VIRTUAL CFO

After You Check Your Cybersecurity, Help Others

By

Make it a client service option.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

In 2020, like many businesses, we went remote. My remote team of excellent ladies in Chennai, India, had to go even more remote than they already were. When India shut down, I figured I was out of business. We promise our cybersecurity is job number one to our accounting and financial firms. We have a highly controlled work environment, except for the day care and under 3’s occasionally looking for Mum. I did not think sending our employees home would work.

MORE: Cover These Five Areas of Information Security | Let Tech Make Communication Easier | How to Assess Needs for a Client Proposal | Best Practices for Source Doc Permissions and Handling | Every Back Office Support Client Needs a Playbook | Creating a Back Office Support Playbook | Strengthen Client Ties with Workflow Tools | Understand Your Online Marketing Options | Narrow Your Prospects by Choosing a Vertical | Build Your Team, Then Choose Your Clients | How Back Office Support Adds Value | AI Is Not Your Enemy
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

But thank the universe, many of our clients had no problem as long as we could figure out the security. They had been working with the same team of ladies. They saw them on Zoom and communicated daily on Slack. So, in 48 hours we went through an internal change to allow that to happen.
READ MORE →

Cover These Five Areas of Information Security

By

How to thoroughly safeguard client information.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

Your clients trust you with their information; however, in today’s world, where sensitive information can be compromised and distributed, clients want assurance that their information is safe and that you are protecting them from identity theft.

MORE: Let Tech Make Communication Easier | How to Craft a Service Level Agreement | How to Maximize On-Site Client Meetings | Sixteen Guidelines for Naming Conventions | You Have to Manage Three Kinds of Procedures | Tech Tips for Back Office Support | Decoding Accounting Tech (and All Those Acronyms) | Digital Marketing Strategies Level the Playing Field | Eight Tasks to Delegate Today
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Although certain state laws (check with your state); federal laws such as Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB), which covers individual privacy disclosures; and the AICPA rules of ethics do provide some protection, we recommend that as the trusted business advisor, you should disclose to your clients how you:

  • Safeguard their information in your office and on your servers
  • Securely transmit sensitive data
  • Closely supervise access to authorized parties only

READ MORE →

Let Tech Make Communication Easier

By

man seated at laptop talking on phone

How to create effective systems.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

Open and clear communication is essential when you provide back office support (BOS) services. You cannot take on this type of work and not stay on top of it. Previous examples have shown what happens when you do it right. Here’s what happens when you don’t.

MORE: How to Craft a Service Level Agreement | Three Examples: Pricing Your BOS Value Add | Use Timesheets for Productivity, Not Billing | Revisit Your Back Office Support Procedures | Federated Search: What It Is, Why It Matters | Accounting Tech Tools to Minimize Your Pain | Do Your Apps Play Well with Others? | It’s OK to Have Favorite Clients | Ten Questions for Teamwork | Yes, You Can Be an Outsourcer
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Case Study: When You Don’t Keep Up Your Side of the Agreement

A CPA wanting to provide BOS services to his clients contacted us to help with the first setup. The software of choice by the business owner was QuickBooks.
READ MORE →

How to Craft a Service Level Agreement

By

Man and woman at table in client meeting

BONUS: A sample checklist.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

Anytime there is a business relationship between entities, expect to see a contract or some form of written agreement. In outsourcing, as in many other relationships, this is called a service level agreement (SLA). This agreement is used to establish the scope of the engagement. It clearly states who is responsible for what, when, where and how. It provides a quid pro quo that you can verify with the business owner(s), so that both parties are fully aware of their obligations.

MORE: Three Examples: Pricing Your BOS Value Add | How to Assess Needs for a Client Proposal | Best Practices for Source Doc Permissions and Handling | Every Back Office Support Client Needs a Playbook | Strengthen Client Ties with Workflow Tools | Understand Your Online Marketing Options | Narrow Your Prospects by Choosing a Vertical | Build Your Team, Then Choose Your Clients | How Back Office Support Adds Value
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The important thing is to go through each function and each area with the business owners(s), have them read it with you together and check off each item so that they are clear on what you expect from them, and so you are clear on what deliverables you are promising.
READ MORE →

Three Examples: Pricing Your BOS Value Add

By

 

Woman examining document

How to take that big first step.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

The big part of pricing is the value added. How do we go from fixed to value-added pricing where the firm actually can really make a difference and move from just back-office support to client advisory services? The steps to get there mean providing the base of BOS so that you have the needed knowledge to perform client advisory services.

MORE: How to Assess Needs for a Client Proposal | How to Maximize On-Site Client Meetings | Sixteen Guidelines for Naming Conventions | You Have to Manage Three Kinds of Procedures | Tech Tips for Back Office Support | Decoding Accounting Tech (and All Those Acronyms) | Digital Marketing Strategies Level the Playing Field | Eight Tasks to Delegate Today
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that about 20 percent of small businesses will fail in their first year and by the end of the fifth year 50 percent will fail.
READ MORE →