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The Client-Centric Firm of the Future [VIDEO]

Firm of the future will shift focus from what it does to what the client wants.

Edi Osborne of MentorPlus is on a mission, a mission to transform the profession one firm at a time to a client-centric business model. Here she describes how that fits into her vision of the so-called firm of the future.

More Edi Osborne here:

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6 Responses to “The Client-Centric Firm of the Future [VIDEO]”

  1. Edi Osborne

    I appreciate all your comments. I wonder sometimes who CPAs think they are working for . . .the government or the business owner? When we put the compliance work at the center of the relationship, the answer becomes clear. Please note I am not referring to the role of an auditor as an assurance provider. . . so please don’t write to me about independence issues.

    I am talking about 80% of the business entities out there who rely heavily on the insights, intellect, and level of passionate investment their CPA has in their business. Today’s business owner has grown up in a culture where business leaders surround themselves with the best and the brightest. There is an expectation that CPAs can and should be doing more for their clients – CPAs who “get” this will have their pick of the best clients, best projects, and (by law of attraction) the best talent in their firm.

    I challenge anyone who sees it differently to sit down with a room full of business owners and ask them what is more important; hindsight or insight?

    There is a client centric movement, grass roots, and it is gaining momentum; http://www.thepassionateaccountant.com

    Pretty soon, business owners will prospect for CPAs with their business issues “wish list” in hand, not their prior years tax returns. What is on that wish list? ck out our blog at mentorplus.com We are having some holiday fun with the 12 days of Christmas.

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    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rick Telberg, Joey Brannon. Joey Brannon said: @CPA_Trendlines The Client-Centric Firm of the Future [VIDEO] http://me.lt/4d8vO My take is a little different, see comments […]

  3. Joey Brannon

    I’d challenge this point of view to say that Ms. Osborne is pulling firms out of the dark ages rather than showing them the future. There’s nothing futuristic about asking a client “so what else does your business need?” Most of the CPA’s I interact with do this regularly and it’s where most of their new engagements originate.

    If talking about the future firm I’d rather propose that it involves bringing those multi-disciplinary resources in-house to build a true team rather than an outsourced network. I’d like to see firms hiring marketing, technology, hr and legal professionals so that clients didn’t have to spend the time building another relationship before real progress can be made on their business goals.

    Just my two cents.
    JB

  4. Shooter McGavin

    So basically do what was one of the root causes of blowing AA up.

  5. Mac Smith

    This is absolutely correct. The profession must move beyond being compliance/product focused and become much more focused on delivering value. The value we provide isn’t the tax returns or financial statements.

    This isn’t to say that those products aren’t valuable, but being able to educate our clients about what the information in those documents can mean for them or their businesses is infinatly more valuable.

  6. Earl Rudolfo

    Wow Edi, couldn’t have said it better myself. You’ve certainly bang on the money. Looks like you’ve been reading my mind -:) Count me in on the mission to transform the accounting profession in becoming more client-centric.