Service

Readers Sound Off on Liberty, H&R Block Plans to Launch Bookkeeping Services

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Liberty Block logosNew strategic ally, or competitive threat?

Practitioners are actively debating the effects and impact of H&R Block and Liberty jumping into the bookkeeping business, as detailed by CPA Trendlines’ Hitendra Patil here.

“This is an opportunity to highlight quality,” says Wesley Middleton, head partner at Middleton Raines in Houston. “The only person who has something to worry about are those that are only focused on price.”

Not all practitioners agree in the discussion which began at CPA Trendlines and has spilled onto the 20,000-member CPA Trendlines Linkedin group. READ MORE →

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 →

8 Essential Ingredients for Your New Client Welcome Kit

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By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

How you welcome your new client can set the tone for a relationship that could last for years or in the worst of cases, just days. Start out on the right foot by looking super-organized (because that’s part of why we get hired anyway) and making it super-easy for a client to get on board with you. The best vehicle for this is a welcome kit. Here are eight things that should be in your kit at a minimum: READ MORE →

Sound Off: Accountants See Opportunity in Obamacare

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In Comments, it gets political.

By CPA Trendlines

Call it what you will – The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare – accountants are calling it opportunity.

When we asked recently, “What’s the future of the professional tax preparation business?” a number of respondents called out the Affordable Care Act.

“I think as ACA takes effect we will be busier than ever before,” said Jay D. Parks of Jay D. Parks & Associates, CPAs in Edmond, Okla. READ MORE →

How to Find New Clients on Social Media

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Study shows CFOs’ key interests and topics for conversation.

By CPA Trendlines

New research into chief financial officers’ habits on Twitter shows their favorite topics of conversation, how they describe themselves and their top sources of information.

Any one of those could be an opportunity to make a connection, maybe even make a new client, according to business development experts. 

READ MORE →

The 5 First Steps in Targeting Clients

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Ed Mendlowitz CPA The Practice Doctor Q and A

How to build a plan.

By Ed Mendlowitz
101 Questions and Answers for Managing an Accounting Practice 

QUESTION: I want to start growing my practice but am having trouble defining my target client.  I tend to accept every client I can and seem to have clients all over the place. Is there anything I can do to better target my “ideal” clients? 

ANSWER: To have a target client means you have a target. The target is the result of a plan. So, what is your plan?  READ MORE →