fees in three years. How do I suddenly go about it now and how much should I raise them? Also, I have many business clients where the individual returns are done as part of the yearly service with extra billing. How can I start charging for this?
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The main categories of information for internal communications and management. By Bruce W. Marcus Professional Services Marketing 3.0 While the substance of information varies from firm to firm, there are 10 categories that cannot go unconsidered:
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Lessons from the best-managed firms. By Marc Rosenberg Author of “CPA Firm Management and Governance: The Managing Partner’s Guide to Running a CPA Firm Like a Business.” Baby boomer partners are rapidly approaching retirement age, resulting in a dramatic increase in new managing partners at firms. In fact, CPA Trendlines estimates that up to 25% of multi-owner firms are operating under managing partners who are relatively new to the job, with tenures under three years. And over the next five years, one-third of multi-owner firms will undergo a change in ownership and/or control.
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Why some firms decide they don’t want a true managing partner. By Marc Rosenberg, CPA Author of “CPA Firm Management and Governance” Over the years, I have found that many firms lack a clear understanding of what a Managing Partner is. Often, it’s a negative conception, caused by a bad experience at their current firm or a previous one. So, to avoid a repeat of these bad experiences, the partners decide either not to have a MP or to provide for the MP position with greatly limited authority and responsibility. More on CPA firm leadership and management: When Is It Time to Shift Your Firm from Partnership-style to Corporate-style Governance? • De-Bunking the Myth about Niche Marketing for Tax and Accounting [...]
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First: Are your fees high enough? by Ed Mendlowitz, CPA Author of “Implementing Fee Increases” and “The Tax Season Opportunity Guide.” Increase your fees 3-5% at a minimum – to offset your increased costs. Deliver your bill with the return. Call clients before return is sent to explain and give a heads up for unexpected results.
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Get the full report in an instant download. [Free to PRO members.] Driven by improving economic circumstances, the Big Four are geared for revenue growth of 5% to 8% in 2013, with particularly good performances expected in advisory, Asia and even North America.
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Choose intelligently and avoid problems later. by Marc Rosenberg, CPA What characteristics do you want someone to possess before you invite them to be a partner? Related: Compensation Issues for the New Managing Partner | 20 Decisions for Your Firm’s New Partner Compensation Committee | Three Ways to Break Partner Gridlock in an Accounting Firm | What Partners Are Entitled To, and What They’re NOT Entitled To | How to Make Partner? | Why Accounting Firm Partners Are “Popping Prozac like M&M’s” | More…. Leading firms across the country generally choose from the following:
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Top 40 firm networks show gains worldwide. via http://www.vrl-financial-news.com LONDON — A new world accounting survey reports that there has been a marked improvement in the performance of firms and firm networks since 2009, and Deloitte superseded PwC as the world’s largest professional services network for the first time. “This year’s survey shows definite improvement, with only four networks failing to grow revenue, which is a complete turnaround in fortunes from last year,” says Arvind Hickman, editor of the International Accounting Bulletin, which compiled he survey. “Revenue growth for networks increased 2 percent. However the revenue growth of associations contracted 2 percent.”
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…then your CPA firm may be below average. Sageworks, a Raleigh, N.C.-based business analytics software provider, reports in Forbes that CPA firms may just be the most profitable business an entrepreneur can choose. The offices of CPAs tops a list of 20 other industries, with an average pretax margin of 17.1%. Wired communication carriers (transmission-line operators and the like), with a 10.1% margin, rank 20th. “Industries which provide need-to-have solutions rather than nice-to-have solutions tend to do better,” says Sageworks founder Brian Hamilton. The data are drawn from financial statements on nearly 300,000 companies, most with under $10 million in annual revenue, and bucketed by five- and six-digit North American Industry Classification System codes. The figures were gathered between 2000 [...]
10 tips from one of Houston’s fastest-growing firms. by Rick Telberg While some other CPA firms have been immobilized by fear and uncertainty in this economy, Houston, Texas-based MaloneBailey has been charging ahead with a new managing partner, a new marketing manager, a daring acquisition on the other side of the country and new growth on the other side of the globe. “We’ve taken this time to become more focused on our strategic plan and our marketing plan so that we are better prepared to rebound as the economy improves,” according to Managing Partner Wesley Middleton. But there’s more to Middleton’s plans for MaloneBailey than that. The firm is unusual in several ways. MaloneBailey garners about 80 percent of its [...]
