THE VALUE-ADDED PRACTICE DELIVERING WHAT TRULY MATTERS TO CLIENTS

In this e-book, we address the primary pillars of value, and how each can be leveraged to take your practice from being perceived as a commoditized service, and transform it into an irreplaceable component of your clients’ business.

INTRODUCTION 3

INDUSTRY SPECIALIZED ACCOUNTING 7

THE BENEFITS OF SPECIALIZED SERVICES 12

THE VALUE OF THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 16

THE ROLE OF PROACTIVITY 22

THE RESPONSIVE PRACTICE 27

THE TECH-ENABLED PRACTICE 31

Do you provide your clients with value?

Seems like a simple question, right? Of course you provide value. After all, you’re a qualified and experienced accounting professional. However, dig a little deeper and you may find that there’s more to this question than meets the eye.

It’s one thing to do a job and do it well, but it’s another thing entirely when it comes to making sure what you deliver is actually of real value.

Not surprisingly, business owners are busy and (rightfully) focused on growth – how you help them achieve this is all that matters. So while you may know the services you provide are valuable, it may not be perceived as such by your customers. After all, how many times have you paid for a service and walked away feeling like you received the bare minimum - that you received exactly what you asked for and nothing more?

If this is how your clients feel about your services, you can be sure that there’s no real attachment to you or your practice, and taking their business elsewhere is just one referral away.

DEFINING VALUEDoes tech-savvy equal value? Do awards and accolades? What about a fancy office and posh address? First, it helps to consider the differences between simply delivering billable services and providing value. Sure, clients may be willing (or more than willing) to pay you to handle everything from simple bookkeeping tasks to complex tax advisory services, but do they get that warm and fuzzy feeling from knowing that their hard-earned revenue is going toward valuable, even essential services provided by an expert advisor? Or their choice to select you was a keen managerial decision?

Or could they replace you with another accountant and barely notice the difference at all?

I’m sure you would agree that ensuring your clients recognize the importance of your services is key, but what do the numbers say? Industry thought leaders like The Sleeter Group have provided excellent data on the topic, with the following cited among the top attributes prospective clients look for when choosing an accountant:

• Expertise • Responsiveness • Proactive/strategic advice • Referrals • Technology adoption

3

Did you notice that cost wasn’t included above? That’s because it didn’t even break the top five decision factors. However, high fees are among the TOP reasons businesses leave their accountant. What does that mean, exactly? What this suggests is a lack of value, perceived or otherwise. Price isn’t the top concern when deciding on an accountant, but unless value is realized, you can be sure costs will be carefully scrutinized. To help companies define value, Karl Stark and Bill Stewart sum it up nicely by saying, “The value customers receive is equal to the benefits of a product or service minus its costs.”

In other words, value is equal to the consumer surplus, or the benefit received beyond what is promised for the price. It’s a nice definition. It’s clean, tidy, and it makes a lot of sense. But therein lies the challenge. What if the benefit received is exactly in line with its cost?

Finding yourself in this cost/value equilibrium is a tenuous place to be as an accounting or bookkeeping professional. Sure, you deliver what’s asked of you, and your clients pay accordingly, but is it enough to open up the opportunities for additional services within your base? And beyond that, is it sufficient to spur your clients into providing referrals to your business? For some clients, yes, this may actually be enough. But as a practice, it makes sense to extend beyond “good enough” as an operational status quo - even making value-recognition a key component of your mission and day-to-day performance overview. Keep in mind, with technology advancing as it is, with highly-qualified (and very tech-savvy) accounting graduates entering the profession, and with business models growing in complexity and variety, “good enough” today won’t likely be competitive in the near future.

“THE VALUE CUSTOMERS RECEIVE IS EQUAL TO THE BENEFITS OF A PRODUCT OR

SERVICE MINUS ITS COST.”

4

THE COMPONENTS OF A HIGH-VALUE PRACTICE

Your value equation will certinaly be unique to you and your market, but some combination of expertise, relationships, and technology will not just serve you in the near term, but also help to future-proof your practice. In this ebook, we set out to address the primary pillars of value, and how each can be leveraged to take your practice from being perceived as a commoditized service and transform it into an irreplaceable component of your clients’ business.

VALUE

EXPERTISENICHE EXPERTISE

ADVISORY SERVICESTHOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RELATIONSHIPSPROACTIVITY

SERVICE & RESPONSIVENESSCOMMUNICATION & OUTREACH

TECHNOLOGYADVOCACYADOPTION

INTEGRATIONEDUCATION

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“GOOD ENOUGH” TODAY WON’T LIKELY BE COMPETITIVE

IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

It’s no surprise that the majority of businesses expect (or even require) their accountants to be specialists in their field. Why? Because generalism is common and laser-focused expertise is not.

There was a time when you could open the yellow pages (remember those?), close your eyes and pick an accountant to prepare your taxes. You could choose someone different every year, and the end result would probably be pretty comparable.

But, could you close your eyes and pick a guru at SaaS startup for business structure planning? Doubtful. Could you randomly choose an accountant to advise on revenue recognition for a local non-profit? That may prove to be difficult.

In fact, The Sleeter Group has found that 62% of businesses prefer or require specialization, which makes sense. With products and services becoming increasingly sophisticated and nuanced, it can be expected that CPAs who are career

THE CLOUD CAN TRANSFORM A SPARSE LOCAL MARKET INTO

A SUBSTANTIAL NATIONWIDE

OPPORTUNITY.

INDUSTRY-SPECIALIZED ACCOUNTING

FINDING OPPORTUNITY THROUGH FOCUS

7

generalists may be inexperienced in the complexities of any given industry and may find it difficult to compete and stay relevant into the future.

