Unlocking the Secret to High Growth through TechnologyBy Sandra Wiley, COO, Senior Consultant, Shareholder, Boomer Consulting Inc.

IntroductionIn the professional services arena, if a business is not growing, it is dying. With that in mind, it was not a surprise when a recent survey1 of 511 accounting professionals showed that 80% of firms are planning for medium to high growth. That statistic was reinforced in the Accounting Today 2014 Top Firms Report2 where it states that we are in the third year of positive overall growth for the Top 100 since the miserable low points of 2009 and 2010, when revenues actually declined. Growth has been relatively consistent at around the 8% mark.

So where do firms expect the growth to come from? According to Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, firm leaders need to put a strong emphasis on practice growth. In many firms today, the legacy rainmakers have built their own book of business, and the compensation program rewards them for essentially hoarding work, therefore suppressing the potential overall growth for future leaders in the firm. In other firms, they simply have not developed a strong “growth engine” and therefore really need major retooling.

There is no marketing plan, no business development plan and no accountability systems; therefore the firm eventually begins to erode due to the inability of the new group of partners to go out and bring in new business. A good place to begin changing the course and getting on the right track is for all firms to identify the overall, foundational growth strategy. Experts agree that firms need to put serious thought into declaring a major in their firm’s growth efforts:

Organic Growth — The find, mind and grind theory still holds great value in growing the firm today. Caring for current clients, developing new rainmakers and new client relationships through marketing is alive and well. This strategy requires that firms have a marketing, business development and accountability plan in place and that it is being followed by everyone in the firm. No outliers!

Mergers and Acquisitions — Turn the dial from organic growth, centered primarily on book of business, to identifying firms that fit your strategic growth model and you have a recipe for M&A growth. This strategy has exploded in the past few years. Developing strategic acquisitions and mergers is a powerful path to firm growth.

A Combination — One strategy does not preclude you from using both. A two-pronged approach is often vital to creating a firm growth plan that has long-term sustainability.

Online — via secure portal

Email

In Person

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Other

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Your clients prefer to access/share information with the CPA via what method?

What will clients want from their trusted advisor? A few items stood out in the survey data:

ll Timeliness of service response

ll Accessibility of information to staff — I can get my data anytime and anyplace

ll Confidence that their data is secure

Clients expect responses to their questions:

Can you find your firm’s critical data? Is your firm staged for a potential offer?Know the Numbers: As firms build their growth strategies, leaders must recognize that they can manage their business much more effectively today by getting a firm grasp on the financial numbers. Firm leaders simply must know where revenue is coming from and where profitability is greatest. They must stop the guessing game that is happening in many firms. In the words of Gale Crosley, Crosley + Company, “The key to growth is sustainability and the key to sustainability is strategy development. The lack of strategy development is a systemic issue in the profession. It starts with revenue segmentation, a spreadsheet of revenue sources with services as the rows and industries/buyer groups as the columns. This is the beginning of financial analysis which tells us where we are, a critical element of future direction.”

Many firms use the excuse that they can’t get the numbers. This isn’t true. It may be difficult, but so are lots of things we need to do!

— Gale Crosley, Crosley + Company

How will your business development initiatives address your clients critical needs? Innovative Care for Clients: Aging baby boomers will be looking for guidance in the areas of financial planning, retirement and estate planning, health and elder care. They will turn to accounting professional advisors as they start and run full and part time businesses. They will ultimately be looking for their trusted advisor. Additionally, our innovative and tech-savvy Gen Y clients will expect to interact with their accounting professionals by using online and self-serve customer support in addition to traditional methods. According to our recent survey, almost 50% of the respondents stated that their clients prefer an online portal as the primary method for accessing and sharing information. Finally, a growing number of women, who have been starting small businesses at twice the rate of men over the last decade, will increasingly be financial decision makers for businesses, making them an important client segment.

With CCH Axcess™, we can now respond to client inquiries and finalize returns without having to plan ahead if we’re going to be out of the office.

— Jonalyn Sullivan, Member, Sullivan and Gannon

Online — via secure portal 46.97%

Email 88.45%

In Person 44.81%

Mail 18.79%

Other 0.98%

l Same Business Day (41.88%)

l 24 Hours (51.47%)

l 48 Hours (6.07%)

l 3 Days or More (0.59%)

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Are you ready for the talent war? Create the Team of the Future: People are busy. That could be the understatement of the century. Your staff, your partners and your IT professionals are all underwater with the amount of work they are tasked with. The real question is: Are they busy doing the right things? As your firm builds out its growth model, particular focus should be directed at doing the right things that will drive growth and profitability, not just make people busier. Firm leaders will need to offer flexible work options and increase life and work balance to attract and retain talent. Those that cannot provide this flexibility will be at a competitive disadvantage. In addition to flexible work options, Gen Y workers will seek tech-savvy employers using up-to-date digital tools. This emerging workforce also expects learning and growth opportunities. Staffing at firms will need to reflect and support the growing needs of multicultural clients and those conducting international business.

The answer to growth is just do it. The question of ‘how’ is much more complex. Looking specifically at these three key areas of growth in your firm, there are key technology strategies that can assist you in your quest.

