Many firm leaders think that young CPAs lack the necessary business development skills to move to the next level or become a future leader of the firm. However, young CPAs are often not given the opportunity to develop those skills on a daily basis. Business development is a difficult thing
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Firm practice management
Business Insurance: What to Do Before You Renew
Conditions in the insurance market present CPAs a great opportunity to enhance their business insurance coverage as well as to educate their small business clients on key policy renewal strategies. Here are several tips on enhancements to look for and other factors to consider when renewing coverage: Following these tips
Mining Tax Clients for New Business Opportunities
Any CPA who does personal income tax returns can relate to the frustration of waiting for clients to open envelopes and organize data during the tax return informational interview. Don’t let this time go to waste. For many firms, the largest volume of clients is in tax return services. Using
What Does It Take to Lead?
Confidence. Passion. Emotional Intelligence. These are all traits that successful accountants say are needed to be an effective leader in the profession. Whether choosing to work as a CFO, serve in academia, or climb the ranks to partner of a local or national firm, certain skills undeniably top the list
Survey Highlights Emerging Tools for Firms of All Sizes
One of the clearest ways for firms to increase profitability is to become more efficient. Because technology can enhance productivity, the 2010 PCPS/TSCPA National MAP Survey asked firms how they are keeping up with software and hardware developments, including paperless systems, multiple monitors, time and billing software, client portals and
Hitting the Target: National Survey Looks at How CPA Firms of All Sizes Stack Up
Practitioners have put their business management skills to the test within their own firms during the past two years to minimize potential damage from the economic downturn, according to a biennial survey conducted by the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section in conjunction with the Texas Society of CPAs. The results
Are You Linked In?
While LinkedIn provides benefits particularly helpful for accountants, it is important to review all that a free, basic LinkedIn account offers. From profile creation to making connections and recommendations, LinkedIn tools can benefit users in any profession. CREATING AN ACCOUNTGetting started with LinkedIn begins with visiting linkedin.com to create a
LinkedIn Tips for CPAs
Say you run a small accounting practice but are not a marketing expert. What can you do to build your business that’s easy, quick and inexpensive? The answer is LinkedIn. The LinkedIn platform is designed specifically for business use. It is the social media of choice for more than 90
Make Your Mark With Your Social Media Status
Blogging and social networking truly remind your clients and colleagues of why, when and how to recommend or refer you. Here are some tips on how to put social media status updates and other low-maintenance missives to work for you: —By Vikram Rajan (vik@phoneblogger.net), the founder of phoneBlogger.net and author
CPAs Share Continuation Strategies
Editor’s note: Also read “Who Would Run Your Firm?” Feb. 2011, page 40. In August 1988, 48-year-old CPA Jim Feigel was in an accident that left him in a coma for 23 days. “If anything ever happens to me, the first thing you should do is sell the practice,”
Who Would Run Your Firm?
There comes a time when every sole practitioner or small firm owner needs to consider the consequences of a disruption in leadership of his or her CPA practice. Illness, disability, family obligation or death can be devastating for the CPA’s clients, family and employees. Proper planning, however, can mitigate the
Board of education: Other client advisory board models
Editor’s note: Also read “Board of education: CPA firms, businesses can profit from clients’ advice,” in the Jan. 2012 issue of the JofA. The client advisory board model recommended by the PCPS is far from the only format used by CPA firms and other businesses. Buffalo, N.Y.-based Dopkins & Co.
New Investment Adviser Requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act: What CPAs Should Know
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, PL 111-203 (Reform Act, tinyurl.com/26zalzn), which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in July 2010, will require sweeping changes to virtually all areas of the financial services industry in the United States and will affect a wide variety of
How to Stand Out in Today’s Marketplace
The Institute has developed a multiyear marketing campaign to differentiate CPAs from other tax preparers. The initiative includes a set of tools to help members promote the value of CPA providers of tax services and to distinguish them from their competitors, and a comprehensive tax website for consumers with dynamic
Maximizing Tax Season Efficiency
Run your firm’s tax season as if you were advising a client on a business. Whether you are a two-person operation or a giant national firm, you need procedures to facilitate the tax preparation part of your practice. The following best practices for tax season, adapted from my book Managing
Firm Survey Shows Profitability Preserved Amid Flat Revenues
Despite flat revenues, CPA firms managed to maintain profitability during the past two years, according to the 2010 PCPS/TSCPA National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey, a biennial survey conducted by the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section and the Texas Society of CPAs. The survey results provide a comprehensive benchmarking
Featured Online Content for December 2010
FEATURED VIDEO Use the 2010 MAP Survey to Benchmark Your Firm The AICPA’s James Metzler, CPA, and Mark Koziel, CPA, discuss findings from the 2010 PCPS/TSCPA National MAP Survey, conducted by the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section and the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. The 2010 survey includes responses
Make Your Accounting Department More Efficient
In today’s world, accounting departments run lean. Asked to do more with less, accountants are being pushed to the max. Since adding staff is usually not an option, here are seven ways to lighten accounting’s workload. Challenge every step, every piece of paper, every input and every output. Chances are
Featured Online Content for November 2010
FEATURED VIDEO Performance-Based Compensation Accounting firms are increasingly using pay-for-performance to compensate their high performers. Compensation experts August Aquila and Coral Rice discuss key aspects of a pay-for-performance system, how it can benefit your firm and mistakes to avoid when implementing it. Also on journalofaccountancy.com, read ideas from the
How to Be a Better Mentor
A mentor’s job is to foster one-to-one relationships that challenge people to rise to higher levels of competence and responsibility. This article discusses three key characteristics of an effective mentor: 1. An effective mentor asks challenging questions that help people expand their scope of responsibilities. 2. An effective mentor is
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