It appears as if accountants looking to grow their practice, or at least maintain a client roster, are beginning to adapt to this change, with nearly 33% of accountants adopting, or planning to adopt specialization (Source: AccountingWeb).

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU KNOWYour life experience may be the best place to look. We’ve all got previous positions, previous careers entirely, or things we’ve learned elsewhere along the way. It’s this type of first-hand knowledge that can serve an accountant well when looking to delve into niche practice. After all, the real-life knowledge of pain points and day-to-day operations can merge with your accounting expertise to make your services a highly-valuable asset to your clients.

Maybe you worked in a record store throughout college and were responsible for tracking inventory. This could give you a unique perspective on retail operations from an accounting perspective. Or maybe you had a previous career in agribusiness. This could lend itself extremely well to that industry, where reliable equipment is a day-to-day necessity, and “buy-versus-lease” decisions are extremely common.

FOCUS ON YOUR INTERESTSWhat excites you? What are you passionate about? What company or industry would you pursue if you weren’t an accountant? To be successful as a niche practitioner, you obviously need a depth of knowledge, but it helps to have a deeper interest when compared to general services.

Depending on the nature of the specialized work, you will likely need to continue to offer general services (e.g. tax returns, etc.) to maintain a steady revenue stream, but seasonal and/or periodic specialized services can be an excellent way to supplement the business and keep you engaged in the work at the same time.

62%Of SMBs prefer or even require industry-specialized accounting expertise

33%Of Accountants are currently (or planning to) specialize their practice

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FOCUS ON MARKET NEEDSOf course passion and knowledge don’t always result in a viable business, so identifying gaps of service, needs of businesses, and technology trends is key.

Is your market particularly attractive for particular sectors or business types? If so, there may be opportunities based on the existing business ecosystem. For example, NerdWallet has found that freelancers thrive in some areas, with Scottsdale, AZ, leading the way with the highest average self-employment income among surveyed cities. Maybe there’s a way to offer specialized services for 1099 workers?

The Small Business Administration and Board of Labor Statistics are also gold mines of information. Geographic business makeup, industry growth, employment projections, you name it, and you’re likely to find it there.

• Small Business Administration• Board of Labor Statistics• MelissaData SIC Search• Small Business Development Centers

You may also consider leveraging the data provided by researching SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes. This data can be especially helpful when trying to establish a composite of your market’s business landscape, and may shed some light on potential opportunities right in your backyard.

Not only that, but many tools available provide direct marketing opportunities based on SIC data, providing opportunities not just to identify, but actively reach prospective clients based on relevant criteria.

TURNING PASSION INTO PROFIT

Are you a foodie? Depending on your location, restaurant/hospitality accounting services may be a great avenue to explore. Familiar with the taxation requirements for food trucks? If so, there may a be a viable and underserved market just waiting for the go-to expert.

Interested in tech innovation? Maybe offering services focused on tech startups is worth considering. Among the most

common questions encountered by startups is choosing a business entity structure and how it relates to taxation.

These are just a few examples, but there may be lucrative opportunities that match your skills, experience, and interests. Not only would your services be focused, but it would also allow you to focus on work that is more professionally rewarding.

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CONSIDER EMERGING MODELSIt’s hard for even the most tech-savvy individuals to keep up with emerging technologies and business models, much less the accounting and tax implications included. As pointed out by Deloitte, “The line between products and services is becoming increasingly blurry.”

As businesses adopt these new models, they will need special assistance not only with basic compliance services, but also someone to turn to for advisory services. Getting up to speed on these specifics now could put you well ahead of the game and position you as a go-to resource for this type of work.

To put it into perspective, below are some stats that illustrate not just the proliferation of these new models, but also the opportunities inherent within. The opportunities are abundant for practices looking to future-proof their business. Considering how the capabilities of the cloud all but eliminate the concept of distance, what may have previously appeared to be a relatively sparse local market can turn into a substantial nationwide opportunity. Combine that with some effective personal branding and you have the basic components or carving out an effective niche practice.

7.6MPredicted Americans in the gig economy by 2020

$67BProjected global SaaS Market by 2018

20.8BThe amount of “connected” objects projected in 2020

• Delineation of contract elements and units of accounting• Accounting for contract cancellations and modifications• Implications of fixed vs. usage-based billing models

• Identifying deductions• Employee vs. contractor classifications• Regulatory/tax guidelines

• Opportunities for deeper data analysis and insight• Expand/partner to expand into IT consulting services• Data security and governance

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THE LINE BETWEEN PRODUCTS & SERVICES IS BECOMING

INCREASINGLY BLURRY.

Just as niche industry growth is making its mark on the profession, so is the migration to specialized services. With the lion’s share of clients utilizing accounting professionals for tax return and tax-preparation services (90% and 59%, respectively, according to The Sleeter Group), the profession is looking to expand its footprint, and make the shift from commoditized services into trusted advisory roles.

THE CURRENT SERVICE ECOSYSTEMBefore finding ways to expand your footprint, it helps to get a feel for the services currently being utilized by small businesses. According to a survey of 400 small businesses by Wasp Barcode Technologies, here’s the most common services rendered for SMB clients:

71%

50%

48%

30%

16%

14%

Tax Prep

MOST COMMONLY RENDERED ACCOUNTING SERVICES FOR SMBs

Tax Planning

Payroll

Personal Finance

Bookkeeping

Audit

THE BENEFITS OF SPECIALIZED

SERVICESA TARGETED APPROACH TO PRACTICE GROWTH

12

Sure, tax-related services make up the bulk of services utilized by companies, but what are SMBs looking for beyond these non-strategic services? The Sleeter Group has compiled precisely that, identifying the wants of SMBs using an accountant, or planning to incorporate one into their business operations.

