ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Advisory Opportunities Emerge from Core CAS Offerings

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two women talking while seated at a table

Think about where your insights originate.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

“We want to offer outsourced CFO and advisory services.”

It has become an increasingly common intent of accounting firms of all sizes.

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This article demonstrates how compliance, accounting and reporting can serve as doorways to deeper insights, more strategic conversations and higher-value advisory relationships.

Technology automation, artificial intelligence and more innovative solutions seem to make it even more logical for accountants to feel that the future is more about advisory services than ever before.
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“Set It and Forget It” Is Not an AI Strategy | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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Accounting teams must ensure their people can recognize anomalies, challenge outputs, and apply sound judgment.

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It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

AI is everywhere in accounting right now.

It’s in your inbox, on the Super Bowl, and probably inside at least one tool your firm uses for tax prep. But there’s a conversation happening inside serious accounting firms, the ones processing thousands of returns, managing global teams, and serving clients who expect more than a spreadsheet, that the vendor demos don’t cover.

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That conversation is about critical thinking.

It may be the most important skill your firm could be developing right now, precisely because AI is making it easier to stop using it.

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Five Common Pitfalls and How to Overcome Them

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Transitioning isn’t always smooth sailing.

By Jackie Meyer

When I made the decision to shift from a compliance-heavy firm to an advisory-first firm focused on delivering measurable ROI, I wish I could say it was seamless. It wasn’t. This kind of transformation brings new opportunities, but it also brings challenges – some that you can anticipate, and others that take you by surprise. The key to success isn’t avoiding challenges altogether (that’s impossible); it’s learning to navigate them when they arise.

MORE: Will Your Success be Incremental or Exceptional? | 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 | Beyond Blocking: More Time Management Strategies | Reclaim Your Hours with Time Management and Productivity Hacks | How to Bring Core Values into Your Accounting Firm | Ten Key Guidelines for Accounting Staff | Hiring Strategies for Your Dream Team | The AI Revolution: Embracing Artificial Intelligence in Your Practice
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In this article, I want to help you understand the common pitfalls that can derail your progress and the practical steps you can take to overcome them. Whether it’s dealing with clients who are stuck in the old model, learning to price confidently or avoiding burnout, there are solutions to keep you moving forward.
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Emerging Trends Are Reshaping Advisory-CAS

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Don’t just buy technology; strategically activate it.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Advisory is changing rapidly and it is not just in what firms offer, but in how clients think, how technology fits in and how pricing evolves. This article examines the emerging shifts redefining the Advisory-CAS world, from burnout and outdated service models to the increasing demand for proactive, strategic insight. You will see what’s fading and what’s rising, and where to focus to stay ahead.

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Most surveys focus on direct responses, but the real value comes from analyzing what those responses reveal, especially in context. The nuances, patterns and implications hidden within the answers often provide the most strategic insights, particularly when you connect the dots across service lines, firm models, client dynamics and workforce pressure points.
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Jason Ackerman: Roth Mistakes That Cost Clients the Most | The Concierge CPA

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Existing IRA balances and Form 8606 can make or break the strategy.

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The Concierge CPA
With Jackie Meyer

In this episode, Dr. Jackie Meyer, CPA, welcomes Jason Ackerman, CPA, CFP, CGMA, chief financial officer and co-founder of WealthRabbit, to separate practical Roth IRA guidance from the oversimplified advice circulating online.

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Roth IRAs can provide tax-free growth and qualified withdrawals, but eligibility rules, reporting requirements, and conversion mechanics leave plenty of room for costly mistakes. Meyer and Ackerman examine direct contributions, backdoor Roth strategies, the often-misunderstood five-year rules, and the documentation advisers need to implement these strategies correctly.

A central warning: A backdoor Roth is not a product or a one-click transaction. It is a multistep process that requires advisers to examine the client’s existing IRA balances, properly report nondeductible contributions and conversions, and reconcile Form 8606 with Form 1099-R.

“Messing up the backdoor Roth is probably the one that can hurt the most,” Ackerman says.

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Help Clients Envision Their Future Selves

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Businessman sitting on cloud

Ask the “best hopes” question.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

When helping clients plan for retirement, exit their businesses or reach other major financial goals, we tend to default to the numbers. Financial projections, spending needs, drawdown rates and risk tolerance are great navigational aids, but as Lewis Carroll wrote in “Alice in Wonderland,” “If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there.” However, a new approach is showing that getting in tune with our future selves is one of the best ways for clients and their advisors to plan for retirement.

