December 2022

What a year!

It’s been interesting to see the effects the pandemic has had on accounting firms and their clients from a business and lifestyle choice perspective.

The one thing that’s clear to me—and you’re hearing it everywhere—is that business as usual is no longer sustainable. I hear from small to large firms that business models must evolve to better accommodate two of their firm’s most valuable assets: their team and their client list.

In this article, I’ll discuss the following four concepts—all the things I’ve been writing and speaking about this year—for you to use as a checklist:

• Create a better tax season
• Develop Smart Client Management
• Implement Smart Security Management
• Embrace Smart Team Management

Now, let’s empower you to go into 2023 with more confidence.

1. Create a better tax season

Tax season is right around the corner. Here’s a list of things you should implement before busy season gets started:

• Name someone in your firm as the Client Communications Manager—aka the person that handles all communications, from start to finish, with your tax clients. Communications include setting the right expectations for all your clients. 
• Plan a digital end-to-end process. That means no paper documents from clients. Have the Client Communications Manager set the expectation with all clients that the firm is implementing a completely digital process.
• Set levels of tax returns and stop treating all returns the same.
• Implement a notice protection fee plan. Add 20-25% to every invoice, with the option for clients to opt out, to protect the client from any additional fees from the firm if/when the client gets a tax notice from the federal or state governments.

I can assure you that if you implement each of these strategies, you’ll create a better tax season by working less and making more money.

2. Develop Smart Client Management

Smart Client Management is the future of a modern accounting firm. In this case, the word “smart” is synonymous with the word “intentional.” Consider for a moment what it means to serve a client holistically; that’s how clients want to be served.

In my mind, it means we’re coaching the client to maximize performance within their business, moving the client to the firm’s supported technology stack and taking advantage of all the tax planning opportunities available.

Create an ideal client persona—a picture of what your ideal client would look like if they were taking advantage of all the aspects mentioned above. This is what it would mean to holistically serve a client. 

The critical aspects of Smart Client Management are:

• Creating the ideal client personas
• Empowering a team member to be the Smart Client Manager—the person in your firm whose job it is to manage this process
• Leveraging data to move the client proactively, from where they are to holistic

3. Implement Smart Security Management 

Securing data is one of—if not the—biggest threats to accounting firms. Firms seem to be drifting into an IT infrastructure strategy, which is understandable due to the decentralized nature of how our technology solutions are evolving. 

At any given time, accounting firms use around 30 different technology solutions. Some of these are native clouds, some are native desktops but cloud-hosted, and others are desktops sitting on accounting firm servers.

I suspect you know as well as I do that the technology in firms is just drifting, evolving and even unintentional. With that said, I think one of the most important decisions you can make right now is to implement an intentional IT infrastructure strategy.

Smart Security Management is made up of three elements: 

• An intentional plan for DaaS (Desktop as a Service)
• Professionally and actively managed protection on all devices
• Continual security awareness training for all your staff

For the foreseeable future, firms will be using a blend of native desktop and cloud solutions…and lots of them. Onboarding, offboarding and password management of client and staff passwords is a significant challenge. That’s why it’s critically important to implement a Smart Security Management plan today. 

4. Embrace Smart Team Management

Your team is one of the most significant assets you have as a firm. I continually hear stories and surveys reinforcing the idea that staffing is a serious problem within today’s accounting firms. Just like firms drift with their IT plan, they also drift with their Smart Team Management strategy. 

One of the key drivers leading to staff dissatisfaction is the ongoing struggle of supporting a business model that no longer works for them. The pandemic taught us that work and life are deeply interconnected, and team members want the freedom to do both well. 

So, the question is, how do you create an environment where team members can thrive? I firmly believe you start by developing a healthy and sustainable business model. You figure out how to measure what matters to your firm because the amount of time spent working is no longer the key driver of hard work. And you regularly engage with your team, solving problems and building relationships. 

Summing it all up 

It may seem like a lot, but to be a modern firm, you must move forward. Year-end is right around the corner, so choose a couple of my ideas to implement now. Then have a plan to pick up right after busy season to move your firm even further forward. 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a calm, controlled and prosperous tax season.