These are all important services, not to mention that they’ve got the added advantage of being virtually industry-agnostic. They apply to almost any business and can be a great initial offering to your existing client base.

And while those planning to engage an accountant are, not surprisingly, most interested in tax services, those using a CPA have shifted their needs to a more strategic offering. But based on the services currently rendered, there seems to be a disconnect between what clients want and what they’re receiving from their accountant.

Maybe it’s lack of communication. Maybe it’s due to staff size. Or maybe it just comes down to being a proactive accountant. Ensuring that your clients are aware of the depth and breadth of your expertise can go a long way in helping you stand out from your competition.

BEGIN YOUR EXPANSION WITH EXISTING CLIENTSYou may think that in order to make headway with new revenue streams, it requires acquiring new clients - but that’s not necessarily the case. Rather than start from the ground up, it makes sense to expand your service footprint with your existing clients initially.

Not only will this deepen the client relationship and increase revenue (always a good thing), but it will also give you a chance to evaluate the internal/operational demands of these services before presenting it to your market at large.

25%

25%

21%

20%

17%

17%

Business Planning

Analytics

Business Strategy

Govt. Audit Representation

Tax Planning

Business Dashboards

MOST WANTED ACCOUNTING SERVICES FROM SMBs

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Once you get traction within your existing base, you’ll be better equipped to answer the following:

• Can you effectively scale the offering to a larger client base? • Do you have enough internal expertise to support the offering? • Can you price the service reasonably while protecting (or increasing) margins? • Do you have a plan to market the services? • Do you have a plan to “bundle” related services into a productized offering? • Have you defined what success metrics might look like? If the answer to all or most of these is “yes,” you’re probably ready to take it to market. If not, you may want to spend some more time fine tuning, avoiding hiccups that may damage your firm’s reputation or cause operational headaches.

SPECIALIZED INDUSTRY MEETS SPECIALIZED SERVICEThis is where market-differentiation really hits its apex, since it provides clients with a hyper-focused and relatable context into their business and pain points. While all industries have their own operational nuances, the good news for you is that most of these also come with some type of corresponding accounting component.

OIL & GAS

• Tax legislation• Energy / Research credits• Mergers and acquisitions• Royalty taxes

AGRICULTURE

• Succession planning• Equipment depreciation• Renewable energy options• Tax credit opportunities

NONPROFIT

• Net asset classifications • Revenue recognition• Financial reporting• General accounting council

MEDICAL / DENTAL

• Financial benchmarking• Business valuation• Payroll and tax compliance• Cost reporting

HOSPITALITY

• Menu costing• Accounts payable• Point of sale integration• Industry benchmarking

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THE QUESTION OF PRICINGMany accountants feel compelled to compete for business based on price, which can not only adversely affect the perception of the quality of service, but also cut deeply into margins. As we’ve seen earlier, price sensitivity may not be as heavily-weighted as one might think.

Of course reasonable pricing is important, but as The Sleeter Group indicates, the fact that price doesn’t even rank in the top five criteria for businesses addressing their choice of accountant should give you latitude to consider a new approach to your model.

For commoditized services like tax returns, it may be difficult to demand premium pricing (virtually requiring that you compete on price), but the introduction of strategic or advisory services provides an opportunity to deviate from competing on cost alone, and instead begin migrating a portion of the business to higher-margin services.

It’s also a great opportunity to begin the shift away from hourly rates and focus on value pricing your services. If you’re still among the 66% of accountants primarily utilizing hourly rates (Source: Intuit® Rate Survey 2015) combining the rollout of specialized services with value pricing may be a feasible way to test both initiatives in a manageable way while you iron out any internal costing issues that may need work.

“MAJORITY OF GROWTH FOR ACCOUNTING FIRMS WILL COME

FROM ADVISORY SERVICES...”-GARY BOOMER

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When it comes to choosing an accountant, expertise is KING. Not surprisingly, this is identi-fied as the top selection criteria for businesses when choosing an accountant. Even amongst the profession, knowledge abounds. So how does one go about setting themselves and their practice above the others in the mind of the market?

Enter the concept of thought leadership. By now you’ve heard of it, and you may even be wary that it’s nothing more than jargon, the buzzword du jour, or a flash-in-the-pan success-building trend. But the statistics available beg to differ and paint a significant story. In fact, The Gartner Group has described thought leadership as, “an established field in marketing and a basis of competitive differentiation when well-informed buyers see little perceived differences between solution providers.”

Maybe not the most concise definition, but it ultimately hits the mark. Given that we’ve discussed how specialization can differentiate your practice, this definition actually reinforces thought leadership within the value-added practice concept.

Sure, it sounds great to be a thought leader and all, but how does it actually impact the bottom line?

IMPLICATIONS OF THOUGHT LEADERSHIPSo what are the implications of this on your business? It’s simple. People value knowledge. People recognize where their own expertise ends and are willing to pay handsomely for the security of placing significant business concerns in the hands of an expert.

THE VALUE OF THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BUILDING BUSINESS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE & COMMUNHICATION

16

But thought leaders take advantage of this reality and push it even further. Why settle for an expert when you can employ the services of someone even the experts look up to?

You might not be surprised to learn that people are willing to pay more for the service of industry leaders. You probably didn’t know that people are willing to pay the highest profile leaders over 14 times that of the standard professional (Source: Hinge Resource Institute).

14 times more. Let that sink in for a bit.

