Blogs

The accounting profession is heading toward a model that prioritizes helping individual clients achieve their business goals instead of only providing tax and accounting services. With this in mind, it is essential for CPAs and advisors to ask themselves some key questions: · How do your top clients envision their business growth? · How can you more effectively support clients in addressing challenges? · What is on your clients' To Do list, and how can you help them complete it? · How would your firm change by adopting a client-goals first mindset rather than a compliance-first mindset? ...

One of the biggest and most common challenges facing the accounting industry is talent . For many years, leaders have had a fixed mindset about how to run an accounting firm. Traditionally, leaders expect staff to “sit in the chair” and get the job done — and that approach has worked for accounting firms to achieve their goals so far. But what about the client experience? How does sitting still help you fully understand what your client needs to move forward? It’s not about how long you sat down to do it and put the hours in, but rather about what you did to provide a great client experience. If leaders could focus more on client service — ...

From Charge Hours to Revenue Generated: How to Make the Mindset Shift (Part II) In part I of this article series on shifting from charge hours to revenue generated, we discussed the simple math you can use to implement this new method of metric- and performance-tracking. In part II, we will wrap up that discussion and talk through how you can initiate the change management process to encourage your team and leadership to buy into the shift. Imagine that it’s the beginning of the year, and you’re sitting down with your team to review their budgets. It’s a neutral meeting at best — it’s not exciting, and they’re probably dreading the projected ...

For 125 years, charge hours have been the go-to metric for measuring performance at an accounting firm. However, when firms focus on input hours to measure value created for clients, they disincentivize creativity, innovation, and efficiency. In short, superstar employees are punished for their efficiency by being given more work. As we look to the future, I propose that firms do not hire people for their chargeable hours; rather, they should hire employees for the revenue they can generate for the firm. You might think these mindsets are one and the same, but they are totally different. What if we shifted our mindset to focus on the revenue ...

This summer, our Aprio communications team interviewed Mike and I about the Firm Alliance. We thought it might be helpful to share this with this community and any prospective members thinking about joining the Alliance. What is the Aprio Firm Alliance? The alliance is a membership organization that supports local accounting firms. As a Top 25 Accounting firm, Aprio has access to resources that local firms (in general) do not have access to. Just like tax or audit, the Aprio Firm Alliance is a service line under Aprio. The idea was born from Aprio’s Channel Referral Program, as Aprio has historically supported firms with specialty work. “Our goal ...

Summer is Here, Now What? You did it! You made it through busy season and you deserve a round of applause. 👏 Now that you have some breathing room, it's time to start strategizing about how to finish 2023 strong. Here are some ideas to get you thinking about how to maximize the summer months. Adopt an integrated team solution You need staffing resources at a time when talent is hard to come by. In addition to making your open roles more enticing, it might be a good idea to reach out to a company that can help bridge the talent gap and handle assurance, tax and accounting. Bringing in an outsourcing partner will let you and ...