ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Entrepreneurship’s Biggest Enemies: Procrastination and Questioning Advice Before You’ve Tried It

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Ten Questions to Check Your Entrepreneurship

By Jackie Meyer

“If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business – you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic!” – Michael E. Gerber, “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It”

October 2010. The day is etched in my memory – cold and sharp, like the sting of betrayal. I was sitting in my car, gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. Just moments before, I had been fired. Fired from a job I thought was secure, on a career path I believed I was destined for. The words from my boss were still ringing in my ears: “We’re going in a different direction.” I was stunned. What did that mean for my direction?

MORE: More Revenue in Fewer Hours
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It felt like the bottom had dropped out of my life. Years of studying, late nights, and climbing what I thought was the “right” ladder had led to this: humiliation, anger and a terrifying sense of … nothingness. But as I sat there, eyes burning with tears I refused to let fall, something unexpected began to stir beneath the surface of those raw emotions. A spark. A flicker of defiance. And the faintest whisper of an idea.
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Holistic Financial Planning: A One-Two Punch of Value

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Vintage pocket watch lying on hundred dollar bills

Accounting continues to evolve in increasingly personal ways.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

The accounting profession is evolving rapidly. New business models are emerging, and firms are uncoupling themselves from the constraints of a partnership structure, from outdated service offerings, and from time-based pricing practices.

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You may be asking yourself: “What business am I truly in?” or perhaps, “What business should I be in?” Before answering these questions, consider that you may ultimately be in the relationship business more than you’re in the tax, accounting or bookkeeping business. It doesn’t matter which training, certifications or acronyms you have following your name. If you’re moving into financial planning – or thinking about doing so – you might want to ask yourself: “Am I really in the human business?”
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What’s Your Return on Relationships?

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Clients need empathy.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

In his iconic work, “Meditationes Sacrae” (1597), Sir Francis Bacon wrote that “knowledge itself is power.” Many scholars believe Bacon wanted to further the idea that having and sharing knowledge is the cornerstone of reputation and influence – and therefore power. All achievements emanate from this philosophy.

MORE: Advisory Includes More Than You Might Think | Wealth Management: Can You Afford Not to Provide It?

But in many areas such as business, finance, sports and the military, knowledge can be a competitive advantage. Therefore, many are reluctant to share their knowledge with others.
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Crossing the Chasm from CAS to Advisory

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Client needs evolve with their businesses.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Again, what is the difference between CAS and CAAS? Many firms feel stuck in the middle, offering advisory in theory but not in execution. That gap is the CAAS-Chasm. This article outlines the cycle that causes advisory initiatives to stall and helps you recognize the signs in your own firm. It’s the first step to breaking through.

MORE by Hitendra Patil
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Client accounting and advisory services (CAAS) is a fusion of traditional accounting services with advisory services that emerge from core accounting work. Think of CAS as a self-study course and CAAS as a guided workshop, but not necessarily in-person events.

CAAS is (needs to be) customized to individual client needs. CAAS must cater to the evolving demands of businesses in a changing economic, regulatory and technological landscape.
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The Six-Stop Road Map to Your Freedom Formula

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Here’s an action plan for your own journey.

By Jackie Meyer

By now, you’ve read about the mistakes I made, the strategies I discovered, the value of leading with advisory, the power of technology, and even the ultimate exit strategy. You’ve learned how to build, scale and eventually sell a high-value tax advisory firm that works for you, instead of the other way around.

But knowledge alone isn’t enough. The real magic happens when you take what you’ve learned and turn it into action.