Know Your Numbers: Cloud-based solutions will continue to provide more robust analytical tools, social and mobile computing opportunities to reshape how we do our jobs, and how, when and where we can analyze the numbers. As firms look for seamless solutions like CCH Axcess, they will be more prepared to gather data, analyze data and use data in a more streamlined manner. Additionally, having a financial outlook in a convenient and succinct process will allow for quicker analysis as merger and acquisition opportunities present themselves. Some call this fiscal responsibility, but it might also be a tremendous growth strategy.

Innovative Care for Clients: Timeliness and accessibility will be high expectations in the future. Mobile computing — smartphones, tablets and notebooks — will become the main tools for managing the accounting professional’s complex life, and ultimately serving the clients in a more effective manner. The ability to gain access to documents through CCH Axcess™ Portal will be invaluable to the busy client of the future. As identified earlier, clients are concerned about secure data, and by moving to cloud-based solutions, backups are becoming less complex, and the security the firm feels will increase greatly. According to Jake Jacobs of Marks Nelson in Portland Oregon, their number one reason to move to CCH Axcess in late 2013 was business continuity. As he explained when being asked about the investment analysis of moving to the cloud, “How much does it cost to not move to the cloud? What happens if we can’t work for a week or two?”

CCH Axcess™ Workstream gives you the ability to track work and share with a client exactly where they are in the process. Knowledge is power when it comes to a client’s financial data. I now “wow” my clients by answering their tax questions wherever I am.

— Curtis P. Patalano, CPA, Owner, Curtis P. Patalano, CPA, LLC

The CCH Axcess™ app is great when you are out of the office and need to respond to a client’s email or if you need to share with the client information you didn’t remember to bring to a meeting. I recently met with a client for lunch just to discuss current year operations and overall business performance. During the meeting, the client had specific questions about his prior year tax returns, and I was able to pull them up immediately with the CCH Axcess app. It looked like I had been prepared for the question all along!

— James McNeeley, Principal, Maner, Costerisan

Create the Team of the Future: Flexible, highly trained, tech-savvy and highly leveraged are all words that will describe our future workforce. Allowing our teams to work when, where and how it fits into a well-balanced life of a strong professional is at the top of the list. Using modules like CCH Axcess™ Document, CCH Axcess™ Practice and CCH Axcess Workstream as a seamless solution will create the foundational strategy. This move to a unified cloud-based solutions will not only help your professional accounting staff, but also the IT professionals. It will free precious time for the IT professional to work on growth-related reporting like the revenue pipeline report or improve the firm’s online presence through their website or social media in order to connect to clients and/or prospects. The technology professional can also be a driving force in technology education, including leading the way in the move to the cloud. Encouraging your technology professional and a team of champions to partner with your vendor/partner to develop a program that includes training during installation as well as post-implementation training to ensure full adoptions is essential to long-lasting results. The enormous change that will be happening within our future teams may seem daunting, but remember that in a period of rapid change and increasing complexity, the winners are going to be, in the words of Tom Hood, “The people who can learn faster than the rate of change and faster than their competition.”

I recently transitioned from a 100+ employee firm with a fully supported IT department to a small office of four. As a result, I needed to get more done with fewer people and resources. I knew the key was finding a reliable tax software designed to support our fast-paced, highly efficient, and tight workflow model. The solution was CCH Axcess™ Tax.

— Walter J. Kero, CPA-ABV, President, Kero Byington and Associates

The future is bright, and our opportunity to continue our positive growth path is certainly within our grasp. Now, we need a success plan to build our confidence and pave the way for our next steps.

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For More Information CCHGroup.com/Axcess 800-PFX-9998 (800-739-9998)

About the AuthorSandra Wiley, COO and Shareholder, Boomer Consulting Inc. is ranked by Accounting Today as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Accounting as a result of her prominent role as an industry expert on HR and training as well as influence as a management and planning consultant. Sandra developed the P3 Leadership Academy and hosts regional trainings around the country. She is also a founding member of The CPA Consultant’s Alliance. Sandra is a certified Kolbe™ trainer who advises firms on building balanced teams, managing employee conflict and hiring staff.

1 2014 Professional Insights Survey.2 Accounting Today 2014 Top 100 Firms.

Your Technology Success Growth Plan: 10 Strategies to Leverage Technology for Growth1. Develop a technology strategic plan and budget — These should support the firm’s overall strategy and vision. Make the

decision to start implementing cloud-based solutions.

2. Approach security from a risk management perspective — Find the right balance between prevention and response.

3. Know the numbers — Metrics and benchmarking are important to technology.

4. Ensure leadership, management and accountability are part of technology — A leadership team that values technology as a strategic asset rather than merely a cost of doing business is vital.

5. Utilize an IT steering committee — Treat technology projects as firm projects rather than an IT project, and build a governance structure that supports this.

6. Look outside your own four walls — Join a peer network for access to experience, expertise and personal development.

Look outside the accounting profession — A look at other professions provides insight into what is possible.

8. Treat vendors as business partners — Forming partner relationships with solution providers gives greater access to the wealth of knowledge and experiences vendors hold.

9. Improve your processes — Taking a proactive approach to process improvement is a must to help efficiently select the right technology to support your firm’s workflow.

10. Promote a training and learning culture — Training and learning is critical to retention and recruitment and will ensure you get the most out of your IT investment.

7.