MORE: How to Use Values-Based Financial Planning | Life Planning: Going Beyond the Financials | Understand Clients’ Relationship with Money | From Services to Experiences to Transformations | How Behavioral Finance Works | Priority No. 1: Your Mental and Physical Health | Trust Is the Primary Ingredient | How to Prepare Your Clients’ Kids for Their Inheritance | Quantifying the Value of an Advisor | Raise Your Rates to Change Your Clientele | How WealthTech Is Reshaping the Future of Holistic Advice | Profile of a Modern Firm: Putting the Vision into Practice | Tsunami of M&A, PE Is Disrupting the Accounting Profession | Introducing You to a Fulfilling Return on Relationships
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As a result, we must continually adjust our goals, including retirement planning, and that comes by getting well acquainted with our “future selves,” according to UCLA Professor Hal Hershfield. He said that while it’s important for you to consider the goals for yourself when it comes to money and saving, it’s just as important to think carefully about the goals you have for your future self long after you have stopped earning an income.
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Why Advisory Is Broken. And What Comes Next

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It starts with a conversation. 

By Eric Eager
10X Advisory

For years, advisory services have been positioned as the future of the CPA profession. Conferences are filled with “moving up the value chain” sessions, and firm leaders are under growing pressure to make the shift. But here’s the hard truth: most firms are still trying to deliver tomorrow’s services using yesterday’s methods.

MORE Client Accounting Services here | MORE Tech and Fintech here | MORE:  Steven Ladd: Start Advisory with Empathy | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Advisory-CAS Ascending: What Research Reveals About the Future

Long discovery meetings. Manual analysis. Generic PowerPoint decks. Pricing models built on billable hours instead of business outcomes. These are the hallmarks of the old world of advisory—time-intensive, inconsistent, and hard to scale.

And they simply don’t hold up anymore. Today’s business owners are moving faster, expecting more, and looking to their advisors for real-time, relevant, and actionable guidance. But most firms are still operating with a rearview mirror—offering valuable insights that often arrive too late to act.

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Erin Pohan: How to Help Your Clients Understand Accounting | The Disruptors

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Connect with your clients: “You’re an entrepreneur, I’m an entrepreneur.”

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

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Erin Pohan’s firm, Upkeeping, is on a mission “to make accounting relevant and understandable” to all its clients. Pohan describes Upkeeping as “a tax-ready firm” that does everything but tax prep, which they hand off to the clients’ tax professionals. But their hand-off doesn’t stop with providing the tax pro with the information needed for the tax return.

MORE Liz Farr | CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

“We don’t believe in just handing pieces of paper over to our clients and letting them run with it,” she explains. “We do work with them throughout the year. We do our client calls where we’re explaining the numbers and the stories behind the numbers, especially, and making sure that they feel equipped and empowered to understand their business finances.”

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Understand Clients’ Relationship with Money

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Businessman tightly holding briefcase with dollar sign on it

Start with which of four “money scripts” they follow.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

Joy Lere Psy.D., licensed clinical psychologist and co-founder of Shaping Wealth, a learning platform transforming the human experience of money, told me on my podcast that she was amazed by how often money was the cause of her clients’ anxiety and unhappiness. Research confirms this phenomenon.

MORE: From Services to Experiences to Transformations | How Behavioral Finance Works | Manage Change through A PACT | Priority No. 1: Your Mental and Physical Health | Build Stronger Financial Futures with Health Care Planning | Marketing Strategies for Wealth Management Services | Trust Is the Primary Ingredient | Use Goodwill to Maximize Exit Readiness | An Accountant’s Role in Exit Planning | How to Prepare Your Clients’ Kids for Their Inheritance | A Question of Trust: Not Just for the Wealthy | Trust and Estate Planning Is for Clients of All Ages | Annuities and Insurance Growing More Attractive | Bridge the Advice Gap for Better Financial Futures
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According to the American Psychological Association (APA), money has consistently topped Americans’ list of stressors ever since the first Stress in America survey was conducted in 2007. According to the APA:

  • 72 percent of adults report feeling stressed about money at least some of the time
  • 22 percent reported feeling “extreme stress” about money at some point during the past month
  • 26 percent of adults report feeling stressed about money most or all of the time

It shouldn’t be this way and this is where financial advisors can be a huge help.
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