It's not Just the Numbers

As you start to build your CAS (or is it CAAS?) one of the things you'll need to think about is your organizational structure. Typical accounting and bookkeeping firms grow by adding more accountants and bookkeepers, however what we've found, for your CAS business to grow you'll need a different skill set in your next hire. We've named this person Beth, namely because that's her name in one of the firms we work with and she's the gel that holds the firm together. She's the first point of call for both the clients, when they need help, and the accounting team when they're chasing the client for more information. Job titles include Client Administrator, Client Success Manager, and Client Relationship Manager. Regardless of title it's important that this person never gets sucked into tax season, or 1099 season, or other busy accounting work. And for the most part they're not billable, but rest assured they'll quickly demonstrate their value.

To ask us any questions or share any feedback, please connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

So what is it? Client Accounting Services? Client Advisory Services? Or Client Accounting and Advisory Services?

And does it matter? Well yes, because you have to be very clear to your clients as to what services you're providing and to your team what tasks need to be completed to deliver on your promise to clients.

Without proper definition these services can quickly become everything that's not tax. And this makes it difficult to create processes, workflows and tech stacks etc. While it might be easy to utilize a 'blueprint' from a speaker on stage if you're not crystal clear on what you are and are not doing you'll struggle to realize the potential of CAS (or is it CAAS?).

To ask us any questions or share any feedback, please connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

We've been on the road and in today's episode we share our insights picked up from AICPA's Engage Conference in Las Vegas, and Scaling New Heights and BKX in Orlando.

Were you at any of the conferences? What were your key take aways?

Plus we've seen a number of apps close their doors as funding dries up and we share some questions you should be asking your technology providers.

To ask us any questions or share any feedback, please connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

An interesting article on Accounting Today asked the question do you train accountants on tech, or technologists in accounting? Ultimately where we landed was agreeing with Geni Whitehouse who said hire the attitude and train for what you need. The old way of building an accounting firm was to hire more accountants and bookkeepers, but what we know is they're in short supply and they certainly don't want to be doing things the old way. As we were discussing a few common threads became apparent, and if you've been listening to this podcast, then they shouldn't be foreign to you - be very clear about want you want to get out of your business, what you want to do and what you don't want to do. And hopefully that'll help you identify whether or not you want to train accountants on technology or technologists on accounting.

To learn more about how MoneyPenny can help your accounting and/or bookkeeping firm visit https://moneypennyllc.com/.

And to ask us any questions or share any feedback, please connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

Today's episode we catch up following a few weeks of being on the road and attending conferences in real life again. We talk through the AccountingWeb Summit in San Diego and Intuit's Get Connected conference in Sydney.

Not surprisingly, themes were consistent across both conferences -

• What's the new normal for the workplace?
• How AI and automation are continuing to advance;
• How to understand and meet the changing needs of clients; and,
• How the pandemic has changed people's perspective on what's important.

Also no surprises, attendees were delighted to be back in person, learning from each other, sharing experiences. While webinars and virtual learning have changed dramatically for the better, there's nothing quite like that in person connection.

What conferences are you attending? Don't be shy, come up and say hi or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

Early on when talking to accountants and bookkeepers about the cloud, we always got the question, well what happens when the internet goes down...

Thankfully our look into the crystal ball proved successful (big gamble) and the internet got better and better, and faster and faster, meaning we got fewer of these types questions. And what happened this week? AWS went down. It happens and it will happen. Don't worry all is not lost!

Today we talk through tech stability concerns and how to talk with your clients.

Enjoy! And keep sending us your questions via LinkedIn.

Thank you to everyone who has dropped us an email, or connected with us on LinkedIn - keep your emails coming in! That being said we've had a couple of questions from listeners looking for all the answers - a blueprint of sorts to follow. However when we've dug a little deeper in conversations with these folks, one thing is particularly apparent - they haven't yet created their vision for what they want in their firm. And while we can provide you a list of apps, make recommendations etc without your vision and knowing what it is you want to achieve we're going through the motions. Instead spend some time focusing on what it is you want to achieve out of your business. With tax season behind you, hopefully now is a good time to think about your business and what changes you want to make in it - what services do you want to do? What clients do you want to work with? What do you want to stop doing? If you do have the time, head back to some early episodes of the webcast for more insights.

Sweat Jar Warning! And here's the link about customer dissatisfaction article that we discuss.

Post tax season many consultants will be recommending to fire your pain in the a#@ (PITA) clients. Before you do, ask yourself what makes them a pain? Yes there are some clients who truly are a pain in the you know what... But today we ask listeners before they put clients on the chopping block, have a look in the mirror, and ask yourself how well did we "onboard" our client?

Onboarding is a common term for your software providers. Think about it, what are they trying to achieve with their onboarding? Most simply, they're trying to get you using the product. So now apply this to how you bring on your new clients - is it standardized? is there training involved? Turns out that two-thirds of consumers leave companies because of poor customer service - and that’s a pretty scary statistic, but it goes to show just how important clear, supportive communication is during the post-conversion stage.

Don't think because you're in professional services this doesn't affect you. And before you make the decision to fire clients make sure you're not going to have a revolving door because of a poor client experience.

New business doesn't just walk through the door - especially not the properly priced value added work that many accountants and bookkeepers want to add to their firm. Winning this type of work requires a defined sales process that includes good discovery of not only the numbers, but also what non-financial challenges the business owner is facing. If you only focus on the numbers you'll miss much of the disfunction that will impede your ability to do a good job, plus you'll likely leave a bunch of money on the table. Whether it's in person or virtual meetings, web or customer research, you have to train yourself to really listen - to the owners, the team and customers. A lot of sales calls we've listened to are dominated (as much as 80%) by the accounting firm telling the prospective client how great they are. Instead, flip this on its head and get the prospective client talking as much as possible - you'll be surprised how much beyond the numbers you learn.

How is your tax season going so far? Get in touch and let us know. If you'd like us to help with a tax season review workshop get in touch with us via LinkedIn.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

We know! Tax season isn’t even over and we’re talking about a tax season review. Don’t worry, we’re just planting the seed. In fact we’re recommending taking the rest of April off! But when you do come back in May, be intentional about your business. The risk is it’ll quickly be the fall and extension season and you won’t have done any of the big projects you wanted to.

Here’s an easy agenda for your after tax season review:

• Clients
• Services
• Technology
• Systems & Process
• Events

Get your team together. If you can, get off site for a couple of days to talk through the good, the bad, and the ugly of the above. Ideally you’ll have identified 2-3 key issues to work on. Your list will be much longer but you can’t do everything. And with those 2-3 issues in mind, what work needs to be done to address them? What events should you go to to learn more/speak to peers and providers.

If you can do this in May, you’ll set yourself up well for a productive summer testing new systems, updating processes, meeting with clients.

Good luck for the final push to April 15 - if there’s anything we can help with - get in touch. You can easily find us on LinkedIn.