Not only does thought leadership bode well for the billable hours of an individual, but the impact of thought leadership on purchase and consultation engagements is significant.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?First, don’t let yourself get intimidated by the fancy moniker of “thought leadership.” Don’t assume what you have to say isn’t valuable or that you can’t become a thought leader. It’s just a different approach. It’s not unlike the difference between a classical piano instructor and a concert pianist. Both are highly skilled. Both are passionate. Both have years of experience.

The difference with the concert pianist is that he or she has chosen to take their music to a larger direct audience and present their talents publicly with all of the risks, responsibilities and accolades that come from a solid performance. Not only that, they adopt a leadership role, working to inspire others to elevate the craft at large. That’s not to say that it’s an easy leap from expert to thought leader, but rather one that can be approached methodically, like any skill.

MANY TYPES OF FISH, MANY TYPES OF PONDSA thought leader in small town Nebraska is no less a thought leader than someone in New York. While the latter may have the benefit of a larger audience directly in their backyard, the web has had a profound effect on making the world a much smaller place

70%Rated thought leadership as important, highly important or

of greatest importance

66%Of firms said having a high-profile

expert was beneficial to their business development

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Of course there are thought leaders in any industry that have made a global name for themselves, but that’s not the only pond to play in. Trade organizations, for example, are frequently launching regional versions of their primary events, which still include similar content formats (e.g. speakers, breakout sessions, etc.).

The digital ecosystem is continuing to grow in its ability to link prospects and service providers, and with sites like LinkedIn encouraging their members to blog directly in-platform, the possibilities of reach within a targeted segment are enormous, regardless of where you call home. So if you can manage to see yourself as qualified as anyone (assuming you have the expertise to back it up), it’s just a matter of getting started.

WHAT AM I PASSIONATE ABOUT?There’s a belief that how something is said is as important as what is said. It’s true. We can all relate to being enthralled by someone speaking on a topic, even when we don’t find that particular topic interesting at all. So what’s the secret?

It’s passion. It’s charisma. It’s the ability to detect that the person speaking (or writing) has a genuine interest in what they’re talking about and have a passion for communicating it to an audience. And conversely, we can all detect general disinterest or feigned interest. So ask yourself, “What am I enthusiastic about?”

That is thought leadership at its core. It’s the ability to take what you know and inspire, engage, and empower an audience.

WHAT DOES MY AUDIENCE WANT TO KNOW?Good question. After all, if you’re the most brilliant human alive regarding topics no one cares about, what’s the point? Again, it comes back to the beauty of the information age, and there’s a variety of methods to get into the heads of your market.

THE WEB HAS HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT ON MAKING THE WORLD A

MUCH SMALLER PLACE.

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While most people look to the internet to find answers to questions of their own, it’s just as useful to find out what others are curious about. It just takes some out of the box thinking. Here are some common tools marketers use to find out the questions facing their audience, as well as some sample query results:

By learning what’s important to your audience, you can better pull together thoughts on how to go about addressing these questions. You can choose to contribute to the discourse online if you want, or you can just observe the discussion threads to give yourself some context into:

• Common questions• Common misconceptions• Misguided advice (or blatant misinformation)• Market frustrations• Gaps in overall accounting literacy• Real-life stories and examples (both positive and negative)

Results for “How do I select a good accountant for my small business?”What questions should I be asking?How to choose business accounting software?3 questions every small business should ask their accountantWhere can I find an example of a perfectly organized Chart of Accounts?

Results for the query “restaurant accounting questions”How do I determine what are pre-opening costs and fixed assets?How much does outsourcing bookeeping cost?Has anyone had success providing restaurant clients with weekly financials?

Results for the query “determining a company’s value”What is the opposite of goodwill?How to value a consulting company?What is a 409A valuation?

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DON’ T BE AFRAID TO HAVE AN OPINIONMaybe your profession doesn’t allow for a completely cavalier attitude toward the rules and regulations, but that’s not to say that you can’t have thoughts, ideas and opinions that go against the grain or challenge new ways of thinking. In fact, it’s the ability to challenge your audience with new ways of thinking that separates you from a common subject matter expert in your field.

Not too long ago, those touting the power of the cloud to transform SMB accounting were few and far between. But given the leadership of early adopters, and their vision for how the digital ecosystem could significantly benefit firms and clients alike, they are looked at as go-to resources for providing a take on the pulse of the accounting tech environment.

The topical opportunities are limitless, it’s just a matter of choosing a message and committing to it entirely.

PACKAGING YOUR MESSAGEBy now, you’ve taken inventory of your expertise and cross-checked it against what resonates with your market. What next? Unless you amplify your voice, no amount of insight matters.

One of the greatest things about the marketing ecosystem is the sheer amount of opportunities to get your message in front of an audience. To start, work with your capabilities and focus on the properties you’re the most comfortable with. As you learn and grow, you’ve got a large amount of channels to amplify your message.

Like anything associated with marketing, consistency and regularity are crucial to success. If you confuse your message or positioning, you can easily lose your audience. And if you let too much time pass between touch points, you can just as easily lose any momentum you’ve built.

• Website• Blogs• White papers / e-books• Podcasts• Speaking engagements

• Videos• Newsletters (print or digital)• Published articles• Social media

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IT’S JUST A MATTER OF CHOOSING A MESSAGE AND COMMITTING TO IT ENTIRELY.

The top reason clients leave their CPA for another is that their “former CPA didn’t give proactive advice, only reactive service.” (Sleeter Group) Let that sink in for a minute. It’s interesting that a profession with so much knowledge finds itself falling short when leveraging it for practice growth. Maybe it comes down to workload and scalability. Maybe it’s related to the particular expertise of your staff. Or maybe your firm is too reliant on assuming that your clients will reach out for additional help or services.

