by Marc RosenbergAuthor of What Really Makes CPA Firms Profitable? At a monthly roundtable of 25 managing partners from most of Chicago’s largest local firms, several highlights emerged, including insights into: Partner comp Non-equity partners Mergers The impact of not-for-profits on profitability Realization rates Increasing staff-to-partner leverage Collecting receivables
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by Bruce W. Marcus Professional Services Marketing 3.0 While some firms have explored the idea of client service groups, and leading thinkers like Patrick McKenna have been training firms in the concept for several years, few firms have developed the art and science of the team as successfully as the Washington-based law firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld. More for mid-size and large CPA firms: What We’ve Learned Since Accounting Marketing Was Legalized • Do Accounting Firms Really Want an ‘Image’? • What Accounting Firms Need to Learn from Personal Financial Planning Specialists • The Delicate Art of Positioning Your Firm in the Mind of the Prospect • Even a Random Disaster Can Be Controlled with Risk Management • [...]
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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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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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Options to grow your profits besides raising revenue and lowering costs. By Sandi Smith, CPA Accountant’s Accelerator Many accountants these days are anxious to hit the golden $100,000 mark this year. Others are interested in growing their revenues steadily and incrementally. Still others are focused on lowering costs, raising profits from that side of the equation. More for soloists and small firms: Seven Checklist Secrets for Turning Tax Season into Opportunity Season • How to Stay Energized, Upbeat, and Thinking Bigger through Busy Season • Seven Ways to Wow Your Prospect • Rev Up Your Revenue with These Two Daily Rituals • 10 Tips for Creating More Energy this Tax Season • Take a Cue from Venture Capitalists: Your Firm Needs a Brain Trust [...]
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Help them to do what you want. by Ed Mendlowitz Adapted from The 2013 Tax Season Opportunity Guide Providing instructions of what a client needs to do must be clear enough so that the client doesn’t call you to find out what to do. Sometimes taking an extra minute to lay out what the client should do can eliminate that call or indecisive moment a client might feel. The object of the instructions is to have the client do what you want them to do.
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Including a sample engagement letter. Question: Some of my clients are getting older and are becoming unable to handle their own financial affairs and I have been asked if I could assist them. What is involved and how do I charge for it? Ed Mendlowitz, VPA, PFS, ABV, responds: Many large firms provide “family office” services. This is a complete one stop financial service that helps clients manage their money, pay their bills, collect their dividends and interest, and make sure insurance isn’t cancelled, mortgage, car lease or condo fee payments aren’t skipped, and tax payments paid on time. More from Ed: Seven Ways to Increase Fees in 2013 | 10 Best Practices for Tax Season | Nine Healthy Things To [...]
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How many has your firm implemented? Veteran practice management consultant Marc Rosenberg has worked with over 700 firms in his now legendary career. He’s seen firms make money and lose money every way imaginable. As the author of “What Really Makes CPA Firms Profitable?,” he has come up with a 40-item checklist of profit strategies: 1. Strong management and leadership. 2. Strategic thinking and planning, including annual retreats and partner goal setting. 3. Higher billing rates; be a lower-volume/higher-priced shop. RELATED: De-Bunking the Myth about Niche Marketing for Tax and Accounting Firms • Practice Development Is No Longer an Optional Activity • 10 Good Ways the Achieve Partner Accountability • Pick Your Partners Right to Begin With • The [...]
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15 strategies for a first-time supervisor’s success. Here at CPA Trendlines, Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below. More from Ed Mendlowitz, The Practice Doctor Q&A: Why No One Listens to You | Fun Reads for Busy Season | When NOT to Offer a Free Initial [...]
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How to change your thinking to prevail over the toughest of circumstances Perseverance is a skill that anyone can learn to not only survive, but thrive through life’s curves. When adversity strikes, it’s not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you that has the greatest impact on your life. More for soloists and small firms: How to Win New Clients with a Freebie Strategy • The Success Secrets Women Already Know • Why You’re Missing Out on 98% of Your New Business Potential • The Missing Ingredient in Your Marketing That Will Make All the Difference • 3 Steps to Start Running on Millionaire Time • On the Road to a Stress-Free Life: Identify Your [...]
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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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And six rules for keeping partners happy and productive…
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Super-successful firms are experts at achieving one or more these…
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What Mickey Mouse can teach accountants about accounting…
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Now taking orders for the new edition…
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