Rootworks Inspire - a live event

Speaker: Darren Root

The old way of doing business no longer works—that is, taking on any client who walks through the door; accepting whatever technology the client uses; and long, crazy tax season hours. It’s time to take control of your firm and adopt a business model for the modern era. Learn the key components of a modern business model—including the need to define your WHO (ideal clients), WHAT (services) and HOW (service delivery).

• Identify ideal clients and make a plan to organize your client list.


• Identify services that are in your sweet spot.


• Define clear, repeatable processes for service delivery.

• A structured worksheet to guide you in identifying ideal clients.


• A structured worksheet to guide you through identifying your firm’s service sweet spot.

Speakers: Amy McCarty and Anna Skowronek

Technology continues to change at a rapid pace. It seems like newer, faster and better apps continue to hit the accounting space at a regular frequency. It’s a lot to keep up with; we get that. In this session, you’ll learn the process of selecting and implementing the right technologies for your firm to build a tech stack for the modern era.

• Get a clear picture of how to simplify your tech stack by choosing technologies based on defined expectations.


• Understand the benefits to your firm by adopting leading cloud-based solutions.

• A clear and organized worksheet that represents the structure of a modern firm tech stack.


• A guided worksheet to help you identify holes in your firm's current tech stack.

Speaker: John Mitchell

Brand is so much more than your logo and website. Your brand consists of numerous elements—from logo, website, content and social media to online presence, how clients are greeted when they call your firm and how you interact with clients virtually…to name only a handful. Combined, all of these components drive your clients’ and prospects’ perspective of and experience with your firm—your brand. You’ll learn the elements of a modern firm brand, the common points of friction, and the necessity of intentional planning to ensure a strong brand, and subsequently, a rich client experience.

• Understand the multiple elements of your firm’s brand.


• Recognize the indicators of a healthy brand.

• A clear and categorical assessment of the current health of your brand.


• A list of priorities to improve your existing brand.

Speaker: John Mitchell

An irresistible culture is a crucial component of successful firms. A healthy culture is what helps you maintain existing staff and recruit high-quality candidates, because with a healthy culture you tend to have happier people. In this session, you’ll learn four key ingredients to build and maintain a strong, positive firm culture with guidance on how to implement each.

• Recognize the indicators of a healthy firm culture.


• Understand the four core ingredients of a healthy culture and how to sustain it.

• An assessment of the current health of your firm's culture based on the four elements.


• A basic plan to get started on building a positive culture in your firm.

Speaker: John Mitchell

Speakers: John Mitchell

As staffing continues to plague the accounting profession, adopting best practices around recruiting and hiring is imperative. In this session, you will learn workable, realistic and attainable strategies for identifying the root cause of team-related problems as well as proven methods for fixing the problems—once and for all.

• Understand how to bring out the best in your team.


• Learn how to be a problem solver, not a problem identifier.


• Learn the correct methods for hiring.

• A list of practical ideas for getting the best from your team.


• A structured outline to help you develop a successful hiring plan for 2023.

Speaker: Marcus Dillon with panel

Outsourcing certain functions and services is commonplace in today’s progressive firms. But how do you know what to outsource, when and to whom? These and other questions will be answered by a panel of notable influencers. This group will discuss key strategies to best leverage outsourced options to maximize operational efficiencies and support a modern business model.

• Understand the value of outsourcing to maximize operational efficiencies via real-world examples.


• Understand the various models of outsourcing and identify the right option for your firm.

• Answers to common questions and challenges around outsourcing various functions within your firm.


• A list of vetted vendors and service providers to get you started on research and planning.

Speaker: Allan Koltin

Speakers: Rootworks Coaches

Speaker: John Mitchell

Speakers: Anna Skowronek and Christine Nietzke

Rootworks lives and breathes technology and is consistently working to vet solutions that support efficient operations across an accounting firm. In this session, you’ll learn the pros and cons of select solutions that you should consider for 2023.

• Understand the pros and cons of select emerging technologies in the modern tech stack.


• Understand how these technologies fit in your firm.

• A defined list of the high-impact technologies to pay attention to and the pros and cons of each.


• A starter list of technologies to vet inside your firm.

Speaker: Gene Marks, CPA and President, The Marks Group P.C.

Studies show that less than 20% of SMB clients adopt a firm’s tech stack. How do you begin to move clients into your technology ecosystem? And how do you do it with as little friction as possible? Get the answers and the insight into what SMBs think about adopting cloud-based technologies.

• Understand sound techniques to communicate with clients with both consistency and confidence.


• Learn key principles for leading clients toward your way of doing business.

• A roster of proven strategies for driving client adoption of your tech stack.


• A list of tools to help you track technology adoption by clients.

Speaker: Allan Koltin

Speakers: Roman Kepczyk and Derek Distin

Moving to the cloud is about more than virtual workspaces and collaboration…it’s also key to keeping your firm secure. In this session, you’ll learn about several proven and tested cloud solutions required to operate safely, efficiently and effectively. We’ll also dive into infrastructure and best practices for keeping your firm and your team safe.

• Understand the pros and cons of vetted cloud solutions required to support a modern business model.


• Understand the technology landscape for 2023 to support informed technology decisions in the coming year.

• A list of vetted solutions and the lessons learned from firms that have adopted them.


