Chase Birky: Overcoming Paralysis by Analysis

Be the author of your own story and chart a path not subject to the control and opinions of others.

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Transformation Talks
With Bill Penczak
Center for Accounting Transformation

Center for Accounting Transformation
Center for Accounting Transformation

Entrepreneurs in the accounting profession are rare, according to Chase Birky, president and CEO of Dark Horse CPAs. And he should know.

He had to take an uncomfortable step outside of his own comfort zone to become one.

MORE: Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset | O.D. Lanier: Stepping Into Advisory | From Tax to Transformation | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory | Four Strategies for a Future Ready Firm
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After starting out in audit at a Big 4 right out of college, he decided it was no longer what he wanted to do.

“I started an audit specifically, you know, not really having a great idea of what audit truly was, you know, because you take the courses in your undergrad, and you know, you have a section of it on the CPA exam,” Birky explained. “But what that material is versus what the job is, you know, are two very different things.”

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Get the Most Out of Your Client Meeting

woman listening to man across deskBONUS: A case study of what NOT to do.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

“We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality.” Ayn Rand

The reality is that the robots and AI are here, and they will eventually take over much if not all of the day-to-day work that is typically done by a human interacting with a computer. You may not like it, but you cannot avoid it. So utilize robots to make your life easier.

MORE: Why BOS Calls for Flat Rates | Four Steps for Controlling Source Documents | How to Use OneNote to Create a Firm Playbook | How to Develop Procedures for BOS | Top Tech Tools for Building Your New BOS Business | Choose Your Little Black Dress of Technology
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Prepare for Your Meeting

Do your homework before going out to the client’s office. If this is an existing client where you have been doing standard compliance work, review the data in their accounting program and make sure you are working with up-to-date information. If this is a new back office support prospect, ask to review their accounting data before going out to their offices. If they are not open to this, it may require an extra visit. The steps below assume you have either worked on the client’s accounting in some capacity, or you have had the opportunity to review the accounting files.
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Heather Smith: Try Not Growing Your Business

Heather Smith: We are the oxygen for the businesses around us.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr for CPA Trendlines

Heather Smith has loved accounting since she was 14 and loves the flexibility the profession offers. Since the mid-2000s she has been one of the original cloud accounting nomads, with an accounting business that she says fits in a lovely Italian handbag.

MORE: Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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In 2022, the ANISE Consulting founder based in Brisbane, Australia, demonstrated that nomadic lifestyle by attending all three live Xerocon events: London, New Orleans and Sydney. Heather is a tireless advocate for her small business clients and a fan of technology to improve our lives, including staffing. READ MORE →

Public Accounting as a Business, 101

Two men at whiteboardKnow your profession.

By Marc Rosenberg
How to Bring in New Partners

“Engaging your employees – involving them in the business – can drive revenue growth. An educated workforce can also make better decisions, work more efficiently and seize opportunities faster. Teaching your employees to be smart businesspeople can be a big investment, but it’s one that can have a significant return.” – Keith Lamb, Inc. magazine

MORE: Nuts and Bolts of Mentoring Staff | It Shouldn’t Take So Long to Make Partner | Three Types of Skills You Need to Become a Partner | Seventeen Basic Expectations of Partners
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Personnel in any organization, from widget manufacturers to hospitals to baseball teams to charities, work with more enthusiasm and commitment when they genuinely feel part of the organization. When people understand how they fit into the overall scheme and what their role is and grasp the essentials of how the organization operates, they produce higher quality work and are more energized. CPA firms are no exception to this rule.
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Why BOS Calls for Flat Rates

Timesheets are used, but for tracking productivity.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

Let’s get to the big questions that confound professional service providers of all types in today’s tech environment:

  • How do I charge my client for these services?
  • How do I continue to get paid?
  • How do I charge hourly for processes that will be taking less and less time because of the application of technology?

MORE: Four Steps for Controlling Source Documents | Why You Need Standard Naming Conventions | How to Develop Internal Procedures | Workflow Tools Can Deepen Client Relationships | Going Viral: Today’s Top Marketing Strategies | Which Kind of Team Do You Have? | Meet the New BOS | Why AI Is Not the Enemy
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Fixed Pricing

Flat-rate billing is the logical choice for back office support (BOS) services. This fixed pricing is typically used for monthly recurring work. We can do this by knowing how long it takes to create any given transaction. There will be swings in time, but the idea is that the fixed monthly rate considers the busiest season or months for the business. That way, on less heavy months, you receive the same rate and it makes up for the times when the workload increases.
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16 Steps to Creating a Partnership Path

BONUSES: 12 questions to ask staff about the future. Advancing from staff to senior to manager.

By Marc Rosenberg
How to Bring in New Partners

“I think nothing is more important than what a firm does to create partners. I mean from Day 1 of someone’s career. Or maybe when a person is identified as a star. It’s critical what the firm does to nurture that person so that they become a partner someday.” – Harry Steindler, partner, MichaelSilver (Chicago)

MORE: Nine Ways to Measure Staff Performance on the Path to Partner | Three Types of Skills You Need to Become a Partner | Seventeen Basic Expectations of Partners | Nine Ways to Woo a Prospective Partner
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Here is what the best firms do to create a path to partnership. These practices are not ranked strictly, but items at the top of the list are more common and effective than those toward the bottom. However, all the items are important.
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How Do You Value Your Most Important Asset?

Yes, your employees.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Skills, abilities and experience are the elements recruiters use to assess candidates who come before them. But what is interesting is despite a skill set playing  a dominant role in the value that an employee brings to the organization, it may not be recognized as such. This is not a new concept. I came across research conducted in 1918 by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center.

MORE STEVE SACKS: How to Build a Winning Proposal | Six Ways to Fix Your Firm Agreement | The Great Resignation or a Reshuffling? | Listen to Learn | Build the Framework to a Solution with Five Answers | Try for Success, Not a Win
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The study discovered that almost 95% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills (better referred to as life skills ) and people skills, while  only 5% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge — hard skills.

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How Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars

Three young people working in an officeGetting creative can bring in better talent and better clients.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

One afternoon, the partner group of our outsourced accounting practice met for a state of the practice meeting conducted by our director of outsourced accounting. Our prior director left and we were looking for someone when one of our newbies asked if he could be considered.

MORE: Easy Ways to Avoid ‘Done But’ Tax Returns | Six Ways to Create a Millennial-Friendly Firm | Do You Know Your Turnaround Time? | Why Hiring Out of School Works | Leadership Growth is a Two-Way Street | Quiet Quitting: Are Employers Culturally Aware? | How to Guide Students into Accounting | Three Strategies to Keep Emerging Leaders Engaged
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The 25-year-old had one year of experience, and we were chasing a controller-type person. The whole outsourced practice was in shambles. Revenue was nil and any clients we had were unsatisfied.
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