Why Go PRO? Ask Mike
"We have decided to be more intentional in running our firm as a business and I’m interested in gaining the perspective of other firms and experts in our field."
Thanks,
Mike
Today's Features
How Core Values Affect Remote Work Culture
Do you have the right people?
By Jody Grunden
A company’s core values are the cornerstone of its culture, and people are the biggest asset a company can have.
MORE: 4 Ways to Bill Clients | 3 Ways to Keep Client Files Safe from Security Threats | How ‘Tech Stacks’ Can Help You Standardize | Automation and the Future of Accounting | The Rise of the Virtual CFO | Ready To Be a Virtual CFO? | The Only Three Metrics You Need to Measure Staffers
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
Defining your core values and hiring the right people is essential for the success of your business.
SURVEY: Workflow, Security the Biggest Tech Challenges
The 5 Keys to Success in Accounting Careers
Two ears, one mouth.
By Steven E. Sacks
Young professionals or those who will graduate college in the next few years should understand there are important ingredients to progress in their careers.
MORE: Who’ll Quit Next? | Make CRAP a Badge of Honor | The Job Interview: A Make or Break Proposition | 10 Elements to Balancing Shareholders’ Needs | A Leader’s Guide to Ending Entitlement | Performance Reviews: No Need for Teeth Pulling | Battling Staff Turnover | 7 Steps to Take As Your Firm Grows | How Enthusiastic Is Your Staff? | Can You Recite Your Mission Statement? | Your Firm’s Biggest Assets Walk out the Door Every Day
There are at least five principles you should follow to ensure you are moving ahead on the right track.
READ MORE →
How to Transfer Files Securely
Portals should integrate with your workflow software.
By Roman H. Kepczyk
Quantum of Paperless
When dealing with digital files, the most effective way to transfer them is electronically over the internet either with secured email or through a portal.
MORE: How Digital A/P Processing Boosts Productivity | Reclaim Time with Remote Deposit | Why Daily T/E Entry Should Be Required | Digital Tax Workflow Requires a System, Not Projects | SURVEY: 60% of Firms Employ Remote Access Tools | Collaboration Should Tie In Messaging | The Best Defense Against Malware
Many firms have emailed clients copies of tax returns and financial statements over the years. Unfortunately, this is not always the most secure method as the firm does not have control of the various internet service providers and the relay servers between the firm’s email server and the client’s email account.
READ MORE →
Google Shakes Up Business Fundamentals
"Visual Search" and a slew of AI-powered tools shakes up supply chains, consumer habits.
By Rick Richardson
Visual search – the ability to initiate a search query using an image captured by the camera lens on a mobile device – has increasingly become a channel that can drive consumers from becoming aware of a product to making a purchase.
MORE TECH THIS WEEK: Make That Old Whiteboard ‘Smart’ | Go Paperless with the Best Smart Notebooks | Want Faster WiFi? Of Course You Do | A New Tool for Security Management | Advanced Tech Drives Financial Services Growth | Go Off-Grid with Satellite System Iridium GO! | Microsoft and Oracle Join Cloud Forces to Take on Amazon
Gartner classifies visual search as an emerging technology, which puts it right on par with findings from an eMarketer survey suggesting that few consumers "regularly" use it.
READ MORE →
Cannabis: THC vs. CBD Critical Differences
How they are different and what accountants need to know.
By Andrew Hunzicker
CPA Trendlines Cannabis
When you look at a cannabis plant and a hemp plant side by side, the plants themselves look identical to an untrained eye, making it a bit challenging to identify, as the real difference lies in the chemistry of the plants.
But to the accountant, the differences a critical.
See more from CPA Trendlines CannaBizCPA.Pro here
Get Hunzicker's FREE download: "How to Find and Connect with Cannabis CEOs in 5 Steps"
Issues include clients in many verticals – cultivation, chemical manufacture, product manufacturing, labs, and retail – cost accounting, consolidations, and multi-entity issues, banking, software, and cash management, to name just a few.
And the tax and compliance issues are actually more complex for Hemp/CBD products than for cannabis products.
