Blog Archives
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The New Controller Checklist
By Bethany O'Hoyt, - Tuesday June 18, 2013Anyone who has been hired into the controller position for the first time may feel overwhelmed, since the job description involves an enormous range of responsibilities. Where to begin? The answer is simpler than you may think. Always focus on the ability of the business to survive. Thus, if there is not enough cash on hand to pay the short-term obligations of the business, all other controller responsibilities are insignificant, because the company will no longer be in business. Thus, you should address the following issues first, and in the order presented: 1. Create a short-term cash forecast. Develop a simple cash forecasting model on an electronic spreadsheet that tells you the expected cash balance at the end of each week... -
Hey IRS, get off my cloud
By Rob DelGenio, - Thursday May 30, 2013In the wake of the resignation of the IRS Commissioner for the agency’s alleged targeting of conservative organizations, there is this chilling IRS policy position that the ACLU recently discovered : “The government may obtain the contents of electronic communication that has been in storage more than 180 days without a warrant.” We already know that the government isn’t supposed to tap our phone lines without a search warrant or read our mail or walk into our homes and rummage through our documents stored in file cabinets, no matter how long we’ve kept them there. So why does the IRS believe it can look at anything we keep in online cloud storage after it’s been there for six months? The answer may shock you: Because a... -
The Disadvantages of Budgeting
By Bethany O'Hoyt, - Wednesday May 29, 2013On the CPE Link Blog, we’ve discussed the Advantages of Budgeting , yet we did not discuss the number of serious disadvantages. This article gives an overview of the general issues, while the following sections address the particular problems associated with capital budgeting, as well as the use of budgets within a command and control management system. Inaccuracy . A budget is based on a set of assumptions that are generally not too far distant from the operating conditions under which it was formulated. If the business environment changes to any significant degree, then the company’s revenues or cost structure may change so radically that actual results will rapidly depart from the expectations delineated in... -
10 awesome inbound marketing tactics
By Alan Vitberg, Owner, VitbergLLC - Monday May 13, 2013
By Alan Vitberg, Owner, VitbergLLC . Today, there are more opportunities than ever before for partners or subject matter experts to become online superstars. Even your firm’s reluctant rainmakers now have the chance of a lifetime to showcase their thought leadership, and in the process, to help the firm build new business. The fact is that when prospects search on line for solutions to their problems, part of the solution they’re looking for is a person – not just a company – that can help them solve their problem. That’s why it’s important, regardless of whether you’re a brilliant technical partner or a sales superstar, that you take advantage of every opportunity and tactic possible to increase your visibility... -
Are You Ready for the Next Generation of Marketing Your Firm?
By Alan Vitberg, Owner, VitbergLLC - Monday April 30, 2012An Overview of Inbound Marketing A guest post from Alan Vitberg , Owner of VitbergLLC , a marketing agency specializing in accounting and consulting firm marketing. Today, most accounting and consulting firms spend their marketing budget on outbound marketing to reach prospects. Outbound marketing, also known as traditional marketing, targets a broad audience using print ads, trade shows, telemarketing/cold calls, direct mail/e-mail, etc. Firms push their messages outward in the hopes that it will trigger a response in the form of a contact But marketing and business development at CPA firms is on the edge a transformation taking the form of a movement away from spending on traditional marketing activities towards... -
After Tax Season is the Best Time to go to the Drawing Board
By Brannon Poe, CPA - Wednesday April 25, 2012
Have you ever noticed how professional golfers go to the practice range right after a match? How does that help? It is interesting but they do that to work out any problems they have with their form. It is effective because everything is very fresh on their minds. As professional accountants, you should do the same. Your errors in “form” are fresh on the mind, so now is a great time to reflect on your season and make plans that you can execute prior to next tax season. Here is a great place to start: Go to http://www.poegroupadvisors.com/sample-chapter/ to read our free sample chapter titled The Client of Choice from the book, "Accountant's Flight Plan." Use the exercise to go through your client list and make some tough... -
How CPA and Consulting Firm Niche Marketing Programs Get Found & Heard
- Monday April 23, 2012
CPA Practice Advisor is pleased to present a digest of recent, popular posts authored by award winning CPA firm Marketer Alan Vitberg . These were originally posted in VitbergLLC’s blog, The Professional Services Marketing Digest. How CPA and Consulting Firm Niche Marketing Programs Get Found & Heard It takes a lot more work than just pounding a stake in the ground and declaring your intentions to serve a particular niche. It takes marketing, and an important part of that effort is how you use your website, social media, and thought leadership to become the “go to” accounting or consulting firm for a particular industry, or for a particular horizontal service. More... -
Whistle-Blowing to the IRS: Use This as an Opportunity to Talk to Clients
By Scott Cytron, ABC; President, Cytron and Co. - Tuesday November 1, 2011I was reading my Dallas Morning News a few weeks ago when I stumbled on an article in the Business section called, "Whistle-blowing to IRS Can Pay Off." Based on the kind of work I do, it caught my attention, of course. Here's the link - you may need to register with the online site before viewing the article. I was stunned to think that reporting tax abnormalities to the IRS could result in actually making money. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. I remember a few years ago when I rear-ended a city bus and was sued by two people who claimed injury. The irony is that they weren't even on the bus at the time - they read about it in a police report and decided to sue for damages (they got "none," I'm glad to report). Indeed... -
How the Texas State Fair is Like Accounting Practice Management
By Scott Cytron, ABC; President, Cytron and Co. - Wednesday October 5, 2011There is a tradition in Dallas that goes back 125 years ... the GREAT State Fair of Texas. Yes, it's larger than any other state fair in the country - and I've been going every year since I was very young. During this year's annual trip - while I was knee-deep in some kind of fried food - I begin to think about the environment around me and how even the simplest fair attractions compared to practice management at an accounting firm. OK folks - this might indeed be a stretch ... but I think you will get my point. Try Your Luck on the Midway Games - generally, the odds are really against you to win one of the many random Midway games, but men and women, young and old, try their luck regardless what the outcome may be just to win a stuffed... -
Are PR Agencies Worth It, or "Who is Managing Whom?"
By Scott Cytron, ABC; President, Cytron and Co. - Tuesday September 6, 2011I had a very interesting conversation last week with a colleague in an accounting firm about PR agencies. She knew I had previously worked in two agencies, so she wanted my input as to whether I thought PR agencies were worth the cost. That got me thinking that if she had some questions, others might as well. First, there is much more that should go into evaluating a PR agency relationship than just cost - although I completely understand that cost should (and is, by all reality) be a major consideration. What you want to measure in addition to what it's costing you is 1) value and 2) efficiency. Here's what I mean. Are you deriving value by outsourcing work to a PR agency? As sure as I'm sitting here writing this, you should be able...
