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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

True Advisory Work Isn’t Just Consulting

The difference may seem slight. But the dollars are very real.

This is the first in a series of articles by Gary Bolinger, the former CEO of the Indiana CPA Society, explaining how accountants can move beyond consulting and into higher-level advisory relationships with clients

By Gary Bolinger

Call it consulting, advisory, small business growth or entrepreneurial services – does it make a  difference? CPA firms are seeking to add value to clients in non-traditional ways. Something other than compliance-related services. But firms seem to struggle with defining what “it” actually is.

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All too often consulting services are after the fact. Practitioners discover a “problem” or some kind of shortcoming through a tax or financial reporting engagement. Dutifully, the practitioner brings the issue to the attention of the client. The client dutifully asks what should and can be done. After some discussion, there are agreed-upon next steps. Problem solved. Sort of. That is consulting.
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Gary Bolinger: The Uncertain Future of CPE [VIDEO]


Gary Bolinger, president and CEO of the Indiana CPA Society, says the profession’s system of continuing professional education is broken and needs to be scrapped.

“If we don’t do something,” he says an entire generation will “flatly reject” and “thumb their noses” at CPE as we know it. They will “find other ways to learn.”

In a video-phone interview with Rick Telberg for CPA Trendlines, Bolinger calls on the profession — mainly its leaders in state regulatory boards and associations — to “change the regulatory environment and delivery system… to be more responsive to the rate of change.”

If Bolinger is right, then today’s system of measuring achievement and competence in hours is already DOA and the profession needs to start embracing alternatives, such as real-time learning, independent study, peer-to-peer assessments, and snap quizzes.

Few issues could be as disruptive to the business of accountancy than what Bolinger suggests. But without dramatic change, it’s only a matter of time before the CPE system crashes and burns into a heap of cynicism and irrelevancy. If it hasn’t already.