Here’s what you’re looking for: Frank Stitely

FEATURED

How to Implement the Laziness Equation

Time is money : clock hands on $100 billsCalculate and cut turnaround time.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

One of the funniest parts of launching Clarity Practice Management has been watching my business partner, Peter Daniel, learn about the business acumen of CPAs and accountants. Peter and I founded Clarity as a collaboration between a CPA firm client (Peter) and a CPA firm (me.). He knew what he wanted from a client perspective, and I knew what we wanted as a CPA firm.

MORE: The Happier, Saner, Richer Tax Firm | ‘Quick Questions’ and Other Client Sins | When Clients Create Errors | How We Killed the Tax Season Client Meeting | Why Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | There Are No Easy Answers | How to Thrive as a 21st-Century Firm
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Peter owns a software development company and believes in the rational decision-making model for businesses. The rational decision-making model is totally irrelevant to the way most CPAs and accountants run their practices. For instance, consider this interchange between Peter and a practitioner at our Clarity booth during a trade show.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

The Happier, Saner, Richer Tax Firm

Scrambled thoughts enter man's head, straightened ones come outIt’s not easy, but it is possible.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

I’m back. Since writing the “Relentless CPA – The New 21st Century System for Driving Success at Tax and Accounting Firms,” I have spoken to dozens of CPAs and accountants, been called a dozen names (some of them deserved), and received a few death threats.

MORE: ‘Quick Questions’ and Other Client Sins | How to Train Clients | How to Reduce Tax Return Errors | Why Your Firm Needs to Attract More Millenials | The Fool in the Room | The 3 Biggest Tech Failures of Accounting Firms | 7 Steps to Effective Project Management
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Actually, the death threats came from my wife, who said she’d kill me if I said “yes” to any new projects. She watches lots of crime shows, so the FBI regarded her threats as serious. I am writing this to buy a bulletproof vest for when she gets out of jail. Thank you for your contribution to saving my life.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

‘Quick Questions’ and Other Client Sins

Young businessman with forehead resting on handsHow to quietly convince them to pay for tax planning.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

A well-known practice management expert, whom I greatly respect, advises CPAs to never tell clients that you don’t have time for them. I disagree with the never part. You know how it starts. On March 25th, the call comes in.

“I know you’re busy but …”

MORE: How to Train Clients | Avoiding Projects Hung Up in Process | Teaching the Meaning of ‘Done’ | Why Millennials Are the Answer | Calculating and Cutting Turnaround Time | Debunking the Demise of the CPA Firm
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

A request follows that could most certainly wait until after tax season. You are hip deep reviewing all the personal tax returns that got stuck in process while you climbed out of the March 15th corporate tax ditch.
READ MORE →

CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

How to Train Clients

Skip this, and both service and satisfaction decline.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

You’ll hate me after this post. I’m about to reveal that many of the behaviors that you rationalize as good client service are really just desperate measures to avoid losing bad clients. We’ll talk about getting out of that mess later.

MORE: Avoiding Projects Hung Up in Process | When Clients Create Errors | How We Killed the Tax Season Client Meeting | Why Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | There Are No Easy Answers | How to Thrive as a 21st-Century Firm | Farm-Aid for Accountants? | Whittle Down WIP
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Clients are trainable – at least as trainable as Jack Russell Terriers. That is to say, they’re somewhat trainable. However, like Jack Russell Terriers, you train clients or they’ll train you. Somebody’s getting trained. Here’s an example of how that works.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

Avoiding Projects Hung Up in Process

Businessman with fingers crossed behind backHow to climb out of “done but” hell.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

A project hung up in process is one when there is a disagreement as to the status between people involved in a project. For example, a client thinks he has answered your tax return questions, while you believe he has not. Another example is when a tax return preparer believes a return is ready for review while the reviewer does not believe it’s ready.

MORE: When Clients Create Errors | How to Reduce Tax Return Errors | Why Your Firm Needs to Attract More Millenials | The Fool in the Room | The 3 Biggest Tech Failures of Accounting Firms | WIP-ing Clients Into Shape | Maximize Your Role as Visionary
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The result of a hung-up project is a dead project – one that’s not moving to completion. If a tax return gets hung up, eventually your client calls you, and you get to waste time determining why the project stopped moving. By now, you know this increases WIP and thus decreases turnaround time.
READ MORE →