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Bissett Bullet: Give Your Clients a Commercial Hug

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “How are your clients, really?”

By Martin Bissett

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, accounting firms all over the world went into reactive mode. They adapted, they got their own houses in order – which is an entirely appropriate response to an unprecedented crisis – and then those who really cared reached out to their clients. They called them on a regular basis just to see how they were faring.

This should be something you do routinely in the interests of relationship building. Call your clients, no charge, no sell, no angle, just a commercial hug. Ask how they are, if they need anything and offer your help. That may be in the form of expertise, of monetized help or of goodwill, that is at your discretion; but cement that relationship by showing you care after their signature has dried on the original contract.

Today’s To-Do:

Start with your biggest or most vulnerable clients. Diarize one call a day starting today; pick up the phone and add value.

See more Bissett Bullets here

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ACCOUNTING ARC

Will AI Make Students Better Learners — or Just Faster Workers? | SLC

Educators explore ethics, creativity, critical thinking and the future of learning in an AI-powered world.

Sponsored by True Advisor: The Definitive Success Guide for Client Advisory Services by Hitendra Patil |
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The step-by-step operating guide for firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Student-Led Conversations
With Harshita Multani
Center for Accounting Transformation

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future issue in education. It is already shaping how students study, how teachers prepare lessons, how universities think about access and admissions, and how employers evaluate readiness for the workforce.

MORE SLC: Why the Next Generation May Be Accounting’s Greatest Competitive Advantage | Students Redefine Career Readiness | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone |  Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC 

In this episode, host Harshita Multani, a Center for Accounting Transformation intern and Indiana high school business student, leads a thoughtful discussion on AI in education with Markus Ahrens, Ph.D., CPA, CGMA, FMAA, of the American Accounting Association, and David Wood of Brigham Young University.

What makes this conversation stand out is not just the topic. It is the perspective.

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PRO Member Exclusive

K-1 Bottlenecks Stretch Busy Season, Forcing Firms to Rethink Tax Workflows

More than 50% of K-1 work now hits in a three-month crunch.

By CPA Trendlines

A growing backlog of Schedule K-1 data is reshaping the tax calendar and forcing accounting firms to rethink how they manage people, processes and technology, according to a new industry guide.

DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT: Tax Transformation Best Practices in Alternative Investments – A Step-by-Step Guidebook for Modernizing K-1 Processes – Available here

More than half of all K-1 aggregation work — 52.8% — is now completed within a compressed three-month window, with 81% finished over six months, reflecting persistent delays in the K-1 ecosystem.

The result: the traditional January-through-April busy season has effectively stretched into a second peak running July through October, driven by late-arriving partnership data and expanded reporting requirements. READ MORE →

GROWTH STRATEGIES

Four Advisory Lessons Learned

woman and man meeting in office; chart on his laptop screen

And four case studies for illustration.

By Jackie Meyer
The Balanced Millionaire: Advisor Edition

You’ve already heard the story of one of my first high-net-worth clients – an executive preparing their own tax return, making costly errors and ultimately turning to me for help. Let’s revisit this example with a deeper dive into the transformation and outcomes.

MORE by Jackie Meyer
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Case Study 1: From $150,000 in Tax Savings to 1,400 Percent ROI

The Situation: This client was an executive with a complex financial situation, including private equity investments that generated dozens of K-1s. When I initially reviewed his self-prepared return, I found that he had misclassified a capital gain sale as royalty income, which led to an overstatement of income by hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2012, I charged him an hourly rate of $150 to amend the return and correct the mistake. This simple fix saved him $150,000 in taxes.
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