Google Search Changes to Affect CPA Firms

Tax season is finally over. For many, now is a time for some relaxation before ramping back up for summer work.

For those that just don’t feel comfortable relaxing and are looking for something new to worry about now, you can start worrying about your website now. According to Google, on April 21, their mobile search platform will start favoring mobile-friendly websites.

What does this mean exactly? It means that websites that are not optimized for mobile and tablet devices will move down in the Google rankings and, by extension, those sites that are mobile optimized will move up...

To read full article, click here.

Source: Melissa Hennig (www.accountingtoday.com)

Top do’s and don’ts when opening a new CPA office

Late last year, I entered my 34th year in practice and completed my fourth CPA office opening, in Park City, Utah. Our firm now has nine offices in three states. Opening an office more than 700 miles from the one I had been working at in Long Beach, Calif., presented a number of unique issues, including adapting to a true four-season climate (where I am accumulating summer and winter tires at an alarming rate), learning about a new regional business environment, identifying other local professional service providers to partner with, and getting the firm and myself registered with the state of Utah.

Is your firm considering opening a new office in the near future? If so, here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned while making my many relocations:  

1. Do your research. If you are venturing into a new geographic region, there are many things you should research before you make the move, including your competition, typical billing rates in the area, the employment market, the types of salaries your potential clients will make, and the candidate pool for new hires.
2. Relocate or hire key staffers. Evaluate whether any of your current employees might be open to relocating. When we opened a satellite office for a Big Four firm in the Los Angeles market, the managing partner allowed us to hand-pick our staff and seniors to ensure that the transition was smooth and the probability of success was higher. But if such transfers aren’t practical for your firm, your priority should be to hire a key employee (generally a manager) who has many connections in your new community and can assist with recruiting, practice development, and community involvement. Consider using a headhunter to help you find the right person.

To read full article, click here.

Source: Blake Christian, CPA (www.cpa2biz.com)

Accounting Degree Review ranks the 30 most affordable residential master's programs for 2015

Accounting Degree Review, an online resource for accounting education and related topics, recently published their 30 most affordable residential master's programs in accounting for 2015.

The average tuition cost of all the schools totaled around $22,700, with all schools in the rankings costing less than $25,500. The tuition and fees were calculated for an out-of-state, full-time student with a bachelor’s degree in accounting who started the program in Fall 2014.

Weber State University ranked first, with a tuition cost of $18,486 (and only $8,970 if the student is a native of Utah.) The top 10 schools ranked as follows:

• 1. Weber State University
• 2. Missouri State University
• 3. University of Central Missouri
• 4. Western Kentucky University
• 5. University of Southern Mississippi
• 6. Wichita State University
• 7. University of Louisville
• 8. Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
• 9. California State University, Fullerton
• 10. New Mexico State University...

To read full article and see the full list, click here.

Source: Dee Barizo (www.accounting-degree.org)

6 Ways You Can Market Like the Big Guys—for Virtually Free

You don't want to spend money on marketing. You have other things to do with your cash. Maybe you don’t believe CPAs should sell themselves. You might be open to marketing but won’t spend big money. But you can market. You can do it with professional dignity. You can do it with virtually no money. And you should do it if you want to grow.

First, understand that marketing different from sales. Sales involves looking someone in the eyes and asking them to buy something. It often involves face-to-face meetings and cold calls. No one really likes this. On the other hand, marketing is simply about raising your visibility—that is, getting your name out there and establishing credibility while creating a need or a desire you can address.

Six Ideas For Marketing With a (close to) Zero Dollar Outlay

It all starts with visibility and name recognition. Here are a few ideas:

1. LinkedIn and Other Social Media. Let's get the obvious one of the way first: You invest the time to build your network. Don’t send “I would like to connect…” messages. Compose each one personally and identify the context of how you know each other. This might be college, Chamber membership, neighbors, and so on. From time to time, find interesting article links to share. Post them along with a short statement explaining why they might find it interesting. Cost: Your dollar cost is zero...

