CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

OUTLOOK: A 40-Hour Workweek Is Feasible

Business development can be done remotely, but it can’t be skipped.

By Carl George
The Rosenberg MAP Survey

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every year, the Rosenberg MAP Survey asks the industry’s top consultants to share their observations from CPA firms across the country. How do you think the next 12 months will unfold? Also, how would you assess the last 12 months?

Firms will continue to upgrade their client profiles and disengage from clients that no longer fit. Disengagement is one of the major initiatives that must occur to meet the challenge of the “40-hour guarantee.”

MORE: Five Ways Staff Shortages Are Changing Firms Forever | OUTLOOK: Soft Skills Are Front and Center | OUTLOOK: It’s Time for a New Business Model | Rosenberg MAP: Partner Incomes Surge 11.4%
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As it was explained so eloquently by a CEO of a large firm, “We do not have a staffing shortage, we have a ‘D’ client overage!” Well said. Traditionally difficult for us to do, but we do not have the option of not executing this critical strategy.
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MARKETING & SALES

Fifteen Services a Salesperson Can Sell

Hate working leads? Engage a pro.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

If you want leads to get business from large companies for tax services, consider hiring a salesperson.

MORE ON MARKETING: Twelve Ways to Establish Your Brand | Why Other Accountants Are Great Referral Sources | Bundle Tax Services with Financial Planning | How to Begin a Business Valuation | How to Offer Conflict Resolution | Get Your Clients Talking About Retirement
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The salesperson should be a “professional” salesperson and does not need to be an accountant.
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Five Ways Staff Shortages Are Changing Firms Forever

Top professionals provide their insights.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Two crucial questions:

What is causing the shortage of accounting professionals?
What is the shortage of accounting professionals causing?

MORE: OUTLOOK: Soft Skills Are Front and Center | OUTLOOK: It’s Time for a New Business Model | Rosenberg MAP: Partner Incomes Surge 11.4%
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Each question has a few answers.
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CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Federated Search: What It Is, Why It Matters

computer screen littered with icons — Take a look at your team’s desktops.

Imagine a world without subfolders.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

Much has been done to help people deal with information overload. Desktop search tools have made it easier to find a piece of data hidden among all the other data stored on your system. But what about all the data available on portals, stored in shared drives, and trapped in business applications, let alone the valuable information stored in various employees’ heads?

MORE: Creating a Back Office Support Playbook | 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 | Advisory Services Done Your Way | AI Is Not Your Enemy
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This information is vital to your firm. Employees need this data to do their jobs, and they need it quickly.
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GROWTH STRATEGIES

Three Questions about Conversion

BONUS: Rate yourself in five areas.

By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership

Ask yourself and answer these questions when considering the current and future conversion tactics that you’ll employ.

MORE: Clients Can’t Grow without You | Six Keys to Getting a Proposal Accepted | Tell the World Your Worth | Four Surprising Keys to Communication | Culture Can’t Be Ignored | Three Questions About Your Competence | 10 Can’t-Skip Steps for Business Development
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If I were to start today, could I name four businesses that I’d like to reach out to?

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Thirteen Things to Consider Before You Sell Your Practice

Are you being realistic?

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

QUESTION: I am getting older and want to continue working at least five more years. Should I merge now to anticipate and facilitate a buyout?

MORE: How Much Is Your Tax Practice Worth? | Ready to Retire? Selling Your Practice Is No Strategy | Uncooperative Partner Might Not be the Problem | Merge in Lower-Priced Work without Losing Out | 20 Things You Need for a Business Valuation
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RESPONSE: Selling means retiring. Is that something you want to do? I’ve written many times about being clear about your goals and what you really want. That being said, here is a general discussion about the reality of the value of your practice.
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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Why You Should Function As a Fiduciary

Diversify and figure out which assets NOT to own.

By Anthony Glomski
Your $5 Million High-Net-Worth Practice

The first thing you and your clients should understand as investors looking to make smart financial decisions is this: The broad asset classes you choose to own (such as stocks, bonds, alternatives, real estate, private equity and so on) and the percentage of your household wealth that you allocate to each of those asset classes will have a greater impact on your future investment returns than any other decision you make – including which individual stocks you buy.

MORE: How to Flip the Switch to Wealth Preservation | How to Outline Your Client’s Big Picture | Your Entrepreneurs Need Advice, but Which Kind? | Three Ways to Work Together on Wealth | How to Implement Collaborative Wealth Management | Five Challenges of Liquidating a Business
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This means your first question as intelligent investors must be: How should I allocate my assets among the major asset categories?
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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Women-Owned Businesses Upbeat but Need Help

Access to capital is a concern … and an opportunity for accountants.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Despite a few challenges, small businesses are somewhat optimistic about their immediate future. According to the Bank of America’s “2023 Women & Minority Business Owner Spotlight,” 67 percent expect their revenue to increase over the next 12 months, and 46 percent plan to expand their business.

