CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

What’s Your Value to Your Tax Clients?

Three questions to ask.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Know your value to your clients. Better, understand your business and what you really do and what you add to the client’s life.

MORE ON TAX SEASON: Are You Excited About Tax Season?
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

I had a group of gastroenterologists as clients who were going to get into a business of inserting a gastric bubble into people’s stomachs. There were a number of issues to this.
READ MORE →

OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Tax & Accounting Firms to See More Consolidation

ALSO: Next Gen leadership will rise.

By Jennifer Wilson
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?

Unless there’s another round of vaccines, we’ll see more COVID-19 disruption as colder weather forces more firm activities indoors. More consolidation will happen as more firm leaders feel pressure to move their problems to a larger firm and the megafirms feel more pressure to keep up with the Joneses and absorb more.

MORE: 2024 OUTLOOK: ‘Specialization Is the Future’ | Remote Work Will See Cuts; PE Will Trickle Down | Tech, Capital Will Drive Accounting Profession Growth | ‘Great Shakeup’ in CPA Firms on the Way | PE, Consolidations to Keep Impacting Accounting Profession | Soft Skills Are Front and Center
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

At some point, perhaps longer than 12 months from now, one or more of the superconsolidators is going to falter. More than likely is some significant service failures as their lack of integration and acculturation drives turnover and a talent shortage beyond what they’re able to rescue. I hope this doesn’t happen, but it feels like some of these firms are facing a perfect storm of financial performance and growth expectations, high client demand, capacity issues and a less unified, disorganized leadership apparatus unable to respond to these challenges.
READ MORE →

MANAGEMENT

Five Reasons to Implement Change Orders

Plus five steps to follow.

By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services

Accounting firms, like any other professional service providers, may use change orders for several reasons. Here are a few key reasons why accounting firms should consider utilizing change orders:

MORE: Why You Need Progress Billing | Sixteen Marketing Activities to Try | The Four Steps of Your Personal Marketing Process | How Does Your Firm Measure Up? | Six Questions Before Asking for All the Referrals You Deserve | Five Rules for a Marketing Orientation | Ten Keys to Marketing Success
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Scope of work changes: Change orders allow accounting firms to document and address any changes in the scope of work requested by their clients. These changes could involve additional services, alterations to existing services, or changes in project timelines. By using change orders, accounting firms can clearly define the new requirements and avoid any misunderstandings or disputes with their clients.

PAY & COMPENSATION

Five Keys in Compensating New Managing Partners

Plus five things the other partners should expect from their leader.

By Marc Rosenberg The Rosenberg Practice Management Library

MARKETING & SALES

Bissett Bullet: The Tortoise Will Always Beat the Hare

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “When times are tough, choose short-term lifestyle changes over sacrificing long-term investments.”

By Martin Bissett

The temptation will always be to cash in an investment in order to enjoy the spoils of your previous discipline and maintain the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed. Before you sacrifice your future with no guarantee that you’ll ever catch up on that lost income, have you considered cutting back?

Play the long game for your future. Run a budget at home and in your business that ensures that you spend less than you earn and that allows you to invest even when times are hard. Stay the course slowly but surely and resist the urge to keep up with the Joneses.