To read full article, click here.

Source: Bryce Sanders (www.accountingweb.com)

Talk Isn't Cheap: Should you offer free consultations?

Sounds like a great marketing idea: Sit down with a prospect and tease them with just enough expertise to whet their taxpaying appetite. And according to a recent practice survey by the National Association of Tax Professionals, more than half (58 percent) of tax preparation firms offer free consultations.

“I generally offer free refund estimates to prospective clients, in addition to answering any tax-related questions,” said preparer Andre Jerry, president of MTG Incorporated Financial Management Services, in Atlanta. “I find that giving free tax advice builds trust and rapport with prospective clients and goes a long way in building a customer loyalty.”

So how come practitioners often feel bilked after these chinwags?

“I found that people would pump me for information and then would do [return prep] themselves,” said San Antonio-based CPA Susana Lozano, who no longer gives free consultations. “One lady kept calling to remind me that she would eventually hire me to do her books and taxes and always followed up with a tax question. After about the fourth time, I told her I could no longer help her. It took me a while to catch on, but in my defense I’d just started my practice and wanted to please potential clients.”

“My standard policy on free consultations has always been, ‘The first hour is free and by then you and I know if we can work together,’” said Martha Nest, an Enrolled Agent at Westview Tax Services in Bardstown, Ky. “In the past, this was no problem. The questions dealt mostly with Schedule As and so forth. But the other day I got a phone call from someone who is not a client saying that I was recommended as an expert. The first question was easy: ‘If I e-mail my paystub, can you tell me if my earnings are too high to claim the American Opportunity Credit for my son’s first year of college?’ Piece of cake. Second part of e-mail was, ‘My wife and I have formed an LLC and I plan to become a “day trader” for the LLC so I can accumulate $22-$25k to start another business. I understand that the LLC will prevent me from paying taxes. Can you tell me how this works..."

To read full article, click here.

Source: Jeff Stimpson (www.accountingtoday.com)

11 QuickBooks tips for producing stellar reports

Today’s accounting systems capture unprecedented levels of information, requiring CPAs to sort through more data than ever. In last month’s JofA (page 64), the first article of a two-part series on QuickBooks provided general tips for printing, memorizing, organizing, and distributing groups of QuickBooks reports. The software also offers many powerful features that can help you mine financial data for the information and intelligence needed to make business decisions. This second article in the series looks at some of these features, ones that CPAs can apply in their organizations or can show clients how to use, strengthening their position as a trusted business adviser.


1. Controlling columns. QuickBooks provides a unique option for controlling the columns displayed in financial reports, and this tool is easy to use. Open any financial report, click the Columns tool dropdown menu, and then select an option, such as Month, Class, or Inventory Site.

In the example below, a basic “Profit & Loss” report has been customized to display detailed and subtotal columns for each inventory item and item category. This type of report makes it easy to review the profitability of each inventory item or each category of items. For example, on an item-by-item basis, we can easily see that the company sold $2,586.95 worth of regular Lighting, which cost $1,846.00 (generating a 28.6% profit), compared with $980.00 in sales of Fluorescent Ceiling Lights, which cost $796.32 and generated a profit of only 18.7%). By changing this same report to display data by “Item Type,” we could also see that sales for lumber products amounted to $452,312 (generating a 12.1% profit), while hardware sales amounted to $1,280,448 (producing a 22.7% profit margin). The ability to “slice and dice” financial data in this manner unlocks a potential treasure-trove of useful information....

To read full article, click here.

Source: J. Carlton Collins (www.journalofaccountancy.com)

Seven critical success factors of CPA firms

Two marketing and market research firms, Bay Street Group and Capstone Marketing have published a joint survey that identifies seven key critical success factors today’s leading accounting firms have in common:

1. Leadership
2. Technology
3. Learning Organization
4. Marketing and Business Development
5. A Great Place to Work
6. Client Service and Satisfaction
7. Strategy Execution

Read More:
The Seven keys to success in CPA firm management