Add to the mix that the third most common cause of client attrition is that they were referred to another firm by a trustworthy source. So, if it’s October and you haven’t reached out in any way to your client since tax season,

you can bet that their attachment to you and/or your services is tenuous at best. And if your engagement has consistently delivered bare-minimum service, all it takes to lose them is a hearty endorsement of a competitor from someone in their social circle.

TAKE THE FIRST STEPAccording to Wasp Barcode, accountants are ranked as the most important professional partner among businesses, outranking even attorneys, insurance agents, and bankers. Why is that important? Because your knowledge is wanted. It’s needed. And clients are willing to pay for it.

But if you don’t proactively interject with solutions and take a consultative approach,

THE ROLE OF PROACTIVITY

PRACTICE GROWTH THROUGH INITIATIVE

22

you’re essentially asking your target market to examine your website, evaluate your entire service portfolio, match your services with their pain points, and initiate the conversation.

That’s asking a lot of anyone, much less a busy business owner. So what types of proactive measures can be taken? If you have trouble finding a starting point, it can help to think of your customers and ask yourself:

• How can I save them time? • How can I save them money? • What process improvements can I suggest? • How can I demonstrate my value over time? • How can I transform their cost centers into profit centers?

DO SOME WORK...FOR FREEPeople love freebies. They love them even more when completely unexpected and valuable at the same time. Imagine providing a quarterly review of a particular area of your clients’ business along with their next invoice. For example, imagine your client opening the envelope with your bill (or email attachment) and finding an optimization plan for their accounts payable operations. They weren’t expecting the gesture. But by taking this amount of proactivity, it shows that you’re not only attuned to their specific business, but capable of providing far more value to their business than maybe they assumed.

As trainer, blogger, and technologist, Seth David puts it, “You could probably increase your fees by 50% with your existing clients by taking one more hour per engagement and doing some analysis to help your clients with some of the guidance they are looking for.”

You’re in an interesting position in that you can use relatively basic Excel functions and some accounting software to quickly delve beneath the surface. You can even generate these as printed materials to be included in mailers, using what Sageworks calls the “Sticky note” method.

WHAT’S OBVIOUS TO YOU MAY EASILY ADDRESS THE ISSUES KEEPING

YOUR CLIENTS UP AT NIGHT.

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To you, this is a rudimentary visualization. But these simple exercises could provide just the kind of insight that keeps your clients awake at night. While this could be information you’re giving away, consider the long-term benefits: • By taking the role of proactive advisor, your clients’ perception of your capabilities will change dramatically.

• By offering a glimpse of your expertise at no charge, you open the door to conversations leading to service adoption and increased revenue per client.

• When your service is demonstrable, it makes it easier for clients to refer your services to colleagues.

ENSURE THAT IMPACTS ARE UNDERSTOODYes, it’s important to be proactive as a solutions provider, but it’s equally important to be proactive in the communication of the resulting impacts. It’s unreasonable to think that your clients have time to decipher accounting jargon or complex raw data.

The sheer amount of rates, ratios, models, formulas and categorizations can easily overshadow the larger point, which is business impact.

Essentially, it behooves you to be proactive in making certain your clients understand why they’re paying you.

SAMPLE CASH FLOW PROJECTION UPSELLAssuming you have visibility into your clients’ payables, receivables, terms, DSO, and expenses, you can visualize a cashflow projection in Excel. When put into an easily consumable format, this can shed enormous light into potential shortfalls or surpluses that would otherwise go unnoticed. From there, you can have a conversation to overlay your clients’ goals and initiatives for the next 12 months, using your projection to identify opportunities for:

• Cash savings (vendor discounts, payment terms, etc.)• Improved receivables policies • Pricing/margin optimization

This would also work as a historical view, where you can use the same data to have a retrospective conversation about how this type of information could have been helpful over the past 12-24 months.

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SHOW, DON’T TELLWhen it comes to demonstrating value to your clients, this couldn’t be more true.

How can one go about proactively showcasing results? Dashboards are a great format for this type of data, and are, in fact, a highly desirable service. While very few accounting firms offer this service, the requests for dashboards and business analytics rank only behind business planning and strategy (Sleeter Group).

Providing easily understandable and interpretable data on a regular basis can help to not only demonstrate results on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, but can strengthen your relationship long-term with your clients as you develop a shared understanding of baseline performance, peaks and valleys over time.

When you cultivate that type of relationship, it becomes all the more difficult for your client to end the professional relationship and take their business elsewhere.

There are many dashboarding platforms available, including:

• Geckoboard • Klipfolio • Cyfe • Excel • Google Sheets • Accounting-specific tools, such as narrative reporting and projections by SageWorks

When data meets context, insight is possible. So wherever possible, make sure to take the proactive approach to ensure that your clients have a full and clear understanding of how accounting functions benefit their operation at large.

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WHEN DATA MEETS CONTEXT, INSIGHT IS POSSIBLE.

What if we told you that the second most important criteria for choosing an accountant and the second most common criteria leading to client attrition had nothing to do with your accounting knowledge? It’s true. According to the Sleeter Group, responsiveness is that criteria. As simple as it sounds and as rudimentary to a well-run business as it is, the numbers indicate that the accounting profession shares a common challenge in client communication and responsiveness. Sure, we all have times of day (or certainly times of year) when we’re swamped and responding can easily slip through the cracks.

But issues that require an accountant’s guidance are typically of more consequence than, let’s say, questions about the delivery of your remote

control BB-8 from Brookstone (depending on who you ask). It’s not to say that you need to resolve all issues by living an on-call life, but at the very least, an acknowledgement of your client’s concerns can go a long way when building trust. So what does it take to be a highly-responsive practice?

