CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

The Importance of Great Bosses

Do your employees want to spend time with you?

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Staff: Managing Your #1 Asset

In most organizations, everyone reports to a specific individual. Early in his career, Marc Rosenberg was the controller of a valve manufacturing company. The company grew to the point where he needed to hire an assistant controller. Guess who that person reported to 100 percent? Guess who was totally responsible for the success of that assistant controller? Marc, in both cases. If that person failed because of no fault of Marc’s, it still reflected negatively on him. Marc was held accountable.

MORE: How Remote Work Is Impacting Accounting Firms | Make Work Flexibility Work for Everyone | Why Staff Leave CPA Firms … and How to Stop Them | How to Solve the Big Disconnect in Talent Management | What Relevance Means for Staffing in Accounting | How Accounting Staffing Has Changed
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But CPA firms operate differently, and therein lies the rub. Staff have multiple bosses because each client they work on has a different team consisting of a partner, a manager and/or a senior. We call this the “who’s my boss” syndrome. Staff often feel like they have no boss and therefore, no one is looking out for them. Or they feel like they have too many bosses when each of their engagements is with a different team.

These are two of the many reasons mentoring is so important. One of the mentor’s jobs is to make their mentees feel like someone is looking out for them.
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MARKETING & SALES

Bissett Bullet: A Word to The Wise

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “As you push for partnership, be conscious of how you make others feel with your words and actions because you are a part of a team and no one member will ever be greater than that.”

By Martin Bissett

Think before you speak or act and be conscious of how you respond to the actions of others, as this will be noticed by those who decide your future. Be known for displaying tact and diplomacy and your career will move in the right direction because of your measured behavior.

Today’s To-Do:

Think of a situation that may have played out differently if you had taken a moment to consider your response to a colleague or client. What can you learn from that?

See more Bissett Bullets here

OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Partners: Your Middle Managers Are Getting Squeezed

Staff just don’t feel comfortable asking for things that help their mental and physical well-being.

**Client pressure:** 84 percent can work from home at least sometimes. However, only 44 percent say the firm has their back with difficult clients.

By Seth Fineberg
Accountants Forward

This may seem mysterious, but when it comes to ensuring job satisfaction and retaining staff, firm leaders should pay closer attention to middle management/mid-career staff and their connection to employees and the work itself, according to a survey conducted by Tri-Merit Group co-founder Randy Crabtree, HB Publishing & Marketing Company founder Hank Berkowitz, and myself at Accountants Forward.

MORE Staffing here | MORE Surveys and Research here | MORE Seth Fineberg here

“Everything about putting your people first leads to increasing the satisfaction of those who work in the profession,” says Crabtree. “Things like firms having your back, supporting their growth or getting to know who the people you work with are matters greatly.” He added, “When you have a good variety of work to do and find you enjoy that work, you won’t mind working the extra hours at times either.”

POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

IRS Still Unsure How to Measure Audit Rate

Differing definitions are only part of the problem.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Inflation Reduction Act endowed the IRS with almost $80 billion to improve customer service and beef up enforcement. Congress later reduced the amount to $57.8 billion, with $24 billion earmarked for enforcement.

In no time at all, there was misinformation bouncing around social media and conservative podcasts, claiming that the IRA would result in more audits of middle-class taxpayers.

MORE: Art Werner: Estate Planning Strategies | Quick Tax Tip | Art Werner: Post-Mortem Estate Planning | Quick Tax Tip | Pause to Praise the Tax Pro Volunteers | IRS vs. Fraudsters | Imagine! The National Tax Advocate Does | Art Werner: Maximizing Fringe Benefits | Is the IRS Mismeasuring Phone Service? | IRS Makes Big Progress But … | Business Booming, but Not as Much as Last Year | Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business | Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again | The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance
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The enforcement resources had no such designation. To allay fears, in 2022 the secretary of the Treasury directed the IRS commissioner not to use any of the additional resources to increase the audit rate of small businesses or households earning below $400,000.
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PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

When to Increase Scope and When to Let It Go

The most crucial aspect of scope is for everyone to know precisely what falls within the lines of the scoped services and what does not.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

There’s a time to increase scope and a time to let it slide. Let’s explore these two options.

It’s professional responsibility to inform a client when a request is out of scope. In this instance, you have two options: either make it a separate engagement or include it in the existing service package. It’s important to have everyone on the same page about what is within scope and what falls outside of it.

More JODY PADAR | PRICING | THE RADICAL CPA | FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE: THE RADICAL CPA GUIDE | RADICAL PRICING

It would be best if you always built into your pricing agreements a 20 percent buffer to protect you against pricing mistakes. This doesn’t mean you should do work outside the scope for free, but if a client asks for a service not included, you could decide to let it go if the amount is immaterial.

However, if the value is greater or you need to investigate further, be clear with your team and the client.

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “As you push for partnership, be conscious of how you make others feel with your words and actions because you are a part of a team and no one member will ever be greater than that.”

Think before you speak or act and be conscious of how you respond to the actions of others, as this will be noticed by those who decide your future. Be known for displaying tact and diplomacy and your career will move in the right direction because of your measured behavior.

Today’s To-Do:

Think of a situation that may have played out differently if you had taken a moment to consider your response to a colleague or client. What can you learn from that?

See more Bissett Bullets here

More JODY PADAR | PRICING | THE RADICAL CPA | FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE: THE RADICAL CPA GUIDE | RADICAL PRICING