• Timely, informed answers on the best way to approach cloud technology adoption from one of the profession’s leading experts.

Speaker: John Mitchell

Speaker: John Mitchell

The pandemic forced the accounting workforce as a whole to take an honest look at the work environment…and just how happy we are at our jobs. For many, it proved an opportunity to enhance how we work and move closer to actually loving our jobs. In fact, those who have fallen back in love with their professional life and work culture tend to share common habits. During this session, you’ll learn the five daily habits that lead you to loving your job—and seeing it as more than just a paycheck.

• Understand the level of work required to love your job.



• Learn about real-world, actionable ideas for achieving long-term, sustainable job satisfaction.



• Understand five core habits that are common to people who love their jobs.


What you’ll walk away with:




• An honest assessment of your current work habits./li>
  
  
• A starter plan for adopting a new daily routine that encompasses the five habits of people who love their jobs.




CPE accreditation:


CPE hours: 1

Field of study: Business Management and Organization

Program level: Basic

Instructional delivery method: Group live

Prerequisites: None

Advance preparation: No advance preparation required

Speakers: Roman Kepczyk & Amy McCarty

If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that advanced technology is at the heart of a well-run, client-centric client accounting services (CAS) operation. When technology took center stage, it pushed clients to work with firms virtually, which subsequently redefined client expectations. Today, clients want to work as efficiently and conveniently as possible—and that requires firms to digitally optimize operations by leveraging best-of-breed cloud solutions. Learn how to build an optimized tech stack and workflow to support tech-savvy clients and offer frictionless client accounting services.

• Learn about the latest client accounting technologies critical in a modern tech stack.



• Understand the points in your CAS process that create unnecessary friction.



• Define a process to move your clients into your refined and highly efficient workflow.

• A blueprint for a well-defined technology stack.



• An understanding of your existing friction points.



• A plan to bolster client adoption of your defined technology model.

Speakers: Roman Kepczyk & Amy McCarty

If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that advanced technology is at the heart of a well-run, client-centric tax practice. When technology took center stage, it pushed clients to work with firms virtually, which subsequently redefined client expectations. Today, clients want to work as efficiently and conveniently as possible—and that requires firms to digitally optimize operations by leveraging best-of-breed cloud solutions. Learn how to build an optimized tech stack and workflow to support tech-savvy clients and offer frictionless tax services.

• Learn about the latest technologies required for a modern tech stack.



• Understand the points in your tax process that create unnecessary friction.



• Define a process to move your clients into your refined and highly efficient workflow.

• A blueprint for a well-defined technology stack.



• An understanding of your existing friction points.



• A plan to bolster client adoption of your defined technology model.

Speaker: John Mitchell

Speaker: Darren Root

Smart Client Management is the term Rootworks coined to represent proactive management of your firm’s client data to ensure recurring revenue year-round while also maintaining a sustainable workload. In this session, learn the basics of Smart Client Management and reveal the massive value it offers your accounting firm.

• Understand how to leverage client data to gain valuable insights into client service and technology needs.



• Learn how to use insights to support a holistic approach to service and technology adoption.

• A clear assessment of your current client base and the opportunity for proactively upselling services.



• A starter plan to maximize realization rates via adoption of a recurring revenue model.

Speaker: Marcus Dillon

There is a world of difference between being a practitioner and leading a thriving business. For many practitioners, the old way of doing business persists—that is, following a heads-down-in-the-work technician approach. Today, this model simply doesn’t work when trying to build a highly profitable, sustainable practice.

• Understand real-world strategies to transition out of production work to lead a thriving business and achieve the life you want.



• Learn how to lead with intention and empower your team to run day-to-day operations.

• A true-to-life assessment of your leadership acumen.



• A starter plan for moving from technician to firm leader.

Smart Client Management is the term Rootworks coined to represent proactive management of your firm’s client data to ensure recurring revenue year-round while also maintaining a sustainable workload. In this session, learn the basics of Smart Client Management and reveal the massive value it offers your accounting firm.

• Understand how to leverage client data to gain valuable insights into client service and technology needs.



• Learn how to use insights to support a holistic approach to service and technology adoption.

• A clear assessment of your current client base and the opportunity for proactively upselling services.



• A starter plan to maximize realization rates via adoption of a recurring revenue model.

Speaker: John Mitchell

Speakers: Andy Root & Marcus Dillon

Speaker: Darren Root and Brian Suthoff

The key to offering proactive, modern advisory services and a rich client experience is to leverage valuable client data. Deeper insight into client information, including service needs and technologies used, will help you move out of reactive operations mode to proactively offering services your clients need before they have to ask. Data insights also help identify clients who need to transition to your modern technology ecosystem. Insights represent the rocket fuel that powers highly profitable advisory services and will launch you into a successful future.

• Understand how to effectively aggregate data and identify valuable insights.



• Learn the power of insights to transition your firm from a reactive to proactive client services model.



• Learn how to empower your team to create “off-the-shelf,” repeatable products to support your advisory business.

• The knowledge of how to use client data to create deeper, highly valuable insights.



• An understanding of how to connect insights to your product offerings.



• An understanding of the impact a proactive approach can have on the client experience.

Speaker: Gene Marks, CPA and President, The Marks Group P.C.

Speaker: John Mitchell