MORE: The Future of Tax Advisory | Five Common Pitfalls and How to Overcome Them | Four Practical Case Studies of Real Advisory Success | Your Balanced Millionaire Journey Begins Now | How to Cultivate Holistic Wealth | Five Hard-Earned Lessons from Exiting an Accounting Firm | It’s Never Too Early to Plan Your Exit Strategy | Hiring Strategies for Your Dream Team | Leverage Technology for Growth | Streamline Your Operations with Systems and Processes | Craft Tiered Service Packages for Maximum Impact | Master the ROI Method: Price for Value, Not Time | From Compliance to Advisory: Shifting the Value Proposition | How I Became an Accidental Entrepreneur | Build a Seven-Figure Firm in Four Hours a Week
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This article is designed to be a clear, actionable road map that helps you take each concept and turn it into results. We’ll break down the steps you need to take – one by one – so that you can create your own transformation. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been running your practice for years, this action plan will help you move toward the freedom formula: more value, less stress and a firm that can thrive without you.
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If AI Is Saving Time, Why Are You Still Working Late?

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How fast (or slow) are accountants adopting AI? Depends on whom you ask.

Six Surveys. Eleven Answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Hourly billing is fading. Advisory is spreading. Artificial intelligence is freeing accountants to do more valuable work.

But agreement may end there.

The meanings of adoption, advisory and the AI dividend are leaving firm leaders with sometimes clashing pictures of how far the change is going.

MORE AI: Gen AI in Accounting: Epic Transformation, or Overheated Hype? | Intuit, Thomson, Wolters Kluwer: Accountants Question AI Promises | Caseware’s David Marquis: AI Can Do More Work but Auditors Must Make the Call | AI Accountants Cut Costs per Task to 21 cents from $10.35 | Your Next Hire Might Not Be an Accountant | It’s Not Just the Numbers

The problem surfaces again in a fresh series of surveys that tell different, even confusing, versions of the same story. One study finds advisory in 57 percent of surveyed U.S. practices. Another puts advisory or consulting at 94 percent in its U.S. sample. A pricing-platform survey finds little hourly billing for particular services. A broader practice-management benchmark finds most responding firms still use hourly billing.

Firm leaders are being shown evidence of progress, but the evidence does not consistently measure the same progress. READ MORE →

Advisory Includes More Than You Might Think

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What do you see when you envision your future?

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

I work at a virtual family office called Arrowroot Family Office. Over the course of my career I have learned that family (and family dynamics) significantly shapes who we are and how we form relationships in life.

MORE: Wealth Management: Can You Afford Not to Provide It?

Research shows that one of the biggest drivers of family dynamics is the order in which each child is born. Birth order theory, developed by Alfred Adler in the 20th century, suggests that the order in which children are born can have a significant impact on their development and personality.
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Who’s Qualified to Advise? | ARC

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ARC hosts debate credentials, accountability, and the risks of advice that exceeds a provider’s expertise.

Sponsored by Radical Pricing by the Radical CPA, Jody Padar | See Today’s Special Offer

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Optimize Profits, Delight Clients, & Build a Top-Value Firm!

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Donny Shimamoto, and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

A business owner asks for financial reports. A bookkeeper delivers them. For years, the arrangement appears to work — until another accountant examines the numbers and discovers that the reports do not add up.

The owner receives exactly what he requests. What he misses is someone qualified to question the request.

That story, shared by Byron Patrick on the Accounting ARC podcast, captures a problem that reaches beyond bookkeeping: Small-business owners may know they need financial help without knowing how to evaluate the people providing it.

MORE Accounting ARC: Stop Waiting for the Perfect Time to Get Involved | Your AI Agent Should Show Its Work | AI Isn’t Erasing Tax Careers. It’s Rewriting Them. | Accounting Internships Need an Upgrade | The CPA Career Nobody Talks About | Conference Season Exposes Accounting’s Knowledge Gap | The Feedback Mistake That Costs You Your Best People | Is Your Boss Really the Problem? | Most Accountants Are Missing This AI Shift | AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich Generation | Built Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet

For accountants, that creates both a responsibility and an opportunity. Explaining professional value requires more than listing credentials or promising accurate books. It means showing owners what an effective accounting relationship can help them understand, decide, and accomplish.

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