WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 1 1 Pennsylvania...
-
Upload
magnus-moore -
Category
Documents
-
view
215 -
download
1
Transcript of WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 1 1 Pennsylvania...
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 1
1
Pennsylvania Society of Tax and Accounting
ProfessionalsPractice Management
Retreat
June 17, 2015
Wilkes-Barre, PA
Presented by
Edward Mendlowitz, CPA
Edward Mendlowitz, CPA• Partner emeritus with
WithumSmith+Brown, PC • Author of 24 professional books• Admitted to practice before U.S. Tax
Court• On BottomLine/Personal panel of
experts• Practice management techniques have
been reported on by The Wall Street Journal, and other publications
• Testified twice before House Ways and Means Committee on tax equity and reform
• Has been a Team Captain and performed peer reviews for over 60 CPA firms
Professional sharing
• Get my monthly Top 5 Q&As free – email me your request to be placed on personal email list
• Read my weekly Art of Accounting column at www.accountingtoday.com. Search for “Mendlowitz”. Sign up - it is free and you will also receive the print edition of the paper free
• Subscribe to www.CPATrendlines.com where a Q&A is posted weekly. Also free.
• Read my twice a week blogs at www.partners-network.com. Also free.
• Call me with your practice management questions and issues – also free.
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 4
1. Quicker billing
The perception of the value of your services decreases as the time
between the performance of the service and the billing date increases. Actually, the greatest value of your service is BEFORE you do any work.
The longer the gap between the work being done and the bill bring
received, the less likely you are to be paid in full. Fast billing equates to the clients’ perception of a professional business
attitude by the CPA. Clients get nervous when they are not billed promptly – they expect to pay
and don’t understand why they are not being billed. Delayed billing means a greater amount that will be due the accountant.
No single bill is significant in and of itself to the client. However,
accumulated billings lumped together can be significant and
this causes payment delays and collection problems. Ask for retainers Accept credit cards
1. Quicker billing
The lower the time gap between doing the work and getting paid,
the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 6
2. Anxiety busters: TIO, DIN, MIT*
Eliminate your piles – TIO [piles include your unanswered telephone calls and postal mail, your email in box, and work that is just not completed…yet]
Eliminate your “To Do” inventory – TIO Unpleasant things don’t go away – DIN If it has to be done, might as well do it now – deciding to do it
later creates a mortgage on your time – DIN You can only have 1 MIT – do that first [M = MOST, not ALMOST
and not the TOP 3,4 or10] Meet deadlines - TIO Disaster plan – DIN
* Touch It Once, Do It Now, Most Important Thing
2. Anxiety busters: TIO, DIN, MIT
The lower the amount of what you put off till
tomorrow,the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 8
3. Putting the Q* in your oversight procedures
What the real purpose of reviewing work is Put Quality Control into the review process Quality Obsession 9 times in a row: right and 10th time: relaxed =
procedures not being followed thereafter
*Q = Quality
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 10
4. More effective hiring and training
Settling retards growth The alternative to getting what you want is reduced
expectations Make training an investment [compare to a manufacturer’s
investment in equipment] Assume you fired someone who wasn’t performing well.
What is their potential for success in the firm that then hired them BECAUSE they seemed great at the interview! And now consider the opposite – you are hiring the person they fired! What is your chance of success with them?
• Review your past staffing successes and failures.
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 12
5. Commoditization
Routinize your procedures E-Myth concept [Recommended book: E-Myth Revisited
by Michael E. Gerber] Automate, outsource, fool-proof, duplicate and
standardize processes In spite of the above, never forget to treat your clients,
at a minimum, in the manner that they expect to be treated; and never forget that they are your customers and pay your salary; and it is your job to have them
feel they got their money’s worth!
5. Commoditization
The lower the number of your nonstandardized procedures,
the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 14
6. Interacting with clients
Manage your client contacts You must have frequent “contact” with your top clients What about the rest of your clients? Is your 80th largest
client any less important to you than your 8th largest – I bet
they don’t think so If you look at your 81st to 100th largest clients as ONE
client, and you aggregate their fees, how large would they be; how much time do you spend with them and on their work; and how profitable are they compared to your
8th or 9th largest client; and how many sleepless nights do you have because
of them versus because of your 8th or 9th largest client?
