If Client Retention is the #1 Issue, Why do we Ignore the Obvious?

By M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP; Executive Editor - Wednesday July 8, 2009

Hmmm – is client retention an important issue for CPA firms? What a rhetorical question. I’m not surprised at all by the results of the AICPA’s 2009 CPA Firm Top Issues Survey conducted by the Private Companies Practice Section – and you shouldn’t be either. Putting aside the fact that it costs something like five times more money and resources to recruit and sign a new client than retain a current client, the profession needs to wake up and realize the huge potential in working with, and providing benefits to, a firm’s current client base. Start with cross-selling. I run into firms all the time who don’t seem to understand how easy it is to cross-sell services – and the impact this has on clients. Not only will you add...

Office Hardware to Cloud Computing: It’s a Paradigm Shift

By M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP; Executive Editor - Wednesday July 8, 2009

How much hardware do our offices really need to function and how much paper can we really get rid of? In other words, if you’re thinking about buying another server or replacing the ones you have, think again. Same thing with scanners – can you exist in the virtual environment without scans of files on your servers? A recent story on Forbes.com talks about the transition from in-office hardware to outsourced applications, all made possible by cloud computing. Interestingly enough, and what is at the heart of Ed Spurling’s story, is that the big guns who previously pushed hardware – IBM, Microsoft and HP – are now pushing virtual technologies as a viable solution. There’s no loss of revenue if that’s what you’re...

My Wish List for AICPA Leadership Academy Candidates

By Scott Cytron, ABC; President, Cytron and Co. - Tuesday July 7, 2009

Today, AICPA is launching its first-ever Leadership Academy in Chicago - a three-day gathering designed to train young CPAs on issues related to the profession so they can be more effective leaders It is the brainchild of AICPA's Chair Ernie Almonte. What a great idea! It not only helps young CPAs realize their potential; it most likely will create some leaders who will rise up in their firms, companies and within Institute ranks. Best of all, it will help promote the accounting profession. Now that you have the background, here's my plea to Mr. Almonte. Please educate tomorrow's leaders on the importance of marketing and communications. I know there's a social media component to the workshop, but that only scratches the...

Four Ways to Use Twitter for the Accounting Profession

By Scott Cytron, ABC; President, Cytron and Co. - Monday June 29, 2009

If "I don't get it" adequately describes your thoughts about Twitter and its uses for the accounting profession, then listen up: You CAN use Twitter to build your practice, increase business and grow your bottom line. I get this question all the time from my clients who want to know how they can build their business through social media, and specifically, Twitter - the hot trend of the day. What I advise is that you want to be considered a "Thought Leader" when you tweet (the term for posting messages on Twitter), so instead of tweeting about what you had for dinner or what meeting you attended, tweet about impactful topics that will position you as an expert: Make an observation about a recent accounting news story, and provide a...

Changing Your Web Site? Ask These Four Questions, First

By M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP; Executive Editor - Friday June 26, 2009

Whenever I present my seminar on “The Next Generation Accounting Firm,” someone invariably asks me a question related to communications, and specifically, when it’s time to change their Web site. I just ran across this blog on Ragan.com that speaks to this topic, and even though it is internally focused on employees, I’ve added my own twist to the four points below. Most of the time, questions also focus on the ROI connected to changing a Web site, or in some cases, creating one from scratch. That’s why I like these four steps because they focus less on what to communicate versus the return on the communications themselves. 1. What’s the business case? What goals are you trying to meet: cost reduction, innovative products...

Online Professional Tax Prep... Is it time, yet?

By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Monday June 22, 2009

In the upcoming July issue of The CPA Technology Advisor, I've written a column that discusses why few tax and accounting professionals are using an online tax preparation system for their client returns. Considering how popular online tax prep is for do-it-yourselfers, I think it's a curious situation. Some might blame it on the old stereotype of the "tech-leery" accountant. I think there are many reasons, but I don't buy that argument anymore. Tax and accountng professionals are no longer tech curmudgeons... they are pretty savvy, actually. And many have recently turned to online (aka hosted/SaaS) applications for many other areas of their practices, so they're obviously not "leery" of remotely hosted programs anymore. Personally, I...

PayCycle - My Wish List

By Doug Sleeter, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday June 18, 2009

Now that PayCycle is becoming part of Intuit (see announcement earlier this month), I'm hoping to see even tighter integration between the PayCycle software and QuickBooks. I'm an avid PayCycle user, and I love what it does already, but here are my top wishes and hopes for the future: Provide for full paycheck transactions to be imported into QuickBooks. At this point, it's impossible for developers to access the PAYCHK transactions in QuickBooks because the SDK doesn't provide any support for that. But now that Intuit will own PayCycle, maybe they'll find a way to get that done. Timesheet integration: Provide a link between QuickBooks timesheets (desktop), and the QuickBooks online time tracker to feed timesheet information directly...

CITP Credential Changes with the Times

By M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP; Executive Editor - Thursday June 18, 2009

The times … they are a-changin’ … and so is the CITP Credential. According to an announcement made during AICPA’s TECH+ Conference in Las Vegas earlier this week, “the revised credential will concentrate on information technology expertise relating to audit and attest services and financial data components, analysis and reporting. The holder of the revised credential represents a CPA who provides assurance to financial information or insight to business data, process or reporting.” Many may not realize the CITP originated in 2000 when our tech world was booming, However, during the last several years, I believe interest in the credential suffered due to what I call “information overload,” all due to advances in technology...

The Power of the Portal

By M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP; Executive Editor - Saturday June 13, 2009

Congrats go to Thomson Reuters for the significant milestone it hit in the most recent tax season: UltraTax CS™ customers preparing 2008 returns created more than 100,000 portals to serve their clients. This is important to our profession for several reasons. First, it demonstrates how the accounting profession is using technology not only to speed processing, but to save its clients time and resources they would have spent by physically bringing files to our offices in person. Second, using portals helps position us as thought-leaders by using technology to get the job done. However, portals are just one piece of technology in an entire cadre of tools. When I meet our colleagues at conferences and speak to groups, I’m amazed how...

The Hardware Side of Document Management

By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday June 11, 2009

And so, at last, we are reaching the goal of a paperless office. Not the way we envisioned it, lo those decades ago when we dreamed of killing fewer trees and putting less stuff in the landfills. No, today's "paperless office" programs – neatly renamed "Document Management" -- are necessary for far more pragmatic reasons like lowering office overhead costs, retrieving information more quickly, collaboration and file sharing over the Internet, and document security. No matter. It turns out that there is more than enough landfill space to handle paper, and more trees on North American soil than there were 100 years ago. It doesn't matter, because we still receive massive benefits from using document management systems. But...