Becoming a ‘Media Star’
Being helpful comes full circle.
By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting
After I began writing regularly for financial and business publications like Boardroom Reports and my firm’s own newsletter, that opened many doors, but the opportunities needed to be actively pursued.
MORE: When Pushing the Pencil Pays Off | Large Clients We Landed from QuickBooks Consulting | 26 Value-Added Benefits Clients Need to Know | How an Out-of-Work Tax Preparer ‘Saved’ Our Lives | I Always Want to be ’The Other Guy’s Accountant’
An associate producer of a local news program who was a friend of a client once called to ask if I could help her come up with some questions an on-air reporter could ask the tax expert who was going to be interviewed. I spent almost an hour helping her when she remarked how knowledgeable I seemed. She wondered if I would like to be interviewed instead of the person they had in mind.
READ MORE →
SURVEY: Using Portals to Deliver Tax Returns?
Less paper, more digital. But email remains a problem.
Hiring Growth Rate Shows Signs of Leveling Off
Still healthy, but not as good as last year.
Who's hiring, who's not.
Who's quitting, who's staying.
And why and why not.
Join the survey. Get the facts.
By Beth Bellor
"Stay the course." Remember that chestnut?
MORE ON JOBS: What Staffing Shortage? | Payroll Agencies Lead Jobs Growth in the Tax & Accounting Industry | Hiring Trends: Accounting Hits 4.2% Expansion Rate | Hiring Trends Flash Warning Signs of Slowdown in Tax & Accounting | CHARTS: Tax & Accounting Among Biggest Jobs Creators in U.S. | Hiring Surge Powered by Growth in Payroll Agencies
Maybe it's not time to rock the boat. The accounting profession is more than holding its own, with new highs seen in:
- overall earnings,
- staff earnings,
- CPA firm staff numbers and earnings, and
- payroll services earnings.
Joey Havens: Automate Everything
4 Ways to Bill Clients
What services do your clients value the most?
By Jody Grunden
When I attend CPA conferences across the United States, I often hear from CPAs: “I don’t want to bill for my time.”
So, how do you bill your clients?
MORE: 3 Ways to Keep Client Files Safe from Security Threats | How ‘Tech Stacks’ Can Help You Standardize | Automation and the Future of Accounting | The Rise of the Virtual CFO | Ready To Be a Virtual CFO? | The Only Three Metrics You Need to Measure Staffers
Client billing can include hourly billing, but it can also include flat-fee, retainer-based and/or value-based billing. Most people use one of these four methods. Some use all of them or even a hybrid.
Let’s take a closer look at each of them:
READ MORE →
How Digital A/P Processing Boosts Productivity
Dedicate one credit card to this purpose.
By Roman H. Kepczyk
Quantum of Paperless
Processing accounts payable is another of the manually intensive processes within the firm’s administrative department that can be significantly streamlined through digital processes.
MORE: Reclaim Time with Remote Deposit | Going Digital with A/P Processing | Avoid Over-Auditing with ‘Document Containers’ | Beyond Email: New Digital Tools | Who Deletes Documents and When? | Capture Firm Knowledge on an Intranet
Consider how many “touches” a single payable creates: receipt of the invoice, timing of payment in a folder, writing the check and attaching the stub, sending it to an owner for signature, filing a copy of check with backup in its own folder, and stuffing, sealing and sending the check to the vendor. Now imagine doing this a hundred times per month, every month. Imagine the volume of physical accounts payable vendor files both onsite and in storage, that can be eliminated by storing these images digitally.
READ MORE →
MGI and CPAAI to Merge
CPA firm associations combine 250 firms with $1 billion in revenues.
CPA Trendlines
MGI Worldwide, a global network of independent audit, tax, accounting, and advisory firms, headquartered in the U.K., and CPA Associates International, headquartered in the U.S., have announced that they will merge, effective Jan. 1, 2020.
The newly created organization, to be branded MGI Worldwide with CPAAI, will have more than 250 accounting, tax, and advisory member firms in almost 100 countries throughout the world. Combined, it will have revenues approaching $1 billion, placing it in 16th position in the current global accountancy network ranking.
