Is Your Proposal Process a Well-Oiled Machine – or a Royal Mess?

March 27, 2012

Writing a proposal is not easy, and it can easily end up being a nightmare. Nearly always, you are working under a tight deadline that involves pulling staff from revenue-producing projects to patch something together.

But it doesn’t have to be that hard with a little planning up front.

Proposal Center

Developing a proposal center, with well-organized and formatted boilerplate language is a great start. It will keep you from having to reinvent the wheel each time you want to submit a bid on a new engagement.

If you haven’t already, you might want to set aside an office, a computer, and a large board on which you can develop an outline for all contributors to see.

Have a Champion

It also helps to have one staff member act as a proposal manager – your firm’s marketing director or someone with excellent writing and organizational skills.

The boilerplate materials you will want to have on hand include:

  • A brief history of your firm
  • A separate synopsis of each practice area (e.g., tax, audit, IT) and each practice niche (manufacturing, nonprofits, etc.)
  • Each firm member’s resume, formatted identically
  • A brief page describing your CPAmerica membership and its advantages

The Total Package

You’ll also want to have high-quality paper and notebooks or other professional-looking binding materials ready and waiting. All of these materials should carry some sort of firm branding element throughout, whether a simple colored line or firm logo or contact information at the bottom of each page. Some firms are shifting to printing on-demand branded documents to avoid printing excess materials and can easily update. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

Eight Mistakes Even Good Writers Make

March 20, 2012

Writing

If there’s anything as complicated to Americans as the U.S. tax code, it may be the rules of English grammar.

When it comes to grammar, punctuation and spelling, let’s face it – nobody’s perfect. It’s always good to have a grammar book on your desk and a knowledgeable person to proof behind you.

In 30 years as a writer and editor, I’ve seen some great writing and some major goofs. A thoughtless error can definitely make a chink in your credibility. In business writing, you always want to take the extra effort to be sure your communication is error free.

For instance, you hate to misspell “misspell,” but a lot of people do. The same with grammar. But the words I think I’ve seen misspelled the most are separate and a lot. From the first day of journalism school you are reminded that a lot is two words.

In the accounting field, a lot of people have a problem with practitioner. And, if you can just remember to double up, you’ll always be right in the spelling of these tough words: accommodate, occurred, embarrass and millennium.

Even good writers make mistakes once in a while, especially when it comes to some tricky areas. Here are a few of them.

  1. Which and that. Maybe the most common mistake is using which when it should be that. Which should be used when a thought isn’t essential to the meaning of a sentence and is set off by commas. That is used when the thought is essential to the meaning, and no commas are necessary. The car that was in the wreck was uninsured. Not: The car, which was in the wreck, was uninsured. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Faster than a Speeding Bullet – US GAAP – IFRS Convergence

March 15, 2012

Art Winstead

Yes, it’s a cliché. And a pretty good one at that, if you like Superman and Seinfeld episodes.

But, is there ever a good time to adopt a pace slower than a speeding bullet? When it came to converging US GAAP with IFRS, I initially thought it could not move fast enough.

Today, however, converging US GAAP with IFRS strikes me as a path that should be taken at a slower pace. What I cannot see clearly now, is the path to convergence and the time it will take to come to the end of that path.

Periodically, we hear that progress is being made. But shortly thereafter, we hear reports contrary to convergence being achieved in a short period.

What exactly does convergence mean? Without question, convergence is the ultimate goal to establish globally-accepted, high-quality accounting standards.

Though we sometimes scoff at the differences, some of those differences could – and will – have significant economic consequences. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Accounting and Auditing, Accounting Principles | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

Identity Theft Can Be Prevented

March 7, 2012

There are always plenty of reasons to speed up the process of filing your individual return.

The primary reason has always been that, if you’re expecting a refund, you shouldn’t wait any longer than necessary to receive it.

Well, you can add identity theft to your reasoning this year.

Identity thieves have found ways to fraudulently prepare tax returns and steal refunds from taxpayers, and they’re doing it at exponential rates. In 2010 the IRS identified 49,000 returns that involved $247 million in refunds attributable to identity theft.

In 2011 the numbers grew to 262,000 returns and almost $1.5 billion in fraudulent refunds. In January 2012, the IRS and Department of Justice released the results of a nationwide crackdown on identity theft as discussed in this article from Accounting Today.

Identity thieves haven’t limited their victims to the living.

Many families have suffered the passing of a loved one only to find that the decedent’s tax refund was stolen by identity thieves. Ironically, much of the information used by identity thieves is received from the federal government. Every year, the Social Security Administration releases the names and Social Security numbers of individuals when it learns of their deaths in a Death Master File. The file is meant to be confidential, but it has proven to be easily accessible.

The good news is that the IRS has been actively attacking tax frauds and identity thefts. And, it should be made clear that any tax refund that is stolen from a taxpayer will ultimately be refunded to a taxpayer once the IRS is convinced of a taxpayer’s identity (see the IRS website dedicated to identity theft). Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | Tax | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

The Light at the End of the Tunnel: Top 10 Reasons to Attend a CPAmerica Event this Year

March 1, 2012

Light at the end of the tunnelAs busy season moves along, know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel – and it’s coming at you from a great destination.

If you haven’t attended a CPAmerica conference in the past, here are 10 reasons you should consider it for 2012!

Reason 1: Networking – Relationships that you are able to build at CPAmerica events will help you and your firm grow internally and externally. These conferences are potentially the only events that you or your staff can attend and openly share your successes and concerns without worrying that you’re sitting next to your competitors. Members have often said that the ability to share openly is the most beneficial part of their membership.

 

Reason 2: Expertise – CPAmerica provides you with access to renowned speakers in the profession. Our events are member-driven, meaning our firms have a voice in choosing those experts. We provide the topics and speakers that each planning committee requests.

 

Reason 3: CPE – You get to listen to great speakers and learn from your peers, while staying in a great hotel in an awesome city. Can’t think of a better way to get educational credit! Our conferences usually provide as many as 20 CPE credits.

 

Reason 4: Tax Deduction – Your conference attendance and reasonable travel expenses are tax deductible. Need I say more?

 

Reason 5: Monday game plans – We encourage each of our speakers to provide actual “take-aways” from their presentations. The goal is to provide session content that firms can take back to the office and immediately begin to implement. This makes each session more valuable to the attendees. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Conferences, CPE, Networking | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

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: | 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 

 Figure1: Overall Results - Areas of Importance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2:Detailed Results – Client Service Plan

Figure 2: Detailed Results - Client Service Plan
 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3: Detailed Results – Marketing & Business Development

Figure 3: Detailed Results - Marketing & Business Development

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Related articles

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

Do you REALLY need a website?

January 25, 2012
website
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:

  1. We don’t have enough time to keep up with a website
  2. Our new clients come through referral sources, not the Internet
  3. 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: , , , , , | 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: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by cpamericaintl

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.