CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Blake Christian: Why You Should Pay Attention to OZ 2.0 | Holistic Guide

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Proper entity structure, timing, and compliance are critical to maximizing the next phase of Opportunity Zone benefits.

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The Break-Through Blueprint for Revolutionizing the CPA Firm Business Model

The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
With Rory Henry, CFP®, BFA™

A decade ago, federal Opportunity Zones (OZ) were introduced as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act to encourage long-term investment into economically distressed communities through tax incentives. The first phase of the OZ program expires at the end of 2026, but Blake Christian, CPA, says the program is entering a new phase (OZ 2.0) that could dramatically expand its impact across operating businesses, infrastructure, AI data centers, and rural America.

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While many investors initially focus on the tax deferral aspects of Opportunity Zones, Christian explains that the program delivers three separate benefits.

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Tony Wilson: Career Options CPAs May Be Overlooking | Accounting Conversations

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Extraordinary opportunities lie ahead for those who combine accounting knowledge with curiosity, judgment, and business insight.

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Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

Accounting students often feel pressure to choose the perfect career path before they have taken their first professional step. Tony Wilson, CPA, CMA, offers a more forgiving — and practical — approach: Choose a direction, start moving, and learn along the way.

“Sometimes, just choose the thing,” Wilson says. “Just go after it.”

In this episode of the Accounting Conversations Podcast, host Chayton Farlee, an assurance associate at CliftonLarsonAllen, talks with Wilson, founder of Accquip, about building a career that stretches from public accounting and corporate finance to entrepreneurship and fractional CFO services.

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Along the way, Wilson shares candid advice for students and early-career accountants who want to gain meaningful experience, prepare for firm ownership, and understand where they can create value in a profession transformed by technology.

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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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77 No-Brainer Opportunities in Small Business Advisory

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The Checklist of Checklists Quick-Start Guide

man in glasses looking at document held by woman

You can take action starting today.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

This list is a guide to jog additional thought about a client’s business. I have done all of these, and, at some point, I started making a list to help me remember. I also used it to help staff choose a few items each time they performed services for a client as a value-added benefit to the client.

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The listing can also be used a guide for a separate engagement. Either way, the emphasis should be to provide information to the client about their business that the client does not already consider, focus in on or know about.
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How Siblings Can Derail a Family Business

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hands holding rope in tug of war

Succession plans can be tricky …  for the advisor.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

Someone has to be the boss. When the founder is active, he or she is usually the boss. But what about parents who step aside to have their children run the business? Particularly where there is more than one child working in the business?

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I’ve seen some situations where two siblings can run the business as equals. And then, there are other situations where they can’t. What do you do?

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Art Werner: Just Don’t Call it a Trump Account | Quick Tax Tip

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Trump accounts can be “one of the best” long-term planning options, despite their name, says Werner.

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Quick Tax Tip
With Art Werner
CPE Today

More Werner on Trump accounts.

Trump accounts are “one of the best provisions that we have seen,” tax expert Art Werner says in this Quick Tax Tip.

Acknowledging that the name itself may create resistance among some taxpayers, he says that for people who are not fond of President Trump, “when they hear the name Trump account, it turns them off.” But if they dismiss the account because of its name, he adds, “they are walking away from a tremendous opportunity.”

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Werner explains that funds in a Trump Account are effectively locked away until the child reaches age 18. Once the beneficiary reaches adulthood, the money can be used for specific purposes that he describes as major life milestones, including higher education, purchasing a first home, starting a business, and ultimately retirement planning.

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Why CPAs Leave to Work for a Client

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Money tree growing in the middle of green meadow

Is that grass really greener?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I know many CPAs who left public accountancy to take a “better” job. For many of them this was a mistake. For some it worked out, so if you are one of the lucky few, you can stop reading what I have to say.

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There are basically three types of companies the accountant could work for – a small client that does not have an in-house controller or CFO, one whose controller will be replaced by the departing CPA, or a large company that has an entire accounting staff already in place. Let’s talk about working for the small companies that do not have a controller.
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Create ‘Family Trees’ of Referrals

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Have you taken the time to trace who sends you business?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

For those of us in public accounting, there is a continual need to get new clients. Many times we look beyond what we have for the “new” when the growth is there for the taking.

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One of the most important ways a practice can grow is for existing clients to recommend new clients. I have always valued such referral sources, and this value surpasses the fees they pay us. They look out for us and help us grow – I owe them!
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