Curate Clients Carefully – Be intentional about saying no to lower-value work to create capacity for higher-value work and growth.
Get Strategically Overstaffed – Hire 5-10% more people than currently needed to maintain the capacity for new business.
Build a Desirable Workplace – Create a firm culture you and your team want to work in, including leading by example.
Ask Your Best Clients for Referrals – Proactively reach out to your best clients who are often able to refer some of the best prospects your firm can get.
Prioritize Career Sustainability – Provide leadership opportunities, mentorship programs, succession planning, and inspiration to your staff to retain talent.
Develop Strategic Marketing – Firm leaders must learn marketing strategy and reframe selling as serving clients.
Streamline Client Data Process – Enforce a single, frictionless digital process for collecting client information.
Go Beyond Flexible Work – Have conversations to understand what younger staff need on top of baseline flexibility.
Focus on Advisory Relationships – Provide high-value, noncommoditized advisory services that help clients survive and thrive.
Sell Client Transformations – Shift pricing models to focus on achieving results and transformations rather than billable hours.
Conduct a Comprehensive Data Management Assessment – Perform a thorough evaluation of current data management practices to identify areas for improvement and potential vulnerabilities.
Develop a Strategic Data Management Plan – Create a comprehensive plan that outlines the firm’s data management goals, strategies, and implementation timeline.
Enhance Privacy and Security Measures – Implement robust measures to protect client data from cyber threats and ensure compliance with privacy regulations.
Foster Data-Driven Culture – Cultivate a culture that values data-driven decision-making and encourages the strategic use of information across the organization.
Implement and Continuously Improve Processes – Put the data management plan into action and establish a framework for ongoing evaluation and refinement of practices.
Hourly Billing Limits Growth Potential – Hourly billing inherently limits an accounting firm’s growth and earning potential by trading time for money.
Hourly Billing Punishes Efficiency Improvements – In an hourly model, becoming more efficient leads to less billable time, creating a paradox that punishes productivity.
Hourly Billing Leaves Clients Uncertain – With hourly billing, clients are left in the dark about what they’ll be charged, leading to anxiety and hesitation to engage with their accountants.
Switch to a Value Pricing Model – Charge based on the value delivered rather than time spent, focusing on outcomes and results for the client.
Value Pricing Incentivizes Efficiency – When pricing is based on value, accounting firms are rewarded for finding clever solutions and streamlining processes.
Value Pricing Provides Client Predictability – With value-based pricing, clients know exactly what they’ll pay each month, allowing for better budgeting and encouraging engagement with their accountants.
Embrace Your Role as a Trusted Advisor – Value pricing frees up accountants to provide strategic guidance, proactive advice, and real value to clients.
Encourage Continuous Employee Upskilling – Create a growth program that rewards employees for building specific skills and obtaining certifications to stay current with industry changes.
Develop a Work-From-Home Strategy – Offer hybrid and fully remote work options to attract and retain employees, as a significant portion of accountants seek flexible work arrangements.
Help Clients Plan Early – Start working with business owner clients on exit planning 3-5 years before their planned sale to maximize opportunities.
Make the Owner(s) Operationally Irrelevant – Help the owner(s) create a smoothly functioning business that can run well without them to increase its value to potential buyers.
Utilize Charitable Remainder Trusts – With sufficient lead time, position shares of the client’s company in charitable remainder trusts or pooled income funds for tax benefits.
Ensure Estate Liquidity – Craft tax-efficient ways to create necessary liquidity for the client’s estate, such as through life insurance and comprehensive estate planning.
Isolate Personal Goodwill – Work on isolating the owner’s personal goodwill from the business’s goodwill, as this can be highly advantageous for sellers.
Provide Holistic Advice – Look at the client’s entire financial picture, both personal and business, to provide integrated solutions tying together tax, retirement, succession, and estate planning.
Enlist Trusted Experts – Collaborate with other professionals who have expertise in areas like exit planning and estate planning to provide the best service to clients.
Prioritize Continuous Growth Strategies – The fastest-growing CPA firms recognize the importance of ongoing growth strategies, regardless of market conditions or other challenges.
Develop a Strong Growth Foundation – See growth as the foundation that enables attracting top talent, professional development, innovation, and excellent client service.
Become Market-Focused and Adaptable – Deeply understand your clients’ needs, and respond with focused, relevant solutions.
Prepare for Market Disruptions – Continuously scan the horizon for changes in market conditions due to technology, competition, regulations, and economic shifts, and adapt accordingly.