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 15
…interacting with clients (cont’d)
Additional business from current clients Referrals from clients – best measure of their satisfaction
and their confidence in the service you provide What are your clients’ problems? and how do you respond? [Agenda item for your retreat (#7 ): Try applying their
solutions to your practice business] Assume your largest client calls you later today to drop you,
what would you say to them? What would you wish you had done, and when,
that could have stopped you from being fired? Why not do it now - DIN
6. Interacting with clients
The lower the number of client generated meeting requests,
the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 17
7. Partner retreats away from home
Puts perspective in your practice Develops and refines your vision Defines goals of your practice Take an “inventory” of your practice – where are you, and
where are you going? Is where you are going, where you want to go; or where you thought you would be going at this point in your life
Do business plan of your practice as if it were starting today What stage of a business’ life cycle is your practice – ways
to jump start it if it is on the downward slope SWOT analysis Who is the firm’s leader – and why is it that
person
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 18
…retreats (cont’d)
Is the leader a reactive or proactive person (i.e. a problem solver or a problem preventer?)
To be a preventer, the leader must think about what can go wrong and then implement procedures and processes to avoid that – and not wait until the problem occurs (and then be the best world class fixer upper)
Distinction between fire prevention and fire fighting Is time spent putting out fires or planning for future and
sticking to a course fashioned from the leader’s vision? Practice lifecycle – how does a practice grow
when it starts and how does it grow after it reaches maturity, and does it keep growing or is it stagnated?
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 19
…retreats (cont’d)
What are the risks to your practice? What would happen if you had a big lawsuit; criminal
indictment against a partner; lost your right to practice before the IRS or were suspended for a brief period; could not do audits before completing a series of CPE programs; or lost your CPA license because you did not reregister on time or blew the CPE requirements; or lost your largest client that accounted for 42% of your business?
What do you think Arthur Andersen, Bear Stearns, Enron, Merrill Lynch or Lehman Brothers wish
they had done differently?
7. Partner retreats away from home
The lower the disagreements between you and your partners,
the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 21
8. Running more effective meetings
Plan and direct your discussions Stick to the big picture issues Is the client and/or you getting value from the meeting
(and does the value exceed the cost?)
8. Running more effective meetings
The lower the amount of control others have over your meetings,
the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 23
9. Building personal wealth outside of practice
Qualified plans Other investments Eventual exit strategy
9. Building personal wealth
The lower your worry about your future financial security,the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 25
10. Revenue from clients
How much of your revenue is from clients you had 10 years ago? How much are the fees from your top 10 (or 20) clients as a percent of
your total revenue? To what extent is the practice growing with clients that are growing or is
growth from new clients, and why? How did you get each of your top 10 clients? Are no profit and/or unpleasant clients dropped (Determine realization
for each client. Also determine family tree of a client before dropping them.)
Existing or new clients – who are more profitable? Question: How much potential is expected from new clients? Do this for
the new clients you got 5 years ago – how much has been attained vs. what you expected?
Do low level activities crowd out high value services?
Fee increases – raising fees or rates – how often should you?
10. Revenue from clients
The lower the number of slow payers and write offs,
the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 27
11. Niches
Niches create specialization, depth and concentration of learning
A niche can be an industry or service area Can a geographic area be a niche? Use in marketing - networking, cross referrals (e.g. bonding
companies), attorneys, consultants, focused advertising and promotion.
Staffing advantages: extra and directed training and CPE; critical mass to spread cost of specialists
Becoming a “player” Re: Your top 10 clients – are they in any special
niche (how many niches do these clients fall into?)
11. Niches
The lower the array of services you personally need to be expert
in,the more fun you’ll have
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 29
12. What clients really want
Return their calls Show up Don’t miss deadlines Be available When a client complains…
Deal with it immediately A partner should handle complaint How to respond Recognize importance of complaint or issue to
client…and feel it Opportunity for you to improve and bond a stronger
relationship
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 31
13: Some items not covered
1. _______________________________________
2._______________________________________
3._______________________________________
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 32
3 Things you will now do
1. _______________________________________
2._______________________________________
3._______________________________________
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 33
Doing #1 – 12 =
+ You providing better service to clients
+ You making more money
+ You having more fun
WithumSmith+Brown | Certified Public Accountants and Consultants | withum.com 34
You are welcome to call me with your questions.
EdI can be reached at:
WithumSmith+Brown, PC
One Spring Street, 4th Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Tel: 732.964.9329 Fax: 732.964.9330
e-mail: [email protected]
Blog: www.partners-network.com