Here are some tips, covering a range of budgets, complexity and nature of client engagements. Some are also geared toward active responses (ways to facilitate real-time conversations), while others focus on passive responses (ways to facilitate client self-serve support).

THE RESPONSIVE PRACTICE

GROWTH THROUGH SERVICE

27

EMAIL AUTO-RESPONDERSFor times when you are fairly certain that you’ll be inundated with work and client requests, it can help to repurpose your out-of-office email triggers to automate a specific message to your clients. Within that response, you can let them know that your email has been received, as well as providing an amount of time in which they can expect a response. Since you will still receive the client’s email, just make sure to flag it for follow-up and/or assign priority accordingly.

While it doesn’t necessarily address your client’s questions, at least they can be reassured that their email will be seen, and get some context into any delayed response.

It’s also a great idea to take this to the next level by including helpful links within the auto responder itself. For the annual tax season rush, including FAQs or links to common issues, tax checklists, etc., on your website can be a great way to provide information to your clients when immediate response isn’t possible.

DELEGATIONIf you’ve got staff, consider training and delegating common types of responses to others within your organization. For procedural information, or questions not requiring in-depth knowledge of a particular client engagement, it makes sense to off-load response duties to others during peak times of year. Maybe this is a tax prep process overview. Not only can this help to remove yourself as the bottleneck in the communication process, but it’s always a good idea to have cross-trained backup in your office, not to mention the many benefits of providing career development among your staff.

GET TECH SAVVYNot everyone likes to communicate the same way, so it’s a good idea to embrace technology as a customer support channel. Some people prefer to text. Some prefer a phone call. Some prefer email and some to communicate via web portals or live chat. With the benefits of the cloud and mobile devices, there’s really no reason why you can’t be available in some fashion to at least acknowledge inquiries or reach out in the case of emergencies.

To take it even further, there are a host of robust practice management tools available to serve the specific needs of accountants.

60%Of consumers hate waiting

more than 1 minute for customer support

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WEBSITE RESOURCESLike we mentioned earlier, a great FAQ page or resource section of your website can bridge the gap between personal response and client frustration. You undoubtedly know the most frequent questions your firm receives, so it’s simply a matter of adding a corresponding section to your website. Video is also a great format for communicating otherwise complex concepts or ideas, so this is definitely worth looking into as well. If the thought of filming your own video series seems daunting, there are tons of online resources available to get you started on a budget. (See below)

FORMALIZED SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA)For highly-valuable clients or those who utilize a variety of your services, your response times can be included in your engagement letter. Taking this SLA approach will provide expectations for both you and your client as it relates to acceptable response times per service type rendered, not to mention checks and balances for both your firm and your clients.

These tips are more targeted toward reactive communications (e.g. client-initiated), but this is only part of the challenge of delivering value to your clients. To maintain existing clients, deepen the relationship, realize additional revenue, and increase the influx of referral business, you’ve got to be proactive. This demands attention paid to outreach, relevant touch points, and finding tactful ways to upsell your expertise.

• AccountantsWorld - PowerPractice• Commercial Logic - APS Advance• Commercial Logic - Power PM• Office Tools - Practice Mgmt • TaxWorkFlow LLC - TaxWorkFlow• Thomson Reuters - Practice CS• Wolters Kluwer - CCH Axcess• Wolters Kluwer - CCH ProSystem• WSG Systems - Empire Suite• Xero - Xero Practice Manager

• Live Chat Inc.• Intercom• Zopim• Live Person• Olark• BoldChat• Click Desk• Velaro

• Squarespace• Wordpress• Wix• Weebly• Wistia• Vidyard• YouTube• Vimeo

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

RESPONSIVENESS VIA TECHNOLOGY

LIVE CHAT WEB & VIDEO

or

As your focus on support increases, a well-maintained technology stack becomes critical. While face-to-face or phone conversations are best, the following tools can get you pointed in the right direction in terms of client self-serve content, including email, live chat and video.

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IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY AS A CUSTOMER

SUPPORT CHANNEL.

Enter the age of tech-enabled accounting. An advisor of cutting edge solutions. A strategic partner for business-building initiatives. The SMB and accounting tech ecosystems are booming, to say the least. Even experts in the field struggle to keep up at times, so it’s not surprising that small business owners lack the time to take into account all of the solutions out there, much less to put them into place.

Given that you’re a trusted advisor entrenched in the financial well-being of your clients, it’s a logical conclusion that this responsibility would fall into your hands.

There’s a long-held perception (or stereotype, perhaps) about the accounting industry -- one which involves massive physical ledgers,

stacks and stacks of paper, calculators, filing cabinets, a sea of manual data entry, and constant questions about how to code charges on a company credit card. While some of these are still in play, the profession as a whole finds itself in a unique position.

It’s evolving, and in a big way. The days of stoic bean counting alone are on the way out, and have been replaced with heightened expectations and more opportunity within engagements.

IN SHORT, YOU’RE BEING TASKED WITH BUSINESS

TRANSFORMATION.

THE TECH-ENABLED

PRACTICEENTERING AN ERA OF HIGHTENED EXPECTATIONS

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That’s cool. That’s sexy. For some it may be a challenge to connect the dots between tech solutions and practice growth, but the relationship is very real and quite direct. If you fall into that camp, step back and ask yourself if you can find internal and external opportunities to:

• Integrate software solutions

• Streamline and centralize processes (e.g. bill payments)

• Decrease turnaround times

• Increase internal efficiencies

• Increase data accuracy

• Migrate to cloud solutions

• Enhance data security and integrity

• Train your staff or clients on the tools they already use

• Improve client satisfaction and retention

• Shift away from billable hour pricing models

• Migrate to high-value services Chances are you checked the box to at least one of these, but how does technology come into play? And is this something that your clients actually want?

