How to Build a Profitable Client Accounting Services Practice€¦ · 5/8/2018 · • CAS Best...

How to Build a Profitable Client Accounting ServicesPractice

Stephen King, CPA CGMA

Survey: Who’s in the room?

August 22 - 23, 2018 | Boston, MA

Role CPA Accountant/Bookkeeper HR Professional Other

Software QuickBooks ProAdvisor Other than QB consultant

Doing CAS Now? Yes No

PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 3Slide 3

Total staff Just me! 2 - 5 5-10 10-20 20-50Over 50

Agenda


• Introduction/GF Harvey Fund

• 5 Steps to CAS Profitability

• CAS Best Practices

• GF Affiliate Program

Who Am I?


CPA in New York and Texas

Houston CPA Society - Chair Strategic

Planning Committee Chair 2015-2017

Texas Society of CPAs Board of Directors

President & CEO of GrowthForce, LLC

[email protected]

Stephen King, CPA CGMA

PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 6Slide 6

• 10-25% Revenue Share on work you don’t want to do!

GrowthForce as Your Affiliate Partner!


3 Key CPA/oCFO Benefits:

1. Offer Bookkeeping Services Without Adding Staff.2. Clean Numbers You Can Count On.3. A Non-Compete Promise.

3 Key Client Benefits:

1. Removal of In-House Burden.2. Dedicated Team.3. Smart Back Office.

It’s your client. We work for you.

We follow your lead and become part of your team.

growthforce.com/affiliate

Sign Up Sheet


[email protected]• “CEO’s Guide” eBook Series• Video Series• Slide Shares• Blogs

www.growthforce.com/resources

mailto:[email protected]

5 Steps to a Profitable Business


Step 1. Strategy


The Five Areas of BusinessDecisions


Sales &

Marketing

Clients

& Services

People & Operations

Strategy & Planning

Cash &

Finance

Building Your Core Focus (USP)


• Why do you exist? - Hint - Know thyself- How are you unique ?

• Why should People buy?• Why should anyone work

for you?

A new client service model


Step 2. Talent Management


Mind Shift: From Expenses to Assets


Traditional Business Model Strategic Business Model

Employees are an Expense

• Hiring/Firing• Salary• Benefits

Employees are an Asset

• Target Recruiting• Talent Management• Incentive Programs

“Duck Duck Goose?”


Employer Costs of a Bad Hire

Lowered company productivity,

affected worker morale, and even

resulted in legal issues

SHRM cost 90%-200%

Cost more than $50,000

Define Core Values & Personality Traits


John Coleman @johnwcolemanPassion & Purpose: Stories from the Best

and Brightest Young Business Leaders

Rewards & Recognition 101


Core Values for Potential Employees


S

M

A

R

T

Snap

Meaning

Accountable

Resourceful

Team

Recruiting Strategy: Attract the Best Fit


What makes us unique?

Who’s our target market?

What’s valuable to them?

“Recruiting is not an HR function, it’s a Marketing function.”

For What It’s Worth” Incentive Compensation


What is the #1 Attraction Factor For Employees?

Career GrowthOpportunities

That’s also the 2nd

Leading Factor for Employee Retention?

Career GrowthOpportunities

Step 3. Written Goals


Written Goals


Harvard Study

Writing down Goals helps create success:

1. INCREASED MOTIVATION and discretionary effort

2. ALIGNMENT which combine to increase the success rate

3. LINE OF SIGHT so everyone to know how they help create success.

Harvard University Turkay, S. (2014). Setting Goals: Who, Why, How? http://vpal.harvard.edu/publications/setting-goals-who-why-how

Cascading Goals


Reward• Commission• Bonus if Actual exceed

GoalsMeasurement• # of Leads• # of Proposals• # of Close SalesDepartment

Objectives• $ per Region

Company Goals – Sales• Sales Targets

Goal Setting Training


SMART Goals

S M A R TSpecific Measurable Actionable Realistic Time Bound

Insperity Mad LibI will <action verb> by <measurable results> by <due date>BAD: be more consistent in bloggingGOOD: I will write two blogs a week sales in Q4.

Step 4 – Keep Score = Your Value


Traditional View


Management Accounting



1. What decisions do you make?

2. What are the drivers of those

decisions?

3. What data can inform those

decisions?


Sales & Marketing

Service & Ops

People

Cash &

Finances

Strategy & Planning

Sales & Marketing

Service & Ops

People

Cash &

Finances

Strategy & Planning

DECISIONS THAT DRIVE PROFITS


1. Pricing

2. Hiring / Firing

3. Spending

• How Do I Get Customers?

• What is Good Business?

4. How to Increase Staff Productivity?

• Who are my best people?

• What are their behaviors?

