Practical ideas, lessons learned and shared experiences for those in the world of CPA firm management, human resources, administration, marketing and technology.
Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Rob Nance for lunch. Rob is the new Curator of iShade and was key in helping roll out the new iShade Bulletin that provides “headlines from around the profession.”
If you haven’t set up your account yet oniShade, this would be a good week to get it taken care of. Then you can customize Bulletin to fit your desires, needs and interests relating to the accounting profession. I have my channels set-up and am tracking Firm News, Young Accountants and The M.A.P. Channel. There are 14 or so channels to choose from.
Rob has his own blog on iShade and I really enjoyed his post last week about “Time to trim the unwanted e-mail.”
Did you know that spam is no longer the cause of e-mail overload? Per Rob’s post, bacon has taken its place. It’s a true battle of the e-meats. So what is bacon It’s the messages you signed up for (newsletters, sale offers) but now you don’t want. It’s estimated that bacon makes up roughly 55% of unread email. Read the entire post here.
When we got together last week, Rob brought his camera and we did two pictures that I can use on my “Is that you with Rita?” collection.
A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.
Yesterday, I arrived in Las Vegas for Accounting Today’s Growth & Profitability Summit. I joined the conference attendees just as they were having afternoon dessert with the vendors and had the opportunity to connect with many old friends (CPAs, vendors and consultants).
The best part was the fact that I got to actually meet W. Michael Hsu, CEO and Founder of Deep Sky, the outsourced accounting department built for entrepreneurs.
Michael Hsu, is that you with Rita?
I have known Michael for a while but only virtually and it was great to meet and talk with him face-to-face. Needless to say, I was absolutely blown away by his story, his creativeness, his ambition and by what he has been able to accomplish in just three short years.
He was named, for the 2nd year in a row, to CPA Practice Advisors list of40 Under 40. The amazing part is that he has 13 more years to make the list!
Take a few minutes and read Michael’s and Deep Sky’s story here. Highlights of our conversation:
Michael had some great mentors along the way and continues to seek out inspiring mentors.
He wants to not only create a successful business, he wants to build a great place to work for his people.
He understands that it takes a lot of hard work to build a business yet he is also focused on bringing balance via exercise and personal interests.
Following our conversation, I attended a technology session focused on cloud computing with a panel of technology leaders – Jim Hart of Singer Lewak, Tom Mescall of Armanino McKenna, Taylor Macdonald of INTACCT and Michael Hsu of Deep Sky. They all agreed – - You must build your cloud accounting practice or you will be left behind.
Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.
By this time of year, many CPA firms have been through a partner retreat, management retreat or a planning session with the full team involved. Hopefully, when thinking about the future, you are also reflecting upon your purpose, values and vision. Are they still on target? Are they meaningful? Can your team recite them? Can YOU recite them?
Yesterday, I talked about the culture at Zappos. Here are the Zappos Family Core Values:
Deliver WOW Through Service
Embrace and Drive Change
Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded
Pursue Growth and Learning
Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
Do More With Less
Be Passionate and Determined
Be Humble
Just reading through these I bet you can tell right away which one I like the best….. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness!
Yes, I do like that one a lot but what I really think is more important in the CPA firm culture is “Be Passionate and Determined.” No, wait a minute… it’s: “Embrace and Drive Change.” No, wait, bottom line? All of these are SO important and DO fit the CPA firm culture
Watch this video to learn about the Zappos Values and take note of the lady who talks about “Create Fun and a Little Weirdness.” Her example at Zappos: On Friday the finance department (accountants!) does a weekly parade called Random Acts of Kindness. They select 3 people who work at Zappos, randomly, parade to their desks and present them with a gift.
Without conscious and deliberate effort, inertia always wins.
If you are a CPA in Ohio, I hope you have already read my article in the June issue of CPA Voice. If you haven’t or if you are not in Ohio, I hope you will take a few minutes to read the story. Follow the link for a digital copy of Voice, the article is on Page 14-15 – A Journey to Value Pricing.
When I first talked with Linda Sheridan, CPA and Managing Principal of Snyder & Company, a Lancaster, Ohio CPA firm, I was surprised to learn the firm did not track time nor bill by the hour. Sheridan explained that the firm and all team members have fully embraced value pricing. My surprise turned to delight because Snyder & Company would be my first client not tracking time nor billing by the time recorded for the engagement.
While I was familiar with value pricing and actually use it in my own practice, I had not previously worked with a multi-partner CPA firm that used value pricing and I learned much from Snyder & Company, Sheridan and her management team.
Sheridan gives credit to her partner Vic Christopher for bringing the idea to the firm and playing a huge roll in making it all happen (along with the rest of the future-focused team, of course).
Curious about value pricing? Read their story and be inspired.
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Are you aware of SocialCPAs? It is a site/blog and a group organized by Barry MacQuarrie, CPA, Speaker and IT Professional with KAF Financial Group. It is also a group on LinkedIn.
What I wanted to make you aware of today is that it is time for the SocialCPAs 2011 Social Media Survey. Their goal is to accumulate and share information about how people in the accounting profession are adopting and/or avoiding social networking sites.
If you are working in the accounting profession, please take a few minutes to complete the survey here. Also, pass this link along to all those working inside your firm so as many people as possible have the chance to take part in the survey.
I heard YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are merging to form a super Social Media site - YouTwitFace.
By now, most CPA firms I talk with have moved to an automated, digital solution for their employee performance review (management) system. Some are using a digital, online form that they have created themselves and many have embraced a software solution like Halogen eAppraisal.
