Edward Mendlowitz, Author at CPA Trendlines

When Clients Remarry

Six questions to ask.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

This is primarily a financial planning service for people who are in second marriages, and where there are children from prior marriages.

MORE ON MARKETING: Help Heirs with Tax Issues | Seven Questions to Suggest Estate Planning | 28 Data Points for a Financial Planning Discussion | Every Client Can Use Financial Planning | Four Reasons to Perform Tax Projections | Four Additional Services to Suggest
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Who needs this service

This is a valuable service for every remarried client who has children from a former marriage.
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MANAGEMENT

Where Is Your Firm in Its Lifecycle?

How to change if you don’t like what you learn.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

A while ago I gave a speech on business performance measurement and, to prepare, I searched online and found many books on performance measurement, but they were for personnel performance, not for businesses where I found only a dismal few.

MORE: Wow Clients with Trend Analysis | Trends Are All Around Us | How to Prepare Business Plan Financial Projections | The Top 11 Financial Statement Ratios | Eight Ways to Value a Family-Owned Business | Are You Ready for a Co-Owner to Drop Dead? | Charity Directors Must Take Theft Seriously | Forensic Techniques Can Be Fraud Deterrence | The Hazards of Poor Internal Controls
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However, that’s what I have been doing my entire career, so I was able to put together an enlightening presentation. That also got me thinking about the areas business owners and managers should concentrate on to improve their business’ performance.

For starters, here are three basic premises:
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Questions for After Tax Season

Eleven ideas that warrant following up.

By Ed Mendlowitz
How to Build a Stronger Tax Practice

Many times we have important preliminary discussions when we obtain a client’s tax information.

MORE ON MARKETING: Help Heirs with Tax Issues | Seven Questions to Suggest Estate Planning | 28 Data Points for a Financial Planning Discussion | Every Client Can Use Financial Planning | Four Reasons to Perform Tax Projections | Four Additional Services to Suggest
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Skilled interviewing, or effective follow-up techniques, can make these into an additional engagement.
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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Wow Clients with Trend Analysis

Comparing the statement of operations with the balance sheet. BONUS: The five numbers needed to run a better business.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

The sample statement of operations report below was created using Excel to better illustrate and highlight the differences. This also enabled entering selected percentages, which cannot be done on most computer-generated financial statements. Most computerized reports can be exported to Excel with a couple of clicks.

MORE: Trends Are All Around Us | Six Kinds of Loan Covenants | What’s More Profitable, Raising or Lowering Prices? | Solos Need Plans for Death, Disability | Five Ways to Ward Off Fraud in Not-For-Profits
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Besides the percentages included below, a helpful percentage would be increase or (decrease) in monthly sales, or any other item you want to track. In the illustration, monthly purchases to sales and cost of goods sold percentages were tracked.
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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Help Heirs with Tax Issues

They may not see the possible tax ramifications, but you can.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

Inheritance advice and guidance is a valuable service for clients who have lost a loved one and are remembered in the will.

MORE ON MARKETING: Seven Questions to Suggest Estate Planning | 28 Data Points for a Financial Planning Discussion | Every Client Can Use Financial Planning | Four Reasons to Perform Tax Projections | Four Additional Services to Suggest
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Most times accountants are not the first ones clients call. Usually the attorney is the first person and then a financial planner. We get involved after the fact to “record” the results of what was done on the tax return, or via a phone call asking about the taxation of what they either received or think they will receive.
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SEARCH CPA TRENDLINES

Edward Mendlowitz

MORE AT STORE.CPATRENDLINES.COM

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Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, ABV, PFS, is a partner at Withum, a forward-thinking, technology-driven advisory, and accounting firm. Ed has over 40 years of public accounting experience, is recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today, and is the CPA Trendlines "Practice Doctor." His latest handbook for CPA Trendlines is 77 Ways to Wow! The Handbook for Small-Business Advisory Services.

Ed is also the author of "Memoirs of a CPA," available at Amazon.

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"Memoirs" tells his story as a CPA and provides an inside look at what CPAs do and how they run their accounting "business." CPAs must serve clients effectively and exceptionally, recruit, train, retain and grow staff, and charge fees that clients happily pay because of the value they receive while the CPA earns a living, funds a retirement account, grows infrastructure, and perhaps makes a profit. This book tells how he did all of this and much more.

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He is a licensed, certified public accountant in the states of New Jersey and New York and is accredited by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in business valuation (ABV), certified in financial forensics (CFF) and as a personal financial specialist (PFS). Ed is also admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and has testified as an expert witness in federal and state court regarding business valuations, and twice at the House Ways and Means Committee on tax reform, fairness, and reduction. A City College of New York graduate, Ed earned his bachelor of business administration degree.

He is a member of the AICPA, the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA). In addition, Ed was a founding partner of Mendlowitz Weitsen, LLP, CPAs, which merged with Withum in 2005. Currently, he serves on the NYSSCPA Estate Planning Committee and was chairman of the committee that planned the NYSSCPA’s 100th Anniversary. Ed, the author of 19 books, has also written hundreds of articles for business and professional journals and newsletters.

He is the contributing editor to the Practitioners Publishing Company’s 706/709 Deskbook, the AICPA’s Management of an Accounting Practice Handbook, Corporate Controller’s Handbook and Wiley’s Handbook on Budgeting and is on the editorial board of Bottom Line/Personal newsletter and the Journal of Accountancy Member Panel on Business Valuation. Appearing regularly on television news programs, Ed has also been quoted in numerous major newspapers and periodicals in the United States. He received the Lawler Award for the best article published in 2001 in the Journal of Accountancy.

Ed frequently speaks to many professional and business groups, including the AICPA, NJSCPA, NYSSCPA, American Management Association, the National Committee for Monetary Reform, the University of Medicine and Dentistry in N.J., and many more. For 11 years, he taught courses on financial analysis, corporate financial policy and theory, monetary and fiscal policy, and managerial accounting in the MBA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

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