CPAmerica International's Blog

What is the Real Role of a Managing Partner?

February 14, 2012

"Leaders should be able to communicate that passion to the entire team to create energy"

Try this interpretation on for size.

“Usually, the lazy managing partner is pushing for more volume,” says management expert David Maister, author of Managing the Professional Service Firm. “Instead, the managing partner should be continually pushing for more energy from his people.”

Speaking at the recent Winning Is Everything Conference in Las Vegas, Maister said the leadership necessary today to drive success tomorrow comes down to three words: Vision. Action. Buy-in.

Leaders must be passionate about the future vision of their firm – and be able to communicate that passion to the entire team to create energy, Maister said.

The “What’s next” will always win over the “What we do well now,” according to Mark King, president and CEO of TaylorMade-adidas Golf Co. and keynote speaker at the conference. “If everyone in the firm can’t believe something extraordinary can happen, it won’t happen,” King said. “Create a growth culture that believes ‘Our company can lead change.’”

Strong leaders take responsibility for creating the future by letting go of command and control and replacing it with vision and focus.

When employees at every level are engaged to think, a culture of innovation is a consistent driver of success, King said.

What’s the ‘how to’ for creating more energy for the firm?

Here’s a partial list of practical ideas from the conference, as well as some ideas learned while working with members of CPAmerica International over the past 25 years:

Develop a vision and a strategic plan. Keep the entire firm’s focus on the vision and plan at every opportunity.
Pay attention to nonrecurring work. It is an essential ingredient for growth. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Business, company culture | Tagged: Certified Public Accountant | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

10 Cool New Features of VMware vSphere 5

February 6, 2012

Since vSphere 5.0 has been out for some time now, most of us have had the pleasure (or maybe displeasure?) of working with VMware’s flagship product in its newest, shiniest form. Instead of listing all of the new features, I thought I’d highlight 10 of the features and/or enhancements I have found to be most beneficial in my 6 months of using the new version.

1. Support for nested 64-bit virtual machines: Great for lab environments, home networks, and general testing. This feature allows, with support, users to virtualize ESXi 5 (or that other hypervisor) and actually run 64-bit virtual machines within the nested hypervisor. There are a few tweaks necessary to make this work. Check out this link for more info: http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2011/07/how-to-enable-support-for-nested-64bit.html.

2. 3-D Graphics Support: This will improve the out-of-the-box experience for folks deploying VDI.

3. vMotion: vMotion has been reworked to support multiple NICs, which should improve speed dramatically when moving vm’s between hosts. Also, the latency for long-range vMotion has been extended to 10ms, thus allowing for potential moves between metro Ethernet links, etc. And finally, Storage vMotion supports moving vm’s that have snapshots (a few caveats).

4. Storage DRS: Similar to traditional DRS, sDRS now allows for automated load balancing between datastores (or datastore clusters) to improve vm performance.

5. Profile-driven Storage: Allows for granular rules for vm placement on datastores.

6. 2+ TB VMFS: Great for building disk-disk backup solutions or supporting large-scale environments. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Information Technology | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

The Right Kind of Busy

February 2, 2012

Capturing the Opportunities Presented in Busy Season Requires Working at Two Different Levels

Guest bloggers: Lauren W. Proser and JoAanna Pittman, from Sageworks, Inc., “The Leader in the Financial Analysis of Privately-Held Companies.” Sageworks, Inc. is a CPAmerica International preferred provider.

This time of year, more than any other, is when business owners are thinking about you. Between planning meetings, engagement letters, walkthroughs, and tax returns, you are on your client’s mind. Beyond the endless barrage of phone calls, emails, and deadlines, you should keep one question in the forefront of your mind; what does this mean for you and your firm and how should this impact your daily activities and mindset during busy season?

Let’s answer that question in light of what we’ve been told matters the most to you and your firms. During the 4th quarter of 2011, the Advisory Team at ProfitCents randomly sampled 150 manager-level and above accountants in mid-sized to large local, regional and national firms. We asked the individuals to rank 5 areas in terms of importance and urgency to their firms. This is how they responded: (Also see Figure 1)

     *1st:   Marketing & Business Development   and   Staffing
2nd:   Client Service Plan (construction, optimization, etc.)
   3rd:   Service Pricing & Billing Structure
   4th:   Firm Member Compensation

* Marketing & Business Development and Staffing tied for most important.

