SPECIAL

Five Trends in Tax Advisory

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How to continue providing value for clients.

By Jackie Meyer
The Balanced Millionaire: Advisor Edition

The tax advisory world is changing faster than ever before. When I first started my firm, technology played a limited role – mostly in the form of software that helped with basic data entry, compliance and tax returns. Today, however, we’re in the midst of a true revolution, driven by automation, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and client expectations that are continually evolving.

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The days of a compliance-focused practice being enough to keep you profitable are quickly disappearing. Compliance has been commoditized – clients see it as a cost to be minimized, rather than as a value-add service. If you want to remain competitive and thrive in the years to come, it’s essential to lead with advisory, embrace technology and position yourself as an indispensable partner in your clients’ financial success.
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The Sales Cycle and What You Need to Know

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There are five steps and you can’t skip ahead.

By August Aquila
MAX: Maximize Productivity, Profitability and Client Retention

For a long time, the word “sales” was not an accepted word in accounting firms. Unfortunately, too many accountants associated sales work with some type of unprofessional and even unethical activity. Fortunately, those days are long gone.

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The word “sales” is not a four-letter word; it is a professional activity. People who sell make a promise of some future deliverable: “I will do this and this for you.” In turbulent times, selling is a skill that accountants must learn to be successful. Here is my definition of selling: “Selling is problem solving.” Nothing more and nothing less. It’s what you do every time you help a client with a problem. If you have been a successful new business developer, then you have been a successful salesperson.
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How to Choose a Specialty

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Considerations that might not have occurred to you.

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

Once you decide upon a specialization, you need to go about making yourself an expert. Read, join professional associations, take focused CPE, and try to write articles or give speeches. Accountants who are industry experts become industry thought leaders.

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Some specialties require obtaining designations or certificates of completion that require study and time – an investment you and the firm would have to make. There is no easy path to growing and establishing expertise, but it is a joyful ride.
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Hourly Billing Sells Firms Short

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You have more to offer than time.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

Amazing things happen when you stop thinking about what you’re selling and focus on what clients are buying.

Many of the things clients don’t value are compliance-related like:

  • Tax returns
  • Payroll
  • Accounting services

MORE: Why Pricing Is So Disruptive | The Radical Pricing Model: Start with $25K | Three Critical Factors Drive the Value Pricing Trend | Accounting Disruptors Are Heading Your Way … with Deep Pockets | The Convergence of Trends Makes Pricing Changes Imperative | Stop Looking for Talent that Does Not Exist | Advisory Work Must Be Priced by Value, Not Hours
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But much of what they do value is less defined, though of higher value to their business lives:

  • Small business expertise
  • Management support and confidence
  • Any service requiring specific knowledge or experience

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Psychological Safety Is a Throughput Issue, Not a Soft Skill

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Firms rarely struggle because their people lack intelligence, training, or work ethic.

By William Englehaupt

Most teams are staffed with capable professionals who understand the standards and care deeply about quality. Yet issues still surface late, reviews still congest near deadlines, and leaders are often surprised by risks that “should have been obvious earlier.”

MORE Audit and Assurance

The common explanation is experience gaps or workload pressure. The more accurate explanation is simpler and more uncomfortable: uncertainty is being withheld until it is too late to deal with cheaply. That is not a personality problem. It is a system problem.

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