Embrace Innovation and Efficiency – Drive innovation, efficiency, and high margins through value-based pricing, outsourcing, and technology adoption to maintain a competitive advantage.
Maintain a Growth Mindset – Even during times of high demand and personnel shortages, firms of the future focus on strategic growth, pruning less profitable accounts, and assessing the most rewarding markets.
Outsource Benefits Administration Selectively – Consider outsourcing some aspects of benefits administration while keeping others in-house.
Leverage External Expertise – Outsourcing provides access to specialized HR knowledge and expertise that may surpass the capabilities of an in-house generalist HR department.
Achieve Cost Savings – While outsourcing has a cost, it can be less expensive than hiring a full-time employee dedicated to benefits administration, especially for smaller firms.
Ensure Compliance Mastery – Outsourcing to experienced professionals helps ensure compliance with various regulations, such as DOL rules, ERISA, ACA, and COBRA.
Mitigate Loss of Control Concerns – Establish clear guidelines to ensure the outsourced benefits program aligns with the company’s vision and to mitigate concerns about a loss of control.
Designate an In-House Point Person – Having a designated in-house employee familiar with the entire benefits package ensures nothing gets missed when working with multiple outsourcing partners.
A Paperless Office is Possible with Cloud Apps – Well-vetted cloud-based applications and real-time cloud services make a paperless office environment possible.
Minimize the Number of Apps Used – Consciously minimize the number of apps used by exhausting the power of existing apps before adding new ones.
Establish Naming Standards for Shared Documents – Create naming standards for all shared documents to enhance the likelihood that they can easily be found by everyone.
Provide a Standard Hardware Kit for Virtual Team Members – Provide a standard hardware “kit” for fully remote team members, including a docking station, webcam, microphone, surge protector, and widescreen monitor.
AI Enhances HR Efficiency – AI can automate routine HR tasks, such as resume screening, chatbot interactions, and document drafting, allowing HR professionals to focus on higher-level, strategic activities.
Combine AI and Human Oversight – While AI can handle initial candidate screening, human oversight is essential for assessing soft skills and ensuring a comprehensive, unbiased evaluation process.
Leverage AI-Powered Chatbots – Implement custom AI chatbots to provide instant answers to common questions from job candidates and employees, improving communication and freeing up HR resources.
Utilize AI for Data Analysis – Harness AI to analyze HR data like turnover rates and employee satisfaction, which can provide insights for making informed decisions and proactively addressing issues.
Identify Skills Gaps with AI – Use AI to pinpoint skills gaps among your firm’s staff, and develop targeted learning and development programs to enhance their competencies.
AI Assistance with Document Creation – Use AI to generate templates and drafts for employee handbooks, job descriptions, and interview questions.
Reimagine Public Accounting Career Path – The accounting industry must redesign the traditional career trajectory to offer more appealing opportunities for young professionals, including:
Better work-life balance,
Faster advancement, and
More fulfilling work.
Prioritize Workplace Flexibility for Balance – Implement flexible work arrangements that allow employees to balance their professional and personal lives effectively, as work-life harmony is a top attraction driver for talent.
Invest in Continuous Skills Development – Develop structured career development programs and various learning modalities to help employees sharpen current skills and acquire new ones.
Embrace Cutting-Edge Technology for Efficiency – Invest in innovative tools and systems to enhance efficiency, provide learning opportunities, improve the work experience, and future-proof the business while attracting tech-savvy talent.
While Ryan Lazanis at Future Firm prefers remote work, in-person meetings have benefits such as fostering closer relationships and reducing client churn.
Ultimately, the best approach depends on your business model and personal preferences.
Considerations for Choosing Between Fully In-Office, Hybrid, and Fully Remote:
Evaluate Your Business Model and Goals – Consider the type of business you want to run and what you aim to achieve, as this will influence whether in-person or remote work is more suitable.
Assess Client Preferences – Take into account how your clients prefer to work and interact with your firm. Some may value in-person meetings more, while others might prefer the convenience of remote communication.
Consider a Hybrid Approach – Implementing a tiered system, such as offering in-person meetings for top-tier clients and remote meetings for others, can help balance efficiency and relationship-building.
Align With Personal Preferences – Reflect on what you personally enjoy and what you want your life and business to look like.
Maximize Your Firm’s Asynchronous Work – Minimizing real-time communication and collaboration (i.e., asynchronous work) can maximize efficiency and keep your calendar clear.
