Bissett Bullet: Make Good Use of the Time You Save
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “The cost of cloud-based software or automation tools is no longer prohibitive for smaller firms so if everybody is using them, how do you stand out?”
By Martin Bissett
Today's Features
Business Booming, but Not as Much as Last Year
How does your firm compare?
By CPA Trendlines Research
If the early results from the CPA Trendlines 2024 Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends hold true through April, this will be a pretty good year for the vast majority of accountants and tax practitioners – not quite as good as last year, but still, pretty good.
MORE: Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business | Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again | Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful | ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist | IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Eight Ways the IRS Can Speed Up Processing Tax Returns | Treasury IG Sees Progress at IRS | How Tax Practitioners Became Cybersecurity Risks
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Despite difficulties finding staff and professionals, 45 percent of respondents say they have increased their client list by at least 5 percent. (Last year, it was 65 percent.)
In fact, 14 percent have seen an increase of over 10 percent. Good, but not as good as last year’s 22 percent.
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How to Use ChatGPT to Create Images
If you can dream it, ChatGPT can build it.
By Sandi Leyva
ChatGPT 4.0 is enabled with computer vision, which means it can derive information from images that you input. It can also create images that you can use in your business.
Check out our courses on ChatGPT,
offered as a deep discount bundle or separately.
Webinar Schedule:
- April 18: Your Advisory Assistant: Using ChatGPT to Provide Better Advisory Services to Clients
April 25: The AI Playoffs: ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing Compared
MORE ChaptGPT here
Here are just a few things I have found when using ChatGPT 4.0 for image creation:
The Radical Pricing Model: Start with $25K
Deliver more value to clients while freeing your team from timesheets.
By Jody Padar
The Radical CPA
Consider the $25K Rule.
Because this method requires heavy lifting on the front end, a good rule of thumb is to only value-price engagements of $25,000 or more. If the client falls below $25,000, they are eligible for a fixed price or fixed price plus a value add. This rule is important because if your client is a small business, it doesn’t matter how much value they perceive in your services; they will not be able to afford value pricing above a certain level.
MORE: Three Critical Factors Drive the Value Pricing Trend | Accounting Disruptors Are Heading Your Way … with Deep Pockets | The Convergence of Trends Makes Pricing Changes Imperative | Stop Looking for Talent that Does Not Exist | Advisory Work Must Be Priced by Value, Not Hours
Most services are fixed-priced, but based on conversations with the client, those prices may drop or be raised accordingly. Some of the data points used to set pricing are the PITA factor (pain in the a#%) and the client’s gross revenue.
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Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business
Take a tip from a peer.
By CPA Trendlines Research
The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends is more than just a survey of the state of the industry at CPA firms across the nation. It also offers clues to what firms are doing to make the busy season better, easier and more profitable.
The clues are in the comments – open-ended answers where practitioners tell us what they’re doing, how they’re feeling and where they’re going.
MORE: Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again | The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously | Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep | Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals | FTC Nails TurboTax for ‘Free Filing’ Scam | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful | ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist
One of the best questions is “What are you doing differently this year?” Each answer reflects an attempt to make the best of a stressful situation – the annual tax season.
Here are a few quotes to think about, categorized by how well various respondents’ seasons are going this year. Each is an idea that might make your year better.
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