Don’t skip the notes.
By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!
How do you start reviewing a financial statement? Like any good book, you must start at the beginning.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.But where is the beginning? And how can you do it in only seven minutes? Here is how …
READ MORE →
What are your clients’ dreams? How do you know?
By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
A client discovery meeting, or even better, a rediscovery meeting, can be an ideal opportunity for you to deepen your relationship with the client. Even better, when done correctly, the meeting can lead to self-discovery for the client.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
Historically, clients turn to financial professionals for help solving a financial problem or for alleviating financial concerns. They ask questions such as:
Tough client calls, tax planning, and better leadership turned hard knocks into growth.
It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines
When Lang launched Upside CFO, he didn’t set out with a grand blueprint. “If we’re being honest, we started off with simple bookkeeping,” he says. Over time, his firm evolved into a multi-faceted practice offering fractional CFO services, tax planning, and even financial planning partnerships. Along the way, he admits to trial and error. “Sometimes I do smart stuff. Sometimes I don’t,” Lang laughs.
MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
MORE Advisory & Consulting
BUY “It’s Not Just the Numbers”
Yet from that messy middle came clarity: the future of advisory services lies in translating numbers into strategy, choosing the right clients, and building processes that can scale without sacrificing value.
Why the distinction matters.
By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide
Accountants often use the terms “advisory” and “consulting” interchangeably. In the accounting profession, it is common to find the word “consultants” in the names of firms, and at the same time, it is also common to find that several firms list “advisory” in the services sections of their websites.
MORE by Hitendra Patil: The DNA of Advisory-CAS | Advisory Is Not Consulting | What Exactly Is Client Advisory Services? | Review Your CAS Offerings | CAS Prospects Want Proof? You’ve Got That | What AI CEO’s Warning Means (and Doesn’t) for Accountants | Ditch the Sales Pitch | How to Get CAS Clients to Blow Your Horn | Four Questions for Choosing CAS Clients | What Is Your Firm’s Marketable Value? | Seven Tips for CAS Marketing | Twelve Things That Kill Your CAS Profits
Advisory and consulting services are often lumped together, but they serve distinctly different purposes. This article helps you distinguish between the two with clarity. You will see why advisory is a long-term, insight-driven relationship, not just a project or deliverable. And you will understand the role each plays in client transformation.
READ MORE →
Also: Audits vs. reviews vs. compilations.
By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!
One of my clients generously gave me his take on the benefits he received from the audited financial statements we issued for him. I was appreciative of this and want to share his views with you.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
He began with an introduction explaining how he started his business and shepherded its growth by concentrating on developing his services and delivering them quickly and on time to his clients. The business grew rapidly, and little time was spent on the recordkeeping except for getting invoices to the clients or making payroll, while keeping the back office as lean as he could. At the same time there were legal, regulatory, HR, occupancy and tax issues from operating in multiple states and countries and he was spending quite a lot of time and fees on these activities, because he had to, while pushing aside and neglecting the accounting work.
READ MORE →
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.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
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:
It shouldn’t be this way and this is where financial advisors can be a huge help.
READ MORE →
Remember, you’re the expert.
By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide
I attended the AICPA Engage 2022 conference in early June, where Dan Hood, the editor-in-chief of Accounting Today, stopped by for a brief chat. Of course, me being the author of the first and only book on client accounting services, the conversation quickly turned to CAS 2.0, specifically regarding the “advisory” services opportunity that everybody at Engage22 seemed to be discussing.
MORE by Hitendra Patil: The DNA of Advisory-CAS | Advisory Is Not Consulting | What Exactly Is Client Advisory Services? | Review Your CAS Offerings | CAS Prospects Want Proof? You’ve Got That | What AI CEO’s Warning Means (and Doesn’t) for Accountants | Ditch the Sales Pitch | How to Get CAS Clients to Blow Your Horn | Four Questions for Choosing CAS Clients | What Is Your Firm’s Marketable Value? | Seven Tips for CAS Marketing | Twelve Things That Kill Your CAS Profits
The meaning of “advisory” changes as titles and services evolve. But what does it mean for clients and accountants today? Everyone talks about “advisory,” but few can define it clearly.
In this post, let’s ditch the buzzwords and talk about what advisory actually looks like when you are the one doing the work. You will explore the nature of advice, why firms struggle to define and deliver it, and what it really means to operate as an advisory-first professional. This is the starting point for turning intent into impact.
READ MORE →
“CAS gets stronger as tech gets better. The market’s expanding, not shrinking.”
Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines
In this episode of Big 4 Transparency, Matthew May, former co-founder of Acuity and now CAS Leader at Sorren, pulls back the curtain on one of the most significant private equity-driven rollups in the accounting profession. Speaking with host Dominic Piscopo, May details how Acuity, alongside other firms, became part of a growing national platform backed by DFW Capital, and why he believes Client Accounting Services (CAS) will soon eclipse audit.
MORE Dominic Piscopo | MORE Pay & Compensation | MORE CAS
The seeds of the Sorren platform were planted in a BDO Alliance roundtable where six firms fantasized about joining forces. That vision crystallized when DFW Capital, with a thesis to invest $100M in the space, entered the picture. From there, May and his partners at Acuity ran a rigorous process, engaging investment bankers to evaluate 250 potential paths, leading to 11 indications of interest (IOIs), seven in-person meetings, and five formal offers. The decision to join Sorren wasn’t about cashing out – it was about autonomy, cultural fit, and the chance to help shape a future-focused firm from the ground up.
Don’t skip the notes, no matter how many pages there are.
By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!
Publicly traded companies are required to issue audited financial statements annually. There are seven parts of the statements that are briefly described here in the usual order they are presented:
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
1. Report of independent registered public accounting firm. This provides their opinion that the financial statements were in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP); that the company maintained effective internal controls; that the audits were conducted in accordance with standards of the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and some other things and that their audits provided a reasonable basis for their opinion; and that the internal control may not prevent or detect fraud. This needs careful reading and understanding, as do all seven elements of the statement, but on some level, this type of report is the gold standard for public companies.
READ MORE →
Every client interaction is an opportunity.
By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
In tracing the trajectory of economic evolution, each phase represents a profound transformation, often driven by technological advancements. For instance, the Industrial Revolution transformed the U.S. from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy that created tangible assets (i.e., finished goods) out of raw materials. In recent decades, the U.S. went through a digital revolution, moving us from a manufacturing economy to a service-based economy that produces intangible assets.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
This shift was emblematic of a broader transition from making tangible goods to delivering intangible services. The service economy burgeoned, with a focus on delivering services, e.g., tax services, financial services and estate planning legal services.
Now, we are in the midst of another paradigm shift. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming us from a service economy to one based on providing the consumer with experiences and guiding them through life transformations. The AI era is not just about automating routine tasks, but fostering an environment in which we transcend traditional service delivery.
READ MORE →
Plus five self-assessment questions about the manager/owner’s role.
By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!
The author contends that almost every business owner or manager is an absentee owner or manager, regardless of the amount of time they spend at their business.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.While many are ever-present either physically or virtually by phone, texts and emails, they are not managing but rather working in their business on what needs to be done at that moment or that day. They are responding to normal business routines; customer, supplier and personnel requests or problems; and myriad other situations that demand their time, such as banking relationships, cash flow planning, HR issues including hiring, discharging and compliance, interactions with outside professionals, including their attorneys and accountants, and regulatory and occupancy issues. Some have partner issues and if they are managing a not-for-profit organization, then board and possibly funding and development issues. They are functioning as a necessary and essential employee and are not really running the business or organization – as if they were not there or were in another part of the country.
READ MORE →
What does money mean to the client?
By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
I decided to call my book “The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management” because leveraging a suite of financial services offerings that work in harmony with each other is a powerful business model that can transform your firm. The transformative power of this model, however, is based on the human side of the advice we provide clients and how we can improve their lives. It’s about shifting the conversation from integrating and delivering services to clients to gaining a deep understanding of a client’s values and what gives them a sense of well-being.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
What is behavioral finance?
The Corporate Finance Institute defines behavioral finance as “the study of the influence of psychology on the behavior of investors, as well as on financial analysts.” Dr. Daniel Crosby, chief behavioral officer at Orion, and author of best sellers “The Behavioral Investor” and “The Laws of Wealth: Psychology and the Secret to Investing Success,” takes it a step further.
READ MORE →
Hiring in the management consulting sector slows, but remains positive. Tax & accounting sector shrinks workforce.
By CPA Trendlines Research
The professional services industry is accelerating a quiet but consequential reshaping toward higher-end advisory services and away from low-end compliance work.
ASK CPA Trendlines A.I.: Where do accountants go when they quit?
Consulting firms have added more than 27,000 jobs over the past 12 months, pushing total headcount to 1.56 million. In contrast, the accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll sector remains stuck near 1.155 million employees, a plateau that has persisted for much of the past three years, according to a new analysis by CPA Trendlines Research.