Small business

Change Your Thinking About ‘Small’ Clients

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Ed Mendlowitz CPA The Practice Doctor Q and ABONUS CHECKLIST: 11 services that should be part of every “CFO” engagement.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

QUESTION: I have many small business clients and can’t seem to get larger clients. Any suggestions?

MORE PRACTICE DOCTOR Q&A: It’s Not Sales. It’s Your Duty | 7 Ways to Lose a Client’s Trust | 6 Ways to Take a Client Beyond Tax Prep | 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Making Small Business Clients Happy | 14 Ways to Switch to Value Pricing | Pricing, Billing, Costing: Don’t Blame Clients

ANSWER: When I started, we called the work we did for small clients “writeups.” At some point, write-ups were an embarrassment and we stopped calling them that – we said we handled family businesses. READ MORE →

Tax Trends in Small Business: What Drives Them to Seek Professional Help

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New data obtained by CPA Trendlines shows that 84 percent of small-business owners are now paying an independent tax practitioner or accountant to handle their taxes.

In addition, an increasing number of small business taxpayers appear to be taking advantage of Sec.179 expensing and bonus depreciation.

The new report available from CPA Trendlines includes information on:

  • the number of small business owners who use an outside tax or accounting service
  • how many hours per week a small business spends on payroll tax administration
  • average cost for using a payroll agency
  • hours spent on federal tax
  • various tax burdens
  • how to download complete report (PDF, 13 pages)

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The Powerful Mega-Trends Behind the Upheaval at Sage Software

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Sage’s one-brand cloud strategy is built on a tidal wave of change.

Sage NA CEO Pascal Houillon addresses 3,500 attendees at Sage Summit 2012

by Rick Telberg

It would be an understatement to say that the accounting software mavens arriving for the 2012 Sage software convention were in a skeptical mood. At last year’s meeting, they were told that some of the products they know and support (and sometimes love) — like MAS 90, Peachtree, and AccPac — are disappearing under a single Sage label.

It was a long time in coming. The company, with roots in the 1990’s in State of the Art and Best, was built through almost helter-skelter acquisitions without merging and consolidating brands, nor even marketing departments, R&D efforts and support departments.

COMPLETE SAGE SUMMIT COVERAGE AND ANALYSIS:

Now all that is changing. And it’s about the cloud, subscription pricing and a wrenching transformation to a new business model. The question for Sage’s resellers: Can Sage deliver? The question for Sage’s accountant partners: Can they keep up?

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