MORE: SURVEY: 42% of Accountants Turn Away Work Over Staff Shortages | Ethics on Sustainability Puzzle Some Accountants | Accountants Hopeful, Concerned and Confused about AI | Survey Respondents See Exciting Year Coming Up | The 7 Categories of Cybersecurity Solutions Firms Need | How Auditors Can Beat AI | Why the U.S. Must Act Now to Protect Our Online Privacy
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This guarded optimism is in the face of several perceived problems. Only 34 percent think the national economy will improve in that timeframe, a number unchanged since last fall. A few more – 41 percent – see their local economy improving, though that number has dipped 2 percentage points since last fall.
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

OUTLOOK: Soft Skills Are Front and Center

Leadership must be ready to challenge mindsets … and not slowly.

By Sarah Dobek
The Rosenberg MAP Survey

I believe that over the next 12 months, firms will continue to focus on ideal clients with a more strategic focus on client acceptance. This will help with bandwidth constraints, ensure strategic growth and protect resources. As an outcome, firms will be challenged to improve scoping conversations by considering their services.

MORE: OUTLOOK: It’s Time for a New Business Model | Rosenberg MAP: Partner Incomes Surge 11.4%
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Client experience standards will become a stronger focus as well. As a result of focusing on advisory and consulting services, they will identify and likely face challenges around skills development in these areas. Training and development inside firms will continue to evolve, and by next year, firms will be back in full swing with their soft skills development training if they weren’t already in 2023.
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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Start with Existing Clients to Add CAS

Their questions will help shape your pitch to others.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

You will use very similar fundamental steps to generate words and content to express the value of your client accounting services offering. You will focus on each component of your CAS offering to do so, e.g., different content to talk about bill payment services, different for advisory and outsourced CFO services, and so on.

MORE: Your Clients’ Words = Your New CAS Marketing | Attract Clients through Facebook Groups | Want Higher Profitability? Turn to CAS | Structure Insights as What-Why-What | Set Your Processes Apart in Nine Steps | Five Ways to Overcome CAS Staffing Challenges | Think CAS Isn’t for Your Firm? | Convince Your Firm of CAS Value | Ten Ways to Tell a Client Is Ready for CAS
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You will also use the “contrast principle” to differentiate between your “usual” services and “CAS offering.” Marketing CAS to your existing clients will be different than marketing CAS to your prospects.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Jeremy Sulzmann: Can Intuit Mend Fences with Accountants at QB Connect?

How Intuit plans to heal a strained relationship with accountants.

em>By Seth Fineberg At Large

NEWS

Art Werner: What the Corporate Transparency Act Means for Accountants

A crucial guide for you and your clients.

By Art Werner
Werner-Rocca Ltd.

Concern is starting to be expressed by many CPAs as to what their responsibilities are regarding the Corporate Transparency Act. Clients, if they haven’t done so already, will be expressing their own concerns and frustrations.

What compliance issues are on our client’s horizon, and where does the CPA fit in regarding the CTA? CPAs and tax professionals need to know how to advise their clients in this new regulatory era of the CTA.

MORE in TAX & FINANCIAL PLANNING: When Clients Haven’t Filed Taxes for Years | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | Financial Planning: Beyond the Numbers | Careful… You May Be Advising! | Jason Deshayes: What We’re Doing Isn’t Working | Stress Test: Will Clients Get the Outcome They Want? | IRS and FTC Cybersecurity Expectations of Tax Practitioners | With Fresh Funding, IRS Shows Service Improvements | Stop Non-Tax Season Service Requests | Congress: Tax Prep Companies Shared Private Data with Google, Meta for Years | Safe Harbor Compliance Reduces Risk of Fines and Penalties | How Tax Practitioners Became Cybersecurity Risks | Get Clients to Bring Tax Docs Early … Yes, EARLY |

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The Corporate Transparency Act mandates that a business entity must disclose who the beneficial owners of the business entity are. Corporations, partnerships, Professional Corporations, and Limited Liability Entities are all subject to the CTA. The purpose of the CTA legislation is to assist the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in identifying entities that may be involved in money laundering, terrorism, tax evasion, organized crime, and/or other illegal activities.

OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

SURVEY: 42% of Accountants Turn Away Work Over Staff Shortages

bar chart — Complete answers include “We’re turning away work because of it,” “We’re outsourcing at least some work” and “We’re upgrading comp & benefits packages.”

Survey respondents offer their strategies.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The most shocking stat to come out of early results in the CPA Trendlines Outlook 2024 Emerging Issues, Opportunities and Trends survey is also the most painful.

It’s this: 42 percent of responding firms are turning away work for lack of staff.

MORE: Ethics on Sustainability Puzzle Some Accountants | Accountants to the Rescue as Startups Struggle | Talent Gap Widening: Be Very Scared | Accountants Hopeful, Concerned and Confused about AI | Looking for Recent Grads? Good Luck | CPA Biz Is Booming, But for How Long?
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That’s a big ouch for firms that have spent time, effort and money on marketing, only to find that they can’t reap the results.

Data is still coming in from firms across the continent (and a few from across the ocean), but the trend is definitely toward critical. And the prognosis isn’t good.
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