CLIENT EXPECTATIONSYou’re an accountant. You do accounting. You keep books clean and file client tax returns, right? Not so fast. SMBs are becoming increasingly reliant on technology to manage and grow their own businesses, and their expectations of you follow suit. In fact, 60% of small businesses attribute increased revenue to technology, and another 60% feel that technology allows them to compete with larger companies (Source: Office.com).

Feel that technology allows them to compete with larger companies

Of SMBs attribute increased revenue

to technology

60%

&

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Sure, you’ll still find yourself doing the accounting essentials for your clients - tax returns, audits, payroll, etc. But businesses are increasingly looking for their accountant to extend their services into the realm of tech.

Not only does it benefit you to take advantage of this opportunity, but it also may not be a choice in the future. Young accountants and current accounting students are pushing the industry in this direction, and will bring with them the skills of digital natives. This means that your firm will need to up its game to remain competitive and relevant.

University curricula are adopting technology as a core educational competency, and with the arrival of credentials such as the CITP, not only do current practitioners need to be mindful of the upcoming professionals, but also shift focus to attracting such talent to their firms.

If you’re still skeptical, you may be surprised to learn that according to an Accounting.org study, Information Technology Accountant has the 3rd highest median salary in the accounting industry, behind only corporate controllers and accounting professors. You can bet that those studying accounting and have a knack for technology will flock to such lucrative sub-disciplines.

According to AccounTemps, CFOs rank information technology as the 2nd most desirable attribute for potential accounting and finance hires, so it’s a safe assumption that ambitious graduates will bring spades of this to the interview table when they enter the workforce.

NEARLY 80% OF BUSINESSES HAVE CHANGED THEIR PRACTICES TO ACCOMMODATE A

TECHNOLOGY-BASED ECONOMY.- SurePayroll

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THE BUSINESS REALITY Small businesses are experiencing firsthand the benefits of technology, with 60% attributing increased revenue to technology. Another 60% feel technology allows them to compete with similar size and/or larger companies.

They see the opportunities for streamlining operations and extending their reach, but they also see technology as an equalizer. Large companies used to have the advantage of technology and tools unavailable to the SMB market, but with the advent and proliferation of affordable SaaS solutions, these benefits are increasingly slipping away.

Within this new reality, what are companies actually looking for in an accountant? According to the Sleeter Group, of clients already utilizing accounting services:

70% Believe their accountant is current or behind the technology curve45% Require or prefer an accountant proactive in planning and implementing tech changes 76% Said their accountant isn’t proactive in helping plan and implement technology changes55% Want technology recommendations from their accountant

SMBs are taking note of the capabilities of technology, and for those lacking in tech savvy, you’re the ideal person to help bring their business into this century. For those already ahead of the curve on adoption, their expectation would be that you meet or exceed their expertise in order to guide them into the new ecosystem of emerging technologies and business models.

Clients currently utilizing accounting services

Prospects NOT utilizing accounting services

THE ERA OF RISING EXPECTATIONS

Require or prefer an accountant proactive in helping plan and implement technology changes

Want technology recommendations from their accountant

80%

55%

85%

45%

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THE WIN-WIN ECOSYSTEMOne of the awesome byproducts of the tech solutions available is the mutually-beneficial nature between client and practice.

The primary crux of most tools available is the digitization and automation of previously manual processes. Not only were the old processes cumbersome but they were packed with inaccurate data, walking approvals, bottlenecks, duplicate payments, vendor phone calls, and other time-consuming chores.

Once you find ways to remove these inefficiencies, what’s left? It frees up your employees and clients to focus on more valuable initiatives. And what’s even better is the fact that your service level isn’t just maintained via technology, it’s enhanced.

This migration from physical to digital is one of what Dr. Geoffrey Moore refers to as “microtrends” which categorize the 3 primary components of accountant cloud migration. For more detail, you can find a fantastic presentation of this idea in the Accounting Services: Harness the Power of the Cloud whitepaper.

GOING BEYOND QUICKBOOKS & EXCELAccounting software is important. Excel is important. Email is important. These aren’t going away, but the definition of tech-savvy extends far beyond these tools. If you haven’t looked around lately, the growth of fintech and SMB software has exploded - it’s a massive ecosystem that is actually becoming a daunting and intimidating beast.

As you can imagine, for a busy business owner or manager, finding the right tools to help their businesses can be the proverbial needle in a haystack.

The difference is, these days the haystack keeps getting bigger. Now imagine being able to tell your clients that you know the precise tools they need to solve their pain points and you can also implement the tool and/or migrate their data accordingly.

That’s a solid service. Most businesses aren’t averse to transforming their company for the better, but rather it’s the objections, fears, and roadblocks to the process that keep them from doing so.

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You know better than anyone the pain points or hidden opportunities within your engagements. Maintaining a current view of the tech ecosystem can help you more quickly make recommendations and help guide you toward the best decision for your clients.

SOLUTION ADVOCACY

It’s one thing to advocate a tool, but it’s another to get it up and running. Implementation is a huge roadblock for companies, so why not take the initiative and incorporate this into your offering?

IMPLEMENTATION

I’m sure you’ve seen clients using tools from the (relative) dark ages, and wish upon wish that they’d upgrade to more modern tools. Maybe you’re trying to get clients to migrate their desktop applications to cloud versions. These types of projects, while beneficial, generally fall by the wayside when weighed against the day-to-day needs of a business.

LEGACYMIGRATION

Have you ever cleaned up a client’s QuickBooks data? Sure you have. So where else can your services be used to optimize and manage content into a usable form?

