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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Process Is Key to Remote Work

Woman leading meeting, flipchart in background

Your team and your clients both win.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

With the right people in place, empowered to work independently, and proper access to the tools that are necessary to get the work done, process comes next.

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Creating process is important in any business if you want to scale, but it is imperative when it comes to remote work. Process helps streamline things, reduces confusion and makes your team more efficient and productive.
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SPECIAL

True Story: When the Feds Came Knocking

Three tech solutions for protecting client data.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Have you ever been contacted by the IRS with the FBI involved? I can tell you from firsthand experience that it’s a bit alarming when that happens!

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We were once contacted by the IRS because they thought our server had been compromised. When the field officer who came to our office asked to see our server, we explained that we didn’t have a server.
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SPECIAL

What’s the ROI on That Shiny New Thing?

Innovate for the right reasons.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Depending on your age, you may or may not remember Lotus 1-2-3. It was a hugely popular spreadsheet program back in the ’80s and early ’90s that was eventually taken over by Excel. If we had been “married” to Lotus 1-2-3 at that time, we may have gone out of business because we wouldn’t have been able to react fast enough.

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This is the world of technology today. We have to operate under the mindset that what we’re currently using may or may not be around in five years.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Five Questions to Ask about New Tech Tools

Businessman looking at question mark sketch on the wall
Be sure to loop in the people who will use them.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Whether you purchase a one-time software license or pay for a tool on a subscription basis, the cost of software can add up quickly. It’s necessary to conduct a thorough analysis of any new software program before you decide to buy it, and you need to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of the tools you’re using.

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We have learned that we want to be sure we’re getting the most out of our software, that our tools remain the right fit for our needs and that they are cost-effective.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Creative Perks Your Remote Employees Will Appreciate

remote worker at computer types on phone with dog nearby

Stipends for tech and education? Why not?

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

In addition to the more traditional benefits, we also offer a few creative perks that I think our employees really appreciate, including an education stipend and a technology stipend.

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Education Stipend

We believe that continuing education keeps our team members sharp and ahead of the game. One of our core values is “curiosity” because we want our employees to always be thinking about how we can improve our services, become more efficient and do things better. We want people to think outside the box because we’re not a typical accounting firm, nor do we ever want to be one.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Traditional Benefits to Offer Remote Employees

woman sitting outside with laptop and smartphone

Being stingy could cost their loyalty.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Traditional benefits often include things that many brick-and-mortar office workers take for granted such as paid time off, health insurance and a retirement plan.

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Why do I say these are taken for granted? Well, some distributed companies may hire independent contractors to cut down on their expenses when it comes to “frivolous” things like this, but we believe in building a great place to work, and to us that means offering the kind of benefits that make employees feel secure and cared for.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Retention Doesn’t Mean Keeping Everyone Forever

It’s OK if some people don’t work out.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

There’s a common misnomer when it comes to retention and keeping people on the team. Retention doesn’t mean keeping every single person on your team forever.

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Not only do you want to get the right people on the bus, but you also want to get those people into the right seats. We want Summit CPA to be a great place to work, and we want great people to be working here. However, we realize it may not be the right place for every person.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Ten Questions for Potential New Hires

Young businesswoman speaking with client

Plus four considerations before you start screening.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Before our firm became a distributed company with a remote workforce, our hiring was naturally limited to a small geographical location – Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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When we really started to grow, we knew we needed to bring in more senior-level accountants to be able to handle the clients we were bringing in at such a rapid pace.

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PRO Member Exclusive

Virtual Accounting Firms Have Hidden Costs

Happy business professionals giving high five hand slap

Save by combining a retreat with CPE.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

With a brick-and-mortar company, there are a number of standard costs that you would expect to have, such as rent or mortgage, utilities, building repairs, furniture, technology, etc. The total amount of these kinds of costs typically falls in the range of 3-4 percent of the company’s annualized revenue. That amount can be pretty significant for a lot of companies.

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Some business owners may think they can save the company all of that money by going remote, but I personally believe that’s a terrible idea. While it’s true that a distributed company doesn’t have the costs that come with having a physical space, the very nature of a remote work environment results in a completely different and unique set of needs that should be considered in the company’s annual budget.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Make Your Leadership Team Meetings More Effective

four people on each side of a videoconference

Three steps to use.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Doing the DiSC Assessment with our team, we learned that some people love meetings and some people despise them. The “D” (Dominance) personality on the DiSC scale tends to be direct, very results-oriented and less collaborative in meetings. The “I” (Influence) personality enjoys meetings because they provide an opportunity for social engagement and collaboration.

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The “S” (Steadiness) personality may not feel comfortable speaking up in meetings unless they are called upon. The “C” (Conscientiousness) personality may need to rally more energy within themselves for meetings because they tend to value working independently over collaboration. Knowing the personalities of your leadership team members will help you run more effective meetings.
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MANAGEMENT

Create an Accountability Chart for Your Firm

It beats an org chart and here’s why.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

“Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – these are all crucial steps in the early stages of buildup…” – Jim Collins, “Good to Great”

When Adam and I first started the company, we didn’t have much organizational structure. We didn’t need it. But as the company grew, it became necessary to develop an organizational structure. There’s a great quote by Michael E. Gerber in his book “The E-Myth Revisited” that says, “Without the Organization Chart, confusion, discord and conflict become the order of the day.”

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We got to a point where we realized that Adam and I didn’t have clarity around our individual roles, and we were overlapping one another. We needed to have clearly defined roles for one another as well as the people who were working for us. Lack of clarity can cause a loss in production.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Get the Right People on the Bus

 

people gathering in the shape of an arrowShift from serving clients to serving and developing leaders.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

“Once you recognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your business, but that the primary purpose of your business is to serve your life, you can then go to work on your business, rather than in it, with a full understanding of why it is absolutely necessary for you to do so.” – Michael E. Gerber, “The E-Myth Revisited”

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As our team was growing and we reached over 30 team members, we recognized the need to establish a formal leadership team. When we were smaller, it worked fine for Adam and me to be the primary decision makers, but as our client base and workload grew, we realized we would become a bottleneck and slow things down. At that point, we made a conscious effort to transition our daily tasks and client responsibilities to other team members so we could remove ourselves from the weeds and focus on the higher-level view of the company.
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MANAGEMENT

How DiSC Profiles Help Remote Teams

Overhead view of five people in a meeting

Work together effectively with better understanding. 

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Working in a remote environment can be great, and it can also have its challenges. Communication is one of the biggest hurdles distributed companies have to overcome. To tackle this issue head on, Summit CPA has implemented many initiatives.

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One of our favorites is the DiSC profiles. Let me start off by telling you a little bit of the background on the DiSC profiles.
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