More specifically, within two of the most important/urgent areas, here’s what respondents indicated their firms are or need to be focusing on:
(Also see Figure 2 and Figure 3)

Maximizing Cross-Selling Opportunities,
Positioning Services to Communicate Value,
Managing Revenue Growth Goals, and
Establishing Profitable Niche Markets and/or Service Offerings.

So… given that this is an incredibly busy time of year, what is the best way to tailor your approach to busy season 2012 accordingly?

The answer is simple: have meaningful conversations with your clients. Initiate a brief Discovery Process for your (key or core) clients. Countless studies done on accounting firms’ client satisfaction have revealed that, more than anything, your clients want to know you care – they want to feel loved and thought about. Not only should this interaction contribute to happier, more satisfied clients, but it will help you learn more about their needs and about opportunities for better serving their needs (i.e., cross-selling opportunities, opportunities for positioning additional services to communicate value, potential niche/additional service markets in demand among your client base, etc.).

Figure 1: Overall Results – Areas of Importance

Figure 2:Detailed Results – Client Service Plan

Figure 3: Detailed Results – Marketing & Business Development

On the Horizon: 12 Key Considerations for Your Firm in 2012 (cpamerica.org)
Fourth Quarter Reflective Analysis (cpamerica.org)

Leave a Comment » | Business | Tagged: Clients, Sageworks | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

Do you REALLY need a website?

January 25, 2012

: Websites

In our research of our smaller firms, we realized that as many as 44 firms within our companion association did not have a website. Here are some reasons having a website is a great time and money investment for small firms.

Most clients and consumers rely on the Internet to get information on most topics, to do research and to get to know those with whom they plan to do business. This means that, if your firm doesn’t have a website, it is closing the door on a potential stream of inbound business.

A website exists for your future clients to find out about your services! Long gone are the days of simple Yellow Pages listing for clients to find you.

In the past few weeks, we have realized how many of the smaller independent firms are still without a website.

The common reasons include:

We don’t have enough time to keep up with a website
Our new clients come through referral sources, not the Internet
It’s too expensive

Well, here are some thoughts that debunk those myths.

1. How much time have you spent to acquire new clients in the last year? Would a website be worth your time if you were found by one more new customer?

If you can commit to updating your website once a quarter, you will maintain your website’s accuracy without draining valuable hours.

When new clients are looking for an accounting firm, they look for testimonials, firm culture or something that gives one unknown firm an advantage over another.

You can use your site to answer frequently asked questions, describe your services and provide resources. All of these things could save your firm valuable time in fielding calls on these topics.

2. Have you kept track of all the referrals that never made it to your door? Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | Business, Marketing | Tagged: accounting firm, advertising, Business, inbound business, personal billboard, websites | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

Why does it always have to be about them?

January 19, 2012

Who is your target audience?

They are demanding, aren’t they? Those pesky readers, viewers or other members of your target audience.

Bore them, confuse them or forget about their needs for a nanosecond, and they’re gone faster than you can say demographic.

Communicating information that you really want your audience to understand and possibly act on is a very delicate business.

The problem is, you know your topic so darned well. You’ve been living it, breathing it, nurturing it for weeks, maybe months or even years. And it’s easy to forget that your audience may not know the first thing about it.

So you may not really think it through and end up writing your message like you’re talking to the CPA across the hall or your co-worker on the project.

Whether it’s a letter, a webpage, a PowerPoint presentation or a direct mail piece, every thought, every word, every phrase of your message has to be presented with the reader’s viewpoint in mind. That reader is likely a client or prospect, so the stakes are high.

Put yourself in the position of the reader who knows the absolute least about what you’re talking about – and then figure out a way to impart information to that person while still keeping everyone else interested. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Business, Marketing, Uncategorized | Tagged: Advertising mail, Business, Certified Public Accountant, Demographics, direct mail, University of Florida | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

What a Great Time to be a CPA!

January 17, 2012

by: Art Winstead, CPA

Art Winstead, Director of A&A at CPAmerica

For generations past, accounting professionals probably believed that theirs was “the best of times” to practice.

But WOW! For CPAs here in the United States, I can’t imagine a more exciting time than this to be a practicing certified public accountant.

More than ever, our clients, communities, and financial and business professionals are turning to CPAs for financial leadership and advice. And I believe we are responding in a manner that is making a difference.