Is today the right time to invest in new processes and grab some good talent? While some accounting firms struggle in the economic downturn, others are finding new opportunity for growth, profit and investment, according to Teresa Mackintosh, senior vice president in charge of the tax and accounting software unit at Thomson Reuters. Local accounting firms, she says, are “the fabric of America.” They’ve been through as much uncertainty and turmoil as many of their clients. But Mackintosh says some savvy firms can seize this period as “an opportunity to double down on process and to hire staff.” More video from Mackintosh: The Client of the Future for Accounting Firms: Demographics Shifts Aren’t Just about Staffing. Clients Are Changing Too. [...]
CPA Mike Ramos sees government policies moving the economy in a new direction. This will affect your clients’ business — and their business needs. Your opportunity is to provide a service to address those changing needs. Four promising areas to consider: 1. Tax planning and compliance: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — dubbed the stimulus package — brought major changes to the tax code. So does the Obama administration’s budget. The tax code overhaul offers significant opportunities in tax planning and compliance. 2. Services for state and local governments: Firms skilled in audits of state and local governments and the requirements of OMB Circular A-133 are well positioned to expand their practice. The ARRA’s reporting requirements go far [...]
RSM McGladrey and McGladrey & Pullen Finalize Definitive Agreements via PRNewswire RSM McGladrey, Inc., one of the nation’s leading accounting, tax and business consulting firms, and McGladrey & Pullen, LLP (M&P), an independent, partner-owned public accounting firm, have signed definitive agreements to continue their decade-long business relationship. The two firms previously announced their intention to extend their collaboration subject to this definitive documentation. “With the completion of these agreements, our focus is on moving forward and building the success of our respective firms by enhancing client service and accelerating growth,” said C.E. Andrews, president of RSM McGladrey, a wholly-owned subsidiary of H&R Block. “We have a clear opportunity to enhance our competitive position by taking the collaboration between our firms [...]
Grant Thornton International’s revenues drop 9%. But the real news is that for the first time the US and UK combined make up less than half of GTI’s fees. That’s “hardly surprising given the crisis everyone has been grappling with,” Gavin Hinks writes at Accountancy Age: But its the shift in the balance of power that is fascinating. China and Hong Kong has for the first time become one of GTI’s top ten performing territories… Are we looking at a time when those territories are so successful that GTI has to run the organization out of Beijing? HSBC’s chief executive Michael Geoghegan has just relocated to Hong Kong to be closer to the bank’s center of main interest. How long [...]
How to get started… now. Practice management consultant Steve Erickson is on a quest to improve profits at CPA firms. Here are five ways you can get started today: 1. Drive monthly revenue and production goals by managing weekly performance by partner, employee and job. 2. Modify the budget for changes and unforeseen events that invariably happen. 3. Schedule! Schedule! Schedule! Resource management has never been more important. On average the loss of 20 minutes per day per person represents over 5% of your net revenue. The little things have a huge impact on profitability. Keep people scheduled and working. 4. Make sure everyone in the firm knows their assigned roles and responsibilities. 5. Revisit your plans regularly and adjust [...]
Total fees fall 7%. A compilation of the Big Four accounting firms’ latest annual results shows the global economic slowdown abruptly reversed five straight years of double-digit revenue growth.
Jackson Hewitt’s key bank has reportedly cut off most of the money it used for tax refund loans. Regulators ordered Santa Barbara Bank & Trust to stop providing the loan money, which covered about 75 percent of Jackson Hewitt’s financial products program, according to a regulatory filing by Jackson Hewitt reported by Bloomberg. Shares of the company, the No. 2 tax preparer behind H&R Block, dropped $1.34 to $4.50 on Thursday. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency told Santa Barbara Bank & Trust on Dec. 18 that the lender would not receive regulatory approval to originate the refund anticipation loans in 2010, according to a statement from the bank’s parent, the Pacific Capital Bancorp. A bank spokesman, Tony [...]
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