CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

AI Means Clients Need You More Than Ever

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Businesswoman in wheelchair meeting with potential client

Four ways to prepare.

By Hitendra Patil
Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS

We have discussed that AI-powered functions will become more potent with time. It will not feel like an overnight apocalypse, provided you are keeping yourself abreast of the progress of artificial intelligence in the accounting profession.

MORE: Seven Changes AI Brings to Accounting | Humans Beat AI in Some Aspects | Why Accountants Should Embrace Artificial Intelligence | AI Brings Opportunities for Accountants | Seven Things You Must Know about AI
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But how exactly can you prepare for the era when AI metamorphoses your work?

Before entering the new AI-powered era, let us figure out what is happening now.
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Firms Offer Advice About CAS

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man with six arms handling various aspects of business

Can’t find staff? Focus on technology … and other suggestions.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Client accounting services is a bold, new world in the accounting industry, so no surprise we’re getting a lot of good advice from the CPA Trendlines Outlook 2024: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends survey.

MORE CAS SURVEY: Ten+ Ways Firms Prefer (and Prefer Not) to Market CAS | SURVEY: The CAS Pricing Problem | CAS Challenge: No Staff, No Services | CAS ‘One-Stop Shop’ Means Steady Clientele | Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS
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If 59 percent of firms are offering some form of CAS, that means 41 percent aren’t even though most (but not all) the 59 percent are saying go for it … but be careful.

ASAP… but

While one respondent says, “Dive in, there is plenty of need out there,” and another just says, “Do it ASAP,” most others recommend some forethought and planning.
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Ten+ Ways Firms Prefer (and Prefer Not) to Market CAS

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One point of concern: who’s doing the marketing?

By CPA Trendlines Research

The CPA Trendlines Outlook 2024: Opportunities, Emerging Issues and Trends survey is bringing to light an array of marketing strategies that CPA firms are using to promote their client accounting services.

MORE CAS SURVEY: SURVEY: The CAS Pricing Problem | CAS Challenge: No Staff, No Services | CAS ‘One-Stop Shop’ Means Steady Clientele | Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS
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Nine strategies are mentioned by at least a few of the early survey respondents.
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SURVEY: The CAS Pricing Problem

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Accountants grapple with how to value insight and advice.

By CPA Trendlines Research

One of the biggest challenges to offering client accounting services (CAS) isn’t offering the actual services; it’s figuring out how and how much to charge for them.

MORE CAS SURVEY: CAS Challenge: No Staff, No Services | CAS ‘One-Stop Shop’ Means Steady Clientele | Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS
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When the CPA Trendlines survey Outlook 2024: Emerging Issues, Opportunities and Trends asked what’s most tough about CAS, finding and training staff ranks #1, of course, for 30 percent of respondents. But pricing CAS services was close behind for 29.2 percent.
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CAS Challenge: No Staff, No Services

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Demand isn’t a problem, but supply might be.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The CPA Trendlines Outlook 2024: Emerging Issues, Opportunities and Trends survey asks 23 questions about Client Accounting Services. Early results clearly reveal certain emerging issues:

MORE CAS SURVEY: CAS ‘One-Stop Shop’ Means Steady Clientele | Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS
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  • A majority of CPA firms (59 percent) now offer CAS, and a lot more (21 percent) may soon join them.
  • A sizable portion of clients want these services.
  • Staff shortages and training are the biggest challenge (for 30 percent) and biggest obstacle (for 44 percent) to offering CAS.

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CAS ‘One-Stop Shop’ Means Steady Clientele

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bar chartAccountants share which niches offer the best new opportunities.

By CPA Trendlines Research

How do you measure success in client accounting services?

MORE CAS SURVEY: Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS
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Almost half of early respondents to the CPA Trendlines Outlook 2024: Emerging Issues, Opportunities and Trends survey define success as that glorious moment when they become a one-stop shop for their clients.
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Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS

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bar chartSurvey respondents tell us what their clients want from CAS that they don’t get from other services.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Accountants are using client accounting services (CAS) to get closer to their clients, according to early results from the CPA Trendlines Outlook 2024: Emerging Issues, Opportunities and Trends survey.

MORE: Accountants Torn Over 2024 Economy, Offer Advice | Accountants Bullish on Income | CPAs Culling Clients for Better Work-Life Balance | Are You Offering the Right Services? | Which Niche’s the Best Niche? | 42% of Accountants Turn Away Work Over Staff Shortages
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The survey doesn’t exactly ask about CAS leading to a closer relationship with clients, but responses to various questions indicate just such a result.
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The When, What, How of CAS

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Weave review actions into your processes.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Why review your client accounting services offering periodically?

Most accounting firms ultimately optimize their internal processes and resources that produce their services. The measurement of such optimization is the profitability of the firm. When firm owners/partners feel the pressure on profitability, it is natural for them to measure the factors that contribute to profitability, and the cost thereof.

MORE: Your Sales Success Is Your Proof | Three Keys to Developing Your CAS Sales Process | Your Clients’ Words = Your New CAS Marketing | Price by Outcome, Not Time Spent | Your CAS Engagement Letter Needs a Reset Option | Help Your Clients Run Their Businesses Better | CAS Tech Stack Depends on Cloud Use | Five Ways to Profit from CAS
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You can measure the performance of your CAS offering in similar ways. But there is a difference that makes CAS performance measurement processes somewhat unconventional. It is not just for the cost and profitability parameters you will measure, but because CAS is about outcomes your CAS clients (are supposed to) receive/experience, measuring the “promise fulfillment” of CAS is a necessity. And if you do not do it periodically, at pre-decided intervals, it can be challenging to course-correct when it is too late.
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