Here’s how:

We have taken the leadership role of converging financial reporting standards with the international community that provides a consistent framework for how financial transactions are recorded and disclosed. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

The Importance of Knowing the Tax Law or Seeking Assistance

January 11, 2012

: Image via Wikipedia

Partner’s Unreimbursed Business Expenses Held Not Deductible

In a recent Tax Court Memoranda Decision (Peter A. McLauchlan v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2011-289, December 19, 2011) a partner’s expenses were found to be nondeductible and the accuracy-related penalty was imposed on the partner.

This case is a bit surprising because most of the disallowed expenses related to his business as an attorney. The decision in this case also supports the good decision many taxpayers make when they hire a CPA to prepare their return when they clearly do not have the expertise.

Unfortunately, some taxpayers think they can “beat the system” or prepare their own tax returns as they wish and not suffer any consequences. The McLauchlan case illustrates the importance of knowing the tax law, and if you do not, seeking competent assistance.

Mr. McLauchlan earned more than $300,000 in each of the two years at issue, from his practice of law as a partner in a partnership (“AR” partnership). He paid various expenses, such as advertising, travel, meals and entertainment, continuing legal education, state bar membership dues and automobile-related expenses. These are typical expenditures an attorney would be expected to incur.

However, he also represented that he paid more than $100,000 in these expenses and was not reimbursed.

The AR partnership agreement required that McLauchlan pay indirect AR expenses that were unreimbursable. There was no routine practice at AR that required the petitioner to pay any other AR expenses. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments | Business, Tax | Tagged: Income tax, Internal Revenue Service, IRS tax forms, Tax, tax return | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

Keep Your Firm Organized in 2012

January 6, 2012

Image by 401K via Flickr

You’ve made it through the holidays and tax season is knocking at your door…

Kudos to all who made it through the daily grind of trying to balance the holiday season between working a hectic schedule, shopping for gifts, spending time with family and friends, and managing to do all of this without pulling your hair out.

Great job!

Tax season starts at just the same time we welcome in the New Year. And along with the New Year, come those New Year’s resolutions. We all make them for personal growth and betterment, but why not incorporate those resolutions into ways that you can create a better environment for your firm during tax time?

Usually on many resolution lists, better organization is at the top. But what details go into being organized at your firm?

Being organized on a daily basis can make your job easier and makes you a much better resource for the rest of your staff. Being organized also sets a great example to every person in the firm. Fortunately, there are many sites that offer ways to make your work life better organized. This article by Rick Suttle on Organizational Skills for Work, covers the basics, but it’s a good start.

Tax season brings a lot of stress for many members of your firm. From the CPAs, staff accountants, and bookkeepers to the administrative staff — they are all feeling the stress.

Here are some ideas on how to stay organized at your firm and alleviate that stress.

Project management is a key ingredient to a successful and organized busy season. When the staff and partners know exactly what tax returns have gone out the door and how many returns are in process at all times, the overall workflow benefits. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Business, company culture, Tax | Tagged: Administration (business), Business, Certified Public Accountant, CPAmerica International, Project Management | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

An Emphasis on Networking and Sharing at Regional Meetings

December 20, 2011

Planning for our 2012 Regional Partner Meetings has begun!

For our members, attending regional meetings can be very different from attending one of our larger conferences. Regional meetings are focused on partners within each of our five regions. Occasionally, managing partners choose to send other leaders within the firm as well.

As a result, the regional meetings can be tailored around issues that partners are confronting on a regular basis.

Typically each region meets every two years; however the Midwest and Southeast Regions had such strong meetings in 2011 that they decided to meet again in 2012! The Central/Mountain and Northeast Regions are on rotation to meet in 2012, as well.

CPAmerica members: keep an eye out for save the dates — and mark your calendars!

In the past CPAmerica has brought in at least one outside speaker for regional meetings. Not this year! Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Business, CPE, Networking | Tagged: Business networking, CPAmerica International, Events, managing partners, northeast regions, regional meetings, southeast regions | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

A Customer Service Victory

December 13, 2011

(and you won’t believe who’s the hero)

Outstanding customer service can occur at any time and in unexpected ways.

I have gone from a believer that bureaucracy and regimented processes can be hard to break, to someone convinced that anyone can provide outstanding service and create positive feelings in the mind of a customer. This happened to me today, and it made my afternoon!

I don’t often travel internationally – maybe a couple of times a year. However I travel domestically on a regular basis, and I decided to join the Trusted Traveler Program through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The program is a new effort to speed the process for regular and recognized travelers for both entering the boarding area as well as going through customs when coming back into the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Business | Tagged: Business, Business Services, Customer Management, Customer service | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl