VIRTUAL CFO

Automation Is Key to Accounting

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Humans remain best for critical thinking.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

There’s no doubt that advancements in technology are changing the world, and the accounting industry is no exception. Technology is making us more productive, more efficient and more connected.

MORE by Jody Grunden
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On the flip side, it’s also taking over some of our jobs. This is a reality in the accounting industry that we cannot ignore. Technology is driving major changes for the future of the accounting world. We need to be aware of what’s happening and take strategic steps to advance along with these changes. Otherwise, we are going to be left in the dust.
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Big Four Vets Launch $300M PE-Backed, AI-Powered CFO Advisory Firm

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Born for scale, built to sell, and run like a tech company.

Unity Advisory: Ex-PwC UK Managing Partner Marissa Thomas and former EY UK Chair Steve Varley.

By CPA Trendlines Research

A new $300 million entrant is challenging the Big Four’s lock on Fortune 500 advisory—and it may be the next big thing.

MORE Private Equity in Accounting | Private Equity Update: 52 Deals, $28 Billion | Xero Buys Melio for $3 Billion in Race for ‘The Active GL’ | Brannon Poe: PE Drives Prices–And Change | Accounting Influencers | Behind Sorren’s Roll-Up: $170 Million, 1,000 Employees, 85 Partners

Unity Advisory, a London-based firm launched by former EY UK chair Steve Varley and ex-PwC UK managing partner Marissa Thomas, is taking direct aim at the CFO suite with a venture capital mindset, AI at its core, and no legacy constraints.

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You, a Virtual CFO? Why Not?

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Accountants are perfect for the role and CAS helps drive up the demand.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Tom, a CPA, has always been a curious person. For over 15 years, his tax “practice” was doing well. During the tax season, he had no time to think. But, oblivious to himself, with each tax return, he was depositing new questions in his subconscious.

He is now a shared CFO of 12 companies. But he took up the CFO work accidentally.

How?

MORE: Who Is Ready for Client Accounting Services? | Wants? Needs? CAS Helps Fill Both | Automation Can Be Exciting in Client Accounting Services | Eight Steps for Better Client Accounting Services | Do You Have the Client Accounting Services Mindset? | Four Ingredients to Your CAS ‘Why’ | CAS Clients Are ‘Stickier’
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Tom believed that it was his thinking power – armed with the CPA education, years of experience, and knowing which tools to use effectively to produce the impeccable tax returns – that could help him make a meaningful positive difference to clients’ businesses, and hence lives.
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Steve Rosvold: What Makes the Best CFOs? | Accounting Influencers

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Move from being just an accountant to a successful finance leader using these four pillars of success.

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Accounting Influencers
with Rob Brown

Rob Brown and Steve Rosvold discuss whether accountants and CPAs make the best CFOs, CFO.University, and the four competencies of top financial professionals.

More Accounting Influencers with Rob Brown here

Steve Rosvold is the Founder of CFO.University, a professional development platform for finance leaders. He spent 20 years leading corporate finance teams honing his ability to drive change, improve profitability and ensure long-term financial health for businesses before creating an advisory practice that grew into CFO.University.

Jody Grunden: Be Different. Make More Money

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Prove the naysayers wrong.

This video is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members. The podcast version becomes available in a few days everywhere you get your podcasts.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

In 2013, Jody Grunden’s firm, Summit Virtual CFO, became one of the first financial firms in the world to go fully remote. At the same time, they narrowed their focus to creative agencies. Those two changes, combined with a weekly subscription pricing model they’ve been using since 2007, resulted in a “hockey slope type ramp up.”

JODY GRUNDEN, PART 2 of 2: See Part 1, June 20 – Jody Grunden: Subscription Pricing Is a Game Changer

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Dawn Brolin Says Grow Your Firm by Shrinking It | Jason Blumer & Julie Shipp: Move Leaders Out of Client Service | James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow |

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Since then, they’ve been doubling in size every three years, reaching $10 million in revenue by 2022 while maintaining a profit margin of 10-25%. They also ditched the suits and ties back in 2004 and “decided to go against the norm…it really changed the way that people thought about accounting,” Grunden says. He is the author of the best-selling Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud.

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Jody Grunden: Subscription Pricing Is a Game Changer

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Get rid of the noise of hourly billing and create value.

This video is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members. The podcast version becomes available in a few days everywhere you get your podcasts.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

The Disruptors
Part 1 of a two-part episode.
With Liz Farr

For over a decade, Jody Grunden, CPA, has been doing things that many firms are just now discovering. Summit Virtual CFO (now part of Anders) offers weekly subscription-based pricing as a fully remote firm, and their main offering is virtual CFO services or, in today’s parlance, CAS 2.0 services. He’s also the one you might spot at accounting conferences in his signature Tommy Bahama shirts instead of a suit and tie, not quite what you might expect from the leader of a $10 million firm.

JODY GRUNDEN, COMING IN PART 2, June 27: Be different. Make More Money
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Grunden, the partner and co-founder of Summit Virtual CFO, got his start as a thought leader and virtual CFO (as well as his signature wardrobe) when he was invited to speak at a conference in New Orleans. At the conference, he used an easel and pad of paper to walk a roomful of successful creative agency owners through the way they made money and how their decisions impacted the bottom line. He is the author of the best-selling Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud.

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Accounting ARC: Forecasting Finance & the 2034 Accounting Landscape

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Be ready to embrace AI and blockchain innovations, the rise of boutique firms, and the surge of specialized credentials.

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Accounting ARC 
With Donny Shimamoto, Liz Mason, and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

Hosts Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Liz Mason, CPA; and Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, explore the future of the accounting profession, making bold predictions about what the next decade holds. Their conversation covers a wide range of topics, from technological advancements to diversity, equity, and inclusion, offering a comprehensive look at how accounting might evolve by 2034.

MORE: Harper & Co. CPAs: The Perspective of a Non-Accountant is Imperative | Menlo Innovations: Improve Office Culture by Overhauling Internal Reviews | Dustin Wheeler: For Serious CAS Success, Hire Tech Teams | Chase Birky: Overcoming Paralysis By Analysis |

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One of the central themes of the discussion is the rapid pace of technological change. Patrick, vice president of Client Success at the B3 Method Institute, emphasizes that technology will continue to accelerate, fundamentally altering the landscape of accounting. “Technology is not slowing down, it’s accelerating exponentially,” he says. “And 10 years from now, there is going to be even more need for integrity within the technology that we are using.”

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Eight Steps to Putting Back Office Support into Place

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three young people talking in an office

Includes details for the Client Operations Manual.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

Moving from compliance to reliance services is not an easy task. If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point, that’s okay. However, the joy of offering back office support (BOS) services and working closely with clients to help them meet their goals is well worth the effort. Having a strong team, clear procedures and technology that works for you are the building blocks that allow you to succeed in this endeavor.

MORE: After You Check Your Cybersecurity, Help Others | Cover These Five Areas of Information Security | 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
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The next layer is the clients – meeting with them, working with them and setting up the procedures to ensure that you are truly their advisor. When you carefully select your clients, take the time to understand their needs and goals, and hold them to a paperless work environment, both your team and clients will reap the rewards.
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After You Check Your Cybersecurity, Help Others

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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
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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.
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Cover These Five Areas of Information Security

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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
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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

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