MEASURING PROFIT


• Start by measuring profit based on how you make

decisions or are organized:

Product or Service

Department/Team/Region

Customer/Job

Sales Rep

Industry

Marketing Campaign

Scorecard Best Practices


One page Scorecard for each role

1. Company2. Sales & Marketing3. Service4. People5. Finance


Department Managers

Departments

Department Managers

Department

Department Managers

Department

COO

Jobs/ Projects Jobs/ Projects Jobs/ Projects

Te

am

Te

am

Te

am

Manager Manager Manager

Employees Employees Employees

Client Client Client

Profit By Client


P&L by Org Structure


Combine a Financial & People Scorecard on which departments/teams/individuals drive profitability

MarketLeader

People & Company Scorecard


THE ONE PAGE SCORECARD™

PEOPLE COMPANY

INC

OM

E

INCOME PER HOUR PAIDSee how well you manage the productivity, and result ing profitabilit y, of your people. This is the most important metric in a service business.

TOTAL INCOMETo get company alignment get everyone Focused here. This shows your ability to deliver services.

PR

OFIT

LABOR COST PER HOUR PAIDIf you reward your People for Profits this will trend up. It shows the total cost of your workforce.

GROSS PROFIT %Focus your service and sales management here. This shows how Efficient ly you deliver services.

NE

T I

NC

OM

E

ROI ON TOTAL LABOR COSTIf you treat people like assets, they will give a great return on investment . This shows how much.

NET INCOMEThis shows Why your business exists. Look at Outsourcing non-core functions to increase the bottom line.

With People CEOs Need to Focus On:

• Employee Retention

• Economics per Hour Paid

• ROI on Total Labor Cost

Step 5 – Recognize & Reward




Reward systems need to be

Intrinsic (internal)

ANDExtrinsic (tangible).”

http://www.insperity.com/blog/52-epic-ways-to-reward-your-employees/

http://www.insperity.com/blog/52-epic-ways-to-reward-your-employees/

ROI on Performance Review


“The median return for companies that invested in coaching was 700%*, or 7x’s the initial investment at the global level.

Employee Retention

Company Profitability

Contact Information (include Name, Email, Phone)


GrowthForce Lessons

The Riches Are in the NichesWho Benefits From Our Bundle?


Service Businesses –• Engineers

• Energy Services

• Consulting Services

• Architects

• Advertising/Marketing/PR

• IT/Technology Services

• Information Business

• Telecommunications

• Financial Services

Non Profits –• Social Services

• Religious

• Education

• Arts, Culture & Humanities

• Health & Human Services

• International

• Research & Public Policy

• Community Development

• Environment

Value Pricing has Biggest Impact


• Focus on pricing will have biggest impact on profits• Once you define your strategy then you can define

your value• Offer three options• Lots of great workshops:

― Ron Baker: JofA Pricing on Purpose: Implement Value Pricing in Your Firm

― Mark Wickersham― AICPA CAS Workshop

How we qualify leads: ANUM


• Authority - We sell to the Financial Decision Makers - CEOs and CFOs

• Need - Use QuickBooks, or willing to switch― Employees are the primary “product”― Payroll is largest expense

• Urgency - They have accounting/people pain now• Staff turnover• Fraud• Late, inaccurate financial statements• Rapid growth, need a scalable solution

• Money - They can afford us• Average fee $3,500/mo.

Other Quick Tactical Lessons


• Scope document – what don’t you do?• Big Penalty for hiring your staff (1 year salary)• Centralize Onboarding – your way every time• Let their client answers be your blog ideas• Standardize and document EVERYTHING (e-Myth)• Select tools you support and go deep• Use “Traction” process to help execute (Gino

Wickman)• Stay current with Balance Sheet work papers• Find partners for everything you don’t want to do

Summary 5 Keys to Success


1. Define GTM strategy

2. Create written goals

3. Retain right employees

4. Retain good money clients

5. Recognize and Reward

Summary 5 Keys to Success


Financial

Systems

Design

Dedicated

Service Team

Management

Accounting &

Controller Services

Bookkeeping

Services

Financial Reports

& Custom KPIs

Decision-Ready

Financial

Results

Thank You!


Please email: [email protected] swap cards to receive...

➢ Learn about our affiliate program➢ Copy of this presentation➢ Link to The One Page Scorecard eBook➢ Sign up for blog

Come to Smart Back Office 10am tomorrow!

mailto:[email protected]

GrowthForce as Your Affiliate Partner!


3 Key CPA/oCFO Benefits:

1. Offer Bookkeeping Services Without Adding Staff.2. Clean Numbers You Can Count On.3. A Non-Compete Promise.

3 Key Client Benefits:

1. Removal of In-House Burden.2. Dedicated Team.3. Smart Back Office.

It’s your client. We work for you.

We follow your lead and become part of your team.

growthforce.com/affiliate

How to Build a Profitable Client Accounting Services Practice€¦ · 5/8/2018 · • CAS Best...

Documents

Transcript of How to Build a Profitable Client Accounting Services Practice€¦ · 5/8/2018 · • CAS Best...