practice-management

Nine Ways to Create Well-Behaved Tax Clients [PRO Member Exclusive]

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Help them to do what you want.

Ed Mendlowitz

by Ed Mendlowitz
Adapted from The 2013 Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Providing instructions of what a client needs to do must be clear enough so that the client doesn’t call you to find out what to do.

Sometimes taking an extra minute to lay out what the client should do can eliminate that call or indecisive moment a client might feel.

The object of the instructions is to have the client do what you want them to do. READ MORE →

Practice Doctor Q&A: How to Get Started in Family Office Services

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Ed Mendlowitz CPA The Practice Doctor Q and AIncluding a sample engagement letter.

Question: Some of my clients are getting older and are becoming unable to handle their own financial affairs and I have been asked if I could assist them.  What is involved and how do I charge for it?

Ed Mendlowitz, VPA, PFS, ABV, responds: Many large firms provide “family office” services.  This is a complete one stop financial service that helps clients manage their money, pay their bills, collect their dividends and interest, and make sure insurance isn’t cancelled, mortgage, car lease or condo fee payments aren’t skipped, and tax payments paid on time.

More from Ed: Seven Ways to Increase Fees in 2013 | 10 Best Practices for Tax Season  | Nine Healthy Things To Do During Tax Season  |  12 Reasons to Love Tax Season | FREE INSTANT DOWNLOAD: Sample fee schedule for 1040s | Ask the Geek: A Couple Great Gadgets for Saving Money on All Your Other Gadgets | Three and a Half Ways to Get Your Own CPA Practice |  Also: “Implementing Fee Increases” and “The Tax Season Opportunity Guide.”

Following is a sample engagement letter that I use with clients needing such services. Also, this letter provides a detailed description of what the service involves. READ MORE →

Novice Manager Needs to Know: How To Do It All?

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15 strategies for a first-time supervisor’s success.

Here at CPA Trendlines, Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below.

Ed Mendlowitz CPA The Practice Doctor Q and AMore from Ed Mendlowitz, The Practice Doctor Q&A: Why No One Listens to You | Fun Reads for Busy Season  |  When NOT to Offer a Free Initial Consultation | Measuring Growth in Yourself, Staff and Partners  |  What Do You Think You’re Doing?  | Can You Teach Judgment?  |  Clients’ Calls At Home  | What You Need to Know before Expanding into Business Valuation |

Question: My boss asked me to call you.  I am a staff accountant with five years experience.  I am having a lot of stress trying to manage everything I have to do. I am juggling supervising people that I don’t know how to supervise, being managed less by those above me and having to figure out more for myself – including things I never did before or in industries I never worked on previously, keeping current with changes in accounting rules and taxes (since I am more like a generalist and clients ask me everything) never seem to have any free time, juggling my schedule because most of my clients are never ready when they say they will be and being accountable to my boss for everything I do plus what the staff working under me does. So how do I do it all? How can I prioritize all my responsibilities? READ MORE →

Four Ways to Practice Entrepreneurial Perseverance

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How to change your thinking to prevail over the toughest of circumstances

Perseverance is a skill that anyone can learn to not only survive, but thrive through life’s curves. When adversity strikes, it’s not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you that has the greatest impact on your life.

More for soloists and small firms: How to Win New Clients with a Freebie Strategy  • The Success Secrets Women Already Know  •    Why You’re Missing Out on 98% of Your New Business Potential  •  The Missing Ingredient in Your Marketing That Will Make All the Difference • 3 Steps to Start Running on Millionaire Time  •  On the Road to a Stress-Free Life: Identify Your Character Strengths   •  The Power of Deadlines in Closing a Deal   •   His and Her Brains at Work in Tax and Accounting • 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking New Clients • The Top 12 Business Card Blunders Accountants Make •

Here are four specific ways you can change your thinking to persevere in the toughest of circumstances, from Sandi Smith, CPA, “The Accountant’s Accelerator:” READ MORE →