CHECKLIST

Captive Insurance: The Top Eight Myths

By

Huffman

Deconstructing misconceptions about forming your own insurance company to optimize cash, mitigate taxes and build enterprise value

By Ken Huffman, CPA
President
Captive Nation

With continued economic uncertainty, companies of all sizes are looking toward captives as a way to manage high-severity risks and gain enhanced flexibility and greater control over their total cost of risk. And you don’t have to be a global behemoth to form a captive.

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Captive insurance can be one of the most effective ways for businesses to protect themselves, optimize cash, mitigate taxes and build enterprise value. However, captives often arouse suspicion among those who are not well-informed. That’s because there have been widely publicized cases of companies using captives as illegal tax shelters, among other abuses.

To separate fact from fiction, I will walk you through some of the most frequently heard objections to captives and explain why those objections are often short-sighted. READ MORE →

Five Tests: How Open Are You to Change?

By

Post with two signs, "same" and "change"You can’t fix what you don’t see.

By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms

A long time ago, a participant in one of my classes passed a note saying, “The only people who like change are babies.” I believe everyone will agree that change is not easy until you develop a skill to embrace it.

MORE: 13 Reasons to Master Consumption Marketing | How to Fire a Client | Five Tips for Virtual Team Member Happiness | Five Skills that Spell Success | Beyond Compliance: What More You Can Provide  | The Biggest SEO Secret of All: Google Business Listings | Five Ways to Get Better Clients
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Here are five quick questions for your consideration:

Fourteen Rules for Lateral Partner Hires

By

Two women in office shake handsBe clear about their client base.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide

It’s fairly common for law firms to hire partners from other firms, a practice termed “lateral partner hires.” CPA firms do this but much less often.

MORE: Where Mergers Go Wrong | Twelve Tips for Negotiating Mergers | Buying a Solo | Why Merging in Smaller Firms Is Fabulous 13 Reasons to Merge Up | Thinking Merger? First Ask Why.
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The main reason for this difference is that law firms cannot legally have nonsolicitation or noncompete covenants in their partner agreements. Most CPA firms do have such provisions, which severely restrict the movement of partners from firm to firm.

Despite these nonsolicitation provisions, CPA firms do sometimes make lateral partner hires (LPs). There are several variations:
READ MORE →

Keep the Accountants Focused on Accounting

By

Six businesspeople in meeting around tableCHECKLIST: The 10 questions you need to ask.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

I’ve developed a series of questions to assess someone’s aptitude for being on a team. Each person in your firm who is a possible member of the back office support (BOS) team needs to answer these questions. That includes you, as you are a potential team member.

MORE: Which Kind of Team Do You Have? | You Don’t Have to Do Everything | What Do You Want Advisory Services to Be? | Meet the New BOS | Why AI Is Not the Enemy
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Ask others in your firm or people you work with outside your firm to give you feedback on these questions as they see you and the other potential members of your team. Their responses will give you a second filtering of your potential as well as others you would like on your team. Notice these are not questions relating to the competencies in accounting functions. The assumption is that you and your people already possess those skills.
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Twelve Tips for Negotiating Mergers

By

Four businesspeople, left handshakePlus: Guarding against deal fatigue.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide

After you’ve identified a merger partner.

After you’ve convened a get-to-know-you meeting.

After you’ve exchanged financial and production data.

After you’ve received letters of intent,

MORE: Mergers: One Stage or Two? | What Your Merger Letter of Intent Needs | 61 Things Buyers Should Explore with Sellers | Thirteen Ways to Woo Potential Firm Buyers | One Times Fees Isn’t the Only Way | Four Reasons to Fear a Merger
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… now you’re ready to get down to business! It’s time to begin arguably the most critical of the dozen or so major steps in the merger process: negotiating the deal. READ MORE →

What Your Merger Letter of Intent Needs

By

Fontaine

BONUS: A 19-point checklist for sellers.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide

NOTE: This post was written in collaboration with attorney Peter Fontaine, the founder and managing partner of NewGate Law, a firm of lawyers that work with CPA firms exclusively. He served as legal counsel at Arthur Andersen and RSM for more than two decades. He can be reached at pfontaine@newgate.law or (617) 513-2440.

At the onset of the merger process, most sellers contact at least two to three potential buyers. This positions the seller to select one buyer to commence negotiations with, in earnest.

MORE: Buying a Solo | 23 Questions for Mergers of Equals | 61 Things Buyers Should Explore with Sellers | Why Merging in Smaller Firms Is Fabulous | Selling Your Firm? What to Expect | Thirteen Ways to Woo Potential Firm Buyers
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After an exchange of financial and operating data and meetings to clarify the information, but before serious negotiations begin, it is customary for the qualified buyers to issue letters of intent (LOIs).
READ MORE →

61 Things Buyers Should Explore with Sellers

By

Businesswoman in a meeting with a male colleague smiling at him as they sit at a table discussing paperwork over coffeeEverything from reporting to décor.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide

Here we list 61 issues with mergers and acquisitions, and additional items will undoubtedly arise on a case-by-case basis.

MORE: Why Merging in Smaller Firms Is Fabulous | Selling Your Firm? What to Expect | Merger? The 100 Data Points You Need First | Why Do You Want to Merge? Be Honest.
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If a buyer pursued every one of these issues, it could take years to negotiate the deal and would ensure severe deal fatigue. So as you review this list, prioritize what issues are most important and customize these questions to the seller’s unique situation.
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How to Expand into Business Valuation

By

BONUS CHECKLIST: 47 types of BV services.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Managing an Accounting Practice: 202 Questions and Answers

Q: I am exploring the business valuation credential as a way to expand our practice. I’m still (relatively) young to the profession and would (I think) love to expand into this niche area.

MORE: How to Handle Referrals with Attorneys | Audit Reports Without Doing the Work? | Ask These 10 Questions Before Adding Financial Services | 10 Reasons Clients Don’t Pay
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A few things:

  • We don’t do any BV now so my ability to acquire the ABV credential would be difficult without the experience aspect.

READ MORE →

Tech Vexes 58% of Solos

By

Checklist: The five best ideas for winning the tech wars.

By CPA Trendlines

Solo practitioners enjoy certain privileges. They can set their own hours, pick their clients, work at their own pace, dress in office grunge, nap at will and take their dogs to work.

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But when it comes to tech, solos can be challenged. They may know accountancy and their clientele better than anybody in town, but when it comes to tech, they don’t know

  • what’s out there,
  • what’s coming down the techno-pike,
  • how to use new apps and
  • whether the latest stuff is worth paying for.

And they tend to run their hardware into the ground, investing in new tools only when they have to.
READ MORE →