Edward Mendlowitz, Author at CPA Trendlines

10 Reasons Clients Don’t Pay

And what to do about it.

By Ed Mendlowitz
101 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice, The Complete 2-Volume Set

Q: I always have large amounts owed to me from clients. Is there anything I can do about this?

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A: Absolutely! My feelings are that large A/R balances are your fault. Accounting fees are almost never material to a business’ cost structure, but letting fees pile up can make them somewhat material.
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

When Clients Say ‘No’

Four ways to deal with their decision.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I found out many years ago that I cannot spend my clients’ money.

I used to feel that if they did not want to “buy” a service I felt they must have, it meant I did not clearly convey the value to them. I do not feel this way anymore because the value is relative and draws on many issues the client might have and that I am not privy to.

MORE: When Good Things Happen | When an Employee’s Growth Has Gaps | My First Trainee | The Growing Pains of a Small Firm | Giving Clients the Best You’ve Got | Why MAP Programs Are Essential | How to Become a Specialist | Secrets in Specialties | Making Sure the Son Got Proper Credit | Yes, Shirt Logos Can Matter | 10 More Reasons CPAs Quit Public Accounting
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In my earlier days I used to do the work anyway, feeling a responsibility to the client. It took me quite a while to realize that the responsibility is the clients’ and if they did not want to spend their money for it, I should not spend part of my life doing it on a pro bono basis. There were also times I felt the work was so essential to the client that I did it expecting their recognition of the importance and willingness to pay me afterward. Stupid! My bad!
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

When Good Things Happen

Be open to unexpected opportunities.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

My friend Al is a sole practitioner with seven staff members and a thriving audit practice, besides the typical tax and small business tax clients.

MORE: When an Employee’s Growth Has Gaps | My First Trainee | The Growing Pains of a Small Firm | Giving Clients the Best You’ve Got | Why MAP Programs Are Essential | How to Become a Specialist | Secrets in Specialties | Making Sure the Son Got Proper Credit | Yes, Shirt Logos Can Matter | 10 More Reasons CPAs Quit Public Accounting | Family Trees of Clients
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He is getting older, and while he has no plans to retire and is actively trying to grow his practice, he periodically meets with larger firms to see if there is an interest in acquiring his practice when that day comes. By doing this he stumbled on a fantastic business development formula.
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FEATURED

When an Employee’s Growth Has Gaps

Where did all that experience go?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

We hired Sam out of school and he worked for us for two and a half years and then we split up our firm. This was ages ago and Sy and I left our third partner to form our new firm on Jan. 1.

MORE: My First Trainee | The Growing Pains of a Small Firm | Giving Clients the Best You’ve Got | Why MAP Programs Are Essential | How to Become a Specialist | Secrets in Specialties | Making Sure the Son Got Proper Credit | Yes, Shirt Logos Can Matter | 10 More Reasons CPAs Quit Public Accounting | Family Trees of Clients | Preparing for the Worst (Thanks to My Wife)
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However, there is a valuable lesson here and I think it is worth sharing. It changed the way we hired staff.
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FEATURED

My First Trainee

Leads to new opportunities.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I was fortunate early on in my career that I had a boss who gave me responsibility to supervise. On some level I was not really instructed how to supervise, but was told I could use the new person to help me get my work done.

MORE: The Growing Pains of a Small Firm | Giving Clients the Best You’ve Got | Secrets in Specialties | 10 More Reasons CPAs Quit Public Accounting | When CPAs Leave to Work for a Client | When Parents, Children Hit an Impasse
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This was precipitated by an email I received from the first person ever I supervised. I had not spoken to him since working with him in 1968. He emailed me because he read one of my columns and just wanted to say hello. I remembered him and then I recalled how I got started training him – he was the first person I trained.
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Edward Mendlowitz

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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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