Today's Features
FEATURED

Four Tips for New Partners

Young businesswoman using a tabletThey also work for new solo practitioners.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

QUESTION: A few months ago I became a partner in my firm but I don’t seem to know what to do as a “partner.”

MORE: Before You Sell Your Practice | Price Your Practice by Gross | Advising Estate Executors: The Newbie Guide to Getting Started | How’s Your Overhead?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Nothing seems to have changed except my title and compensation arrangement, which hasn’t even started yet. Do you have any suggestions of what I should do?
READ MORE →

CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Which of Your Existing Clients Are CAS-fit?

a businessman with some jigsaw puzzle pieces in his handThere is a massive return on your one-time investment in identifying such people.

By Hitendra Patil
Accountaneur: The Entrepreneurial Accountant

The experience of those offering successful client accounting services shows that the fastest way to start your CAS practice is to provide it to some of your existing clients. If you already have a CAS practice, it is important to periodically analyze which of your clients have now become a CAS fit. It is important to note that not all of your clients will be CAS-fit.

MORE: Don’t Wear a Mask | The Services That CAS Clients Want | Six Reasons CAS Is King | How to Develop the CAS Mindset
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

There are some easy ways to identify which of your existing clients are CAS-fit, i.e., which of your clients will benefit the most from your CAS offering. And then there are some not-so-easy ways to know which are your CAS-fit clients.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

Is Your Firm’s Culture a Magnet or a Repellent?

Magnet drawing in three peopleThe partners want the money; the younger professionals want the meaning.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

In the famous words of management guru Peter Drucker, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Accounting firms are starting to get this message because now they are instituting initiatives that would have been laughed at years ago: a) every day is jeans day, b) shorts when there is no client meeting, c) work from home and d) reduced Saturday hours during busy season. And on it goes …

MORE: Organizational Trust: Top-Down and Bottom-Up | Staff Orientation: A Little Investment Goes a Long Way | Managing Information Overload | 6 Types of Non-Listeners | Political Correctness or Just Common Courtesy? | Syncing Up for the COVID Era
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Attracting and retaining quality staff has become one of the top concerns for CPA firms that want to grow and remain competitive. Salary is no longer the number one concern for today’s younger professionals. Opportunity, responsibility, accountability and a well-defined career path are the motivators. Firms are pulling out all the stops to attract professionals who will be viewed as tomorrow’s leaders.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

Failure Paves the Road to Wisdom

Man with head down on laptop keyboardWhy that’s OK.

By Bill Reeb

Besides guilt, overachievers seem to have a real problem with the idea of failure, which is why it comes up in so many different forms throughout my book.

MORE: Why We Have to Deal with Guilt | Is Your Sense of Duty Misplaced? | Are You Sure You’re In the Wrong Place? | How Are You Programming Your Mind? | How to Stay in the Present | Stop Ignoring Opportunities Right in Front of You | Work ‘Better,’ Not ‘Harder’ | What a Pro Knows | Don’t Let Opportunities Become Detours | What Are You Giving Priority? | Don’t Let Others Block Your Path
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

How does this attitude toward failure manifest itself? Well, in business, as with life, we are taught by society that to be considered a worthy and successful human being, we must “grab for the brass ring” or buy into the idea that “winning is everything.” And clichés like “anything other than first doesn’t count” are used to motivate people into obtaining “the right perspective.” This has created some self-destructive and dysfunctional attitudes toward winning.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

Office Safety and More: Checklists for Your Tax Resolution Setup

Woman turning door sign to "open"Everything from client interactions to office safety.

By Jassen Bowman

The setup of your office environment is important for three primary reasons:

  1. Ensuring workplace safety
  2. Creating a positive client experience
  3. Enabling maximum operational efficiency

MORE: Hiring, Firing and the Checklists You Need | What Your Tax Resolution Staff Must Do | Are You Quitting on Leads Too Soon? | Grow Faster, Be More Efficient | 4 Tax Resolution Industry Flaws
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The following checklists will assist you in making sure that your office is set up to achieve each of these three objectives.
READ MORE →

CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Don’t Wear a Mask

How to show clients your true value.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services

So, the CDC has indicated that a mask also protects the person who wears it. Previously, it was advised that masks stop people from spreading the coronavirus to others.

MORE: The Services That CAS Clients Want | The Services That CAS Clients Need | The 8-Step Method for Launching Client Accounting Services | Six Reasons CAS Is King | Who’s Afraid of Client Accounting Services? | What CAS Is … and Is Not | How to Develop the CAS Mindset | The Right Mindset for Client Accounting Services | Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Guide
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

But this post is not about coronavirus and masks. When it comes to accounting and the advisory insights hidden in the financial statements and numbers, covering those with a mask is not good for either the clients or the accountants.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

Avoiding Projects Hung Up in Process

Businessman with fingers crossed behind backHow to climb out of “done but” hell.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

A project hung up in process is one when there is a disagreement as to the status between people involved in a project. For example, a client thinks he has answered your tax return questions, while you believe he has not. Another example is when a tax return preparer believes a return is ready for review while the reviewer does not believe it’s ready.

MORE: When Clients Create Errors | How to Reduce Tax Return Errors | Why Your Firm Needs to Attract More Millenials | The Fool in the Room | The 3 Biggest Tech Failures of Accounting Firms | WIP-ing Clients Into Shape | Maximize Your Role as Visionary
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The result of a hung-up project is a dead project – one that’s not moving to completion. If a tax return gets hung up, eventually your client calls you, and you get to waste time determining why the project stopped moving. By now, you know this increases WIP and thus decreases turnaround time.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

When Did Our Reaction to “NO” Change?

Businessman with hand extended in "no" gestureIt’s a cue to ask more questions.

By Ty Hendrickson

When did our reaction to “NO” change?

My son recently took up driving and honestly, it terrifies me. When he asks to use the car, he hears the word “no” a lot and it is typically the beginning of a long debate about why he needs the car. You may remember responding the same way when you heard the word “no” at that age and thinking of a change in strategy until you figured out a way to get a “yes.”

MORE: 5 Ways to Rethink the Way You Communicate | 3 Steps to Getting the Most Out of Every Meeting | Why Choose You? | The One Big Reason Your Hiring Sucks | Are You Botching Your First Impression?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Something happens to us between childhood and our first job. As an adult, when we hear the word “no,” we cringe. We shy away and quickly give up to avoid confrontation.
READ MORE →

FEATURED

Microsoft: Stop Using Phone-Based Multifactor Authentication

Smiling woman using smartphoneThe best option? Hardware security keys.

By Rick Richardson

Microsoft is urging users to abandon telephone-based multifactor authentication (MFA) solutions like one-time codes sent via Short Message Service (SMS) and voice calls and instead replace them with newer MFA technologies, such as app-based authenticators and security keys.

MORE TECH THIS WEEK: Add Live Captions to Your Zoom Meeting | AI Is Open to Anyone with Passion | Microsoft Takes Down Malware Network | Alexa’s Moving into Your Next Apartment | Can Google Kill the Business Card?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The warning comes from Alex Weinert, director of identity security at Microsoft. For the past year, Weinert has been advocating on Microsoft’s behalf, urging users to embrace and enable MFA for their online accounts.
READ MORE →