Today's Features
PRO Member Exclusive

Eleven Questions about Kids, Wealth and the Family Business

three people discussing a document

CPAs have a role to play.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Inheritance is notorious for ripping families apart. Many manage to divvy up their parents’ wealth with the kind of mutual love and respect we expect to see in families.

But sometimes, with the smell of moolah in the air, it’s more like a knife fight.

It’s even more complicated when there’s a family business involved.

MORE: Twelve Years and Out: Seasoned Accountants Join the Exodus | How Accounting Firms Are Handling the Staff Shortage | Gen AI in Accounting: Epic Transformation, or Overheated Hype? | Survey Shows Big Opportunities in Small Business | Salary Guides for Accountants Vary Widely: Whom Do You Believe? | Are You Earning What You Deserve? | The Slow, Painful Death of the 150-Hour Rule | Partner Comp Earnings Gap: What’s the Right Spread? | Main Street Accountants See Turbulence Ahead for Small Business
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

So Many Questions

Unless there’s just one inheritor, one who wants to own and run the business, there are many complex issues – financial, legal, psychological – that need to be resolved.
READ MORE →

PRO Member Exclusive

History Could Help Accountant-Vendor Relations

older woman showing young woman something on office computer screen

Think about where you want your business to be.

By Seth Fineberg

The phrase “history is the greatest teacher” can be applied in many ways, but to me it does not ring truer than when thinking of the current state of accountant-vendor relations. In short, it’s not all that good.

MORE: Accounting Needs a ‘Rethink’ Not a ‘Rebrand’ | Big Change Comes with Deep Reflection | Three Ways to Raise the Bar for Your Business
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

The accounting profession has evolved to the point to where there is a tool for every task, and the choices have never been more plentiful or the process of selecting one more challenging. At the same time, having overseen this profession as long as I have, the thing that’s been clear is the risks of tying so much of what you do to one vendor.
READ MORE →

ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Ten Topics for Your Newsletter | Listicle

By CPA Trendlines Research

Generally speaking, your newsletter should be easy to read, useful and actionable. It should help clients stay organized as they see the benefit of working with their accountant. Let your newsletter invite clients and potential clients to contact you for more information.

MORE Listicles here

These topics or the newsletter you develop from them can also be used as the basis for podcasts, radio interviews, daily email bulletins and PowerPoint presentations.

Here are 10 topics. Use your expertise to expand them.

  1. Cash Flow Management: Strategies for improving cash flow in a business
  2. Tax Deductions: Common tax deductions for individuals and businesses
  3. Investment Strategies: Insights into effective investment planning
  4. Technology in Accounting: Emerging technologies and software in the accounting industry
  5. Industry-Specific Tax Tips: Tax considerations for specific industries such as health care, retail, etc.
  6. Financial Statements Explained: Understanding and analyzing financial statements
  7. IRS Correspondence: How to handle letters and notices from the IRS
  8. Charitable Contributions: Tax benefits of charitable giving
  9. Self-Employment Tips: Tax and accounting tips for freelancers and self-employed individuals
  10. Payroll Management: Best practices for managing payroll efficiently
STREAMING NETWORK

Sarah Cirelli: Launching the ‘SWAT’ Plan at Grassi CPAs | Capstone Conversations

Capstone Conversations
Informal and informative discussions with leading growth strategists from the nation’s most dynamic CPA firms.

[Preview] PRO Members always get the full video, and all the analysis, commentary and transcripts | Go PRO here

Stream, listen, download, and subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
More Capstone Conversations here

With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

When the Covid pandemic hit Grassi CPAs, chief marketing officer Sarah Cirelli launched a “SWAT” program to stem the losses and reap an extra $2 million in new fees.

Tune in to Capstone Conversations every Monday | Follow Jean Caragher on CPA Trendlines here. | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | Catch Jean Caragher every Friday with Gear Up for Growth here

In this episode of Capstone Conversations with Jean Caragher, Cirelli explains the SWAT toolset, which stands for “special weapons and tactics,” an automated dashboard with the firm’s crisis response and recovery services, all the marketing data, and every prospect and client who attended a webinar or called their hotline, the questions they asked, the industry they operate in, and where they were in the lead generation process.

READ MORE →

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Twelve Years and Out: Seasoned Accountants Join the Exodus.

No longer a problem confined to just new talent or middle managers.

Where they go: The biggest slice, 19 percent, goes into finance, followed by business and operations. (via Live Data)

By CPA Trendlines Research

In a startling shift, thousands of highly experienced top-level accountants are leaving the field mid-career, challenging the long-held view that the staffing crisis is limited to new graduates or middle managers.

RELATED: Middle Managers Getting Squeezed | Explaining the Talent Shortage in One Big Chart | Salary and Compensation Outlook for Small CPA Firms | Gen AI in Accounting: Epic Transformation, or Overheated Hype? | MORE: The Talent Crisis | DOWNLOAD The National Pipeline Advisory Group Report

For many accountants on the edge of transition, the coming years will determine whether the profession can reinvent itself to retain the trust of its workforce or continue to lose ground as one of America’s fundamental professions.

READ MORE →