OPTIMIZATION & MAINTENANCE

People are creatures of habit, with a natural aversion to change. If you identify and implement new tools for your clients, it makes sense to ensure they are comfortable using them and proficient at using them in a way that best works for your firm.Otherwise, usage will suffer and the time spent getting them up and running could turn into wasted effort.

TRAINING

You may have clients that offer products at a local retail location. And for certain industries (artisans, craftsmen, etc.) it may make sense to expand their presence and market reach by offering their wares via e-commerce.

By identifying the best sales platform for their needs, implementing the procedural requirements (shopping cart, pricing, sales tax, etc.) and incorporating transaction data into their accounting software, you can essentially transform their entire business.

AUGMENTATION & GROWTH

So how does one go about categorizing and prioritizing the tech-enabled product offering? It helps to break down the question into common areas where your clients struggle. Examples include:

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KICK YOUR TECH-SAVVY UP A NOTCHThe current state of the fintech and small business software environment is staggering in scale with a combination of product suites and hyper-focused offerings alike.

Accounts payable. E-commerce. Payroll. Sales Tax. Point-of-Sale. Estimating. You name the function, and chances are there’s a handful of apps designed to solve your needs.

There are dozens (more like hundreds) of app repositories out there. Some, like apps.com, are niche in that their marketplace is specific to the Intuit partner ecosystem, while others are more inclusive, covering off both business and consumer tools.

If this is all a bit new to you, you’ll inevitably come across some terminologies or frequently-used terms associated with technologies. Some are more of a marketing/positioning play, while others carry significant weight in their impact to both you and your clients. The section below outlines some of the more commonly used terms with modern apps, along with a simple overview of how and why these matter to your business.

• Apps.com• ProductHunt• GetApp• Find Accounting Software

• TechnologyAdvice.com• CPA Practice Advisor• SoftwareAdvice.com• Toptenreviews.com

CLOUD WORKFLOW

WHY YOU CARE WHY YOU CARE

WHY YOUR CLIENTS CARE WHY YOUR CLIENTS CARE

This provides access to client informa-tion at any time, and also allows you to offer your services beyond your local geography.

Workflow allows you to enforce processes and best practices within areas of your clients business operations.

Cloud allows businesses to extend their access and productivity beyond their office walls. This removes many issues associated with approvers and decisions makers on- the-go or in the field.

By following defined paths, commonly erroneous practices can be reduced, while reinforcing a repeatable and beneficial process.

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AUTOMATION

ROLE-BASED PERMISSION

INTEGRATED

SCALABILITY

WHY YOU CARE

WHY YOU CARE

WHY YOU CARE

WHY YOU CARE

WHY YOUR CLIENTS CARE

WHY YOUR CLIENTS CARE

WHY YOUR CLIENTS CARE

WHY YOUR CLIENTS CARE

Previously cumbersome tasks (e.g. data entry) can be automated, freeing internal resources to pursue higher value services.

This allows you to interject your activity within a client’s business based on your agreementand client needs.

This reduces client push back in that it allows for the introduction of new capabilities within their existing workflow and toolkit.

Solutions can grow or contract with your client, making platform replacements less frequent.

Client inputs and outputs can be more easily executed, removing process bottlenecks and activities which previously distracted from primary operational objectives.

This allows a client to specifically provide access into areas of their business where their accountant can provide the most value.

They can continue to use the tools they are familiar with, and learning curves are limited to new solutions rather than a complete workflow replacement.

Scalability allows clients to choose a solution that can accommodate immediate needs while allowing movement up or down based on the business objectives.

“TAKE STOCK OF WHERE YOU ARE AND DEVELOP A PLAN TO GET YOU

WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.” - DARREN ROOT

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Yes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by not just gaining software expertise, but finding out how to monetize it within your practice. Like anything else, approach it in phases and follow a plan. Even if you implement one or two new software integrations a year, the internal and client-facing results could be substantial. As put by RootWorks CEO Darren Root, “Take stock of where you are and develop a plan to get you where you want to be.”

So where are you? Are you an accounting software ninja, or are you still getting the hang of the interwebs? Here’s some interesting findings (Courtesy of The Journal of Accountancy) to see how you compare:

Even for expert users, the challenge of keeping up-to-date with the latest and greatest is very real. Rather than get intimidated by that reality, just know that’s there’s an enormous amount of tools online to help get you up and running. Some offer subscription pricing models, others are charged per course, some are free. And oh yeah, YouTube is an excellent resource as well.

A few resources to get you started: • Udemy • Seth David • Grovo • Lynda

Have an Active Website

25%

48%

14%Blog

Use Cloud-based Software

Use Skype or Similar Services

77%

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CONCLUSIONThe face of accounting is changing, not just in terms of technology but also expectations. Short-lived are the days remaining for the simple commoditized service so many practices have offered over the years. While there may be learning curves and growing pains along the way, the good news is that there are countless resources available to help take your practice to the next level. The benefits inherent to this shift open up new efficiencies and capabilities within your firm, not to mention the ability to allocate your time better to truly providing your clients with valuable service.

Collectively, accounting professionals adopting and embracing these new frontiers will serve to advance the profession itself, and emphasize the importance of the accounting function well into the future.

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XTBills was created to provide small and medium-sized businesseswith the tools they need to harness the power of an automated andonline bill pay workflow. It is our goal to offer a solution that is affordable to any business, while not compromising on technology or features. With XTBills, we have developed a solution which allows users to streamline processes, enhance data quality, tighten AP controls, and consolidate bill management into a single interface.

Toll Free: 1.844.XTBILLS (844.982.4557)Email: contact@xtbills.comWeb: www.xtbills.com/contact