What’s your top concern in your business? How does it compare to others? In today’s article, we’ll take a look at the AICPA PCPS (Private Companies Practice Section) CPA Firm Top Issues Survey.
Our Advisor Accelerated course starts October 29, and the early bird deadline has been extended. On October 13, we’ll have a free webinar sneak peek. Sign up here: http://acceleratorcpe.com/advisor-sneak-peek
We also have a complimentary webinar on benchmarking coming up on October 28. Sign up here: http://acceleratorcpe.com/benchmarking-process/
Calendar
Tuesday, October 13, 2015 Advisor Accelerated Sneak Peek. Would you like a clear roadmap on how to make the transition from accountant to “Trusted Advisor?” Want to learn how to sell these services and transition your current clients to a higher level of accounting service? 1 hour complimentary CPE
http://acceleratorcpe.com/advisor-sneak-peek/
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 How Using a Six-Step Benchmarking Process Can Add a New Revenue Stream to Your Practice. Benchmarking, KPI (key performance indicators), BI (business intelligence) reporting, and business report cards. In this webinar, you’ll get the answer: a six-step easy-to-follow process you can use to generate a whole new revenue stream in your practice. 1 hour complimentary CPEhttp://acceleratorcpe.com/benchmarking-process/
2015 Accountant’s Accelerator Program
Join Accountant’s Accelerator to work less, make more, and serve clients better. Here’s our full 2015-2016 schedule: http://accountantsaccelerator.com/aa-cpe/ Find out more here:
http://accountantsaccelerator.com/programs/accountants-accelerator-network/
Thursday, October 29, 2015 Advisor Accelerated Learn how to go beyond compliance services in this 8-week series. http://accountantsaccelerator.com/programs/advisor-accelerated/
November 3, 2015: Boost Online Leads with an Irresistible, High-Ranking Accounting Website Sandi will be presenting this session at Intuit’s QBConnect in San Jose, CA. http://quickbooksconnect.com/
Wednesday, November 11, 2015 It’s Cloudy in Accounting: Converting Clients to the Cloud, Step-By-Step We’ll provide a checklist and show you step-by-step how to convert a typical client from a desktop system to QBO and Xero. We’ll also be showing you our favorite payroll system, Gusto, and why we like it best. Plus, we’ll be showing a couple of examples of apps we use with clients to save time. http://acceleratorcpe.com/webinars/
November 16-19, 2015: SleeterCon, Las Vegas, NV
Sandi will be exhibiting and presenting a session at SleeterCon. http://www.sleetercon.com/
December 10, 2015: Save the Date: “A Sneak Peek into Next-Gen Remote Access and Client Service”
Top Issues Facing Accounting Firms
The top issue facing accounting firms with more than one professional in the practice is finding and/or retaining qualified staff. If you’re solo, the top issue is keeping up with changes and complexity of the tax laws. This is all according to the bi-annual Top Issues survey conducted by the AICPA’s PCPS section.
The most difficult position to fill right now is one that requires experienced CPA staff. With the boomers retiring, more professionals starting their own firm, and the industry growing, competition is fierce for accounting professionals.
When I spent time in Nepal working at an eye hospital where there was a severe shortage of eye doctors, the hospital compensated by hiring para-professionals. The doctors stayed in surgery all day and the para-professionals took care of as much as they could and referred the rest to the doctors. The medical profession has done this for a few decades now with nurse practitioners who can take care of run-of-the-mill flu cases, lots of phone calls, and vitals monitoring.
The profession has a huge number of talented paraprofessionals, many of whom are quite tech-savvy. Smart firms are already leveraging this great resource of accounting para-professionals. It’s not a full fix, but an option for some firms.
Better delegation to smart admin support personnel can ease the burden as well. There is always more you can delegate! I remember being bored out of my mind at most of my jobs in my 20s and 30s, and the reason was that my superiors always underestimated me and kept me in a box. I wonder how much that happens today with all the smart young people we have in the profession.
Other issues that are consistently on the list of all size firms include succession planning and seasonality and workload compression. Both hiring and succession planning are affected by the huge number of Baby Boomers retiring now and into the next decade.
Smaller firms grappled with the effect on firms caused by new federal and state regulations, while the largest and smallest firms included bringing in new clients.
What’s your firm’s top issue? Sen us an email or post the answer on our blog.
You can get more info about the survey results here:
About Sandi Leyva and Accountant’s Accelerator
Find out more about Sandi here. If you enjoyed this newsletter and want to know more, check out the Accountant’s Accelerator program or Sandi’s success store where you will find her latest offerings specially designed to fast-track your business growth and personal success. If you’re interested in discussing any of Sandi’s customized services or programs further, please reply back to this email or send an email to support@sandismith.com to set up your complimentary 20-minute consulting session with Sandi.