I first learned about Halogen from Kathy Anthony, administrative partner, at O’Sullivan Creel, a Gulf Coast firm with 150 team members.
In the first year of implementation, O’Sullivan Creel saved 386 hours on time posted to performance management and that level of savings has been met or exceeded each year since.
Most CPA firm leaders find that performance reviews get stale after a few years. You should be modifying, updating and keeping up with current trends on a continual basis.
Only undertake what you can do in an excellent fashion. There are no prizes for average performance.
I often ask this question and it encompasses a large body of work inside your firm such as, recruiting, orientation and other HR activities, processes/procedures, firm financial analysis, technology and practice growth. Many firms allow the internal operations to be the last group to adopt a paperless environment.
If you have procrastinated, get busy this summer. No excuses – this is one of those Do Things! topics that I nag you about.
Roman Kepczyk, Director of Consulting for Xcentric has some great tips in his column on the CPA Practice Advisor site. Here are his “10 Opportunities” along with some comments from me.
Digital Pay Stub Delivery (I hope you have all embraced this one, most firms have.)
Integrate Expense Reimbursement with Payroll (Direct deposit these funds.)
Process Expense Reports through Practice Management
Utilize Remote CheckScan for Deposits (Most banks provide scanners – it’s time to eliminate the daily “trip to the bank” which turns into someone always leaving early or someone being absent for 30 minutes or more)
Deliver Firm Financial Reports via Portal (Ever had a copy of the firm financials left behind in the breakroom? They should be accessed via the owners’ desktop.)
Transition as Many Payables as Possible to Dedicated Credit Card (This provides better tracking and accumulates discounts for the firm.)
Move Remaining Payables to Web-Based Workflow Companies (I see more and more firms moving to Bill.com – you can learn all about it at AICPA PractitionersTech next week. Some of my clients are paying me via Bill.com and it is directly deposited into my account. This transaction… my invoicing and their payment completely paperless.)
Link Images of Source Documents to Accounting (leading accounting programs have the ability to do this)
Make the Most of On-screen Billing (At my former firm, this was the very first thing we took into the paperless environment way back in 1999! Why? Because of the amount of paper generated in the billing process. Everyone should be billing on-screen using the practice management software.)
Utilize Digital Invoices (Deliver your invoices via email or via the client portal.)
All of you who are members of AAA, this is just a reminder to be sure and take part in the Association’s annual salary survey.
You should have received an email from the national office this week.
Please respond by June 8th.
The survey is open to all AAA members. The results will be compiled by a third party to guarantee confidentiality. All members should receive the results the first week of July.
This is a very valuable resource for members. The more people that respond, the more valuable the information.
The more they applaud, the bigger your salary will be.
I bought the book a while back but it was still waiting on my “to read” list. Throughout my career, I have always tried to prepare myself when certain topics or issues started becoming more prominent, more widely discussed and more troubling inside CPA firms. That’s why I have read two books on trust this winter and did lots of research on the web.
During the last couple of years, trust inside CPA firms has become one of those issues. As I work and talk with firm leaders, they are beginning to more openly talk about trust, especially as it relates to their partners. I think this is healthy. We make progress by openly and honestly discussing tough topics. In the past, many CPA firm leaders have admitted, they privately thought about how much they trusted their partners. Now, they are willing to talk about it more openly.
Here is a paragraph from the Foreword by Dr. Stephen R. Covey:
It’s ironic, but from my experience around the world, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance (or its equivalent) has eclipsed the focus on the mistakenly so-called “soft stuff,” like trust. CFOs and auditors have replaced people developers and strategic-minded HR practitioners in the throne room. At the same time, one of the hottest topics today is ethics—ethics discussions, ethics curriculum, ethics training, codes of ethics.This book shows that while ethics is fundamentally important and necessary, it is absolutely insufficient. It shows that the so-called “soft stuff” is hard, measurable, and impacts everything else in relationships, organizations, markets and societies. Financial success comes from success in the marketplace, and success in the marketplace comes from success in the workplace. The heart and soul of all of this is trust.
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
When evaluating numbers from both years as outlined in this article, it is important to note that the 2010 survey attracted a greater number of large firm participants than in 2008, and thus certain overall results from year to year cannot be seen as an apples-to-apples comparison. It is more appropriate to evaluate results based on firm size, according to Mark Koziel, AICPA Director-Specialized Communities & Firm Practice Management.
Virtually all owner rates were up in 2010, and the rates ranged from $117 at the smallest firms to $319 at the largest.
Despite economic uncertainty, the overwhelming majority of firms—69%—expected no changes in staffing going forward, and several segments expected modest increases. A small number among the larger firms were planning to cut staff.
86% of the larger firms have a paperless work environment.
The use of social media by larger firms is significantly higher—24% of firms with $5 million to $10 million in revenue use it compared with 44% at the largest firms with $10 million and above.
In firms moving to paperless, huge importance is placed on standardizing the tax preparation process before going paperless. As I continually stress…. if you want to reap the benefits of efficiency, everyone needs to perform the “repeatable processes” the same way (that’s a Sam Allred term for all the things you do over and over again inside a CPA firm).
There is a lot of interesting information in the survey – save the link to this blog post and read it again (and follow the links) on April 19th.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
When we got together last week, Rob brought his camera and we did two pictures that I can use on my “Is that you with Rita?” collection.
The results of the biennial MAP survey sponsored by PCPS and the Texas Society have been released.
