TechTimes CPAConnections News From Your Alliance Leaders
June 2020
From Member Services: Member Sharing – A Lifeline in Uncertain Times procedures, and much more.
membership is truly designed to meet of membership in CPAConnect revolves around a commitment
D'Y ãn Davis Director of Member Services
Sharing,” and now more than ever, it is sharing that has supported
navigate the complex changes being faced during the COVID-19 crisis. Exclusive CPAConnect resources allow expertise of fellow members to better serve existing clients, win new clients, build professional relationships, and develop as high-performing professionals. As a member-driven organization, all content and programs available to you have been developed with your input to ensure that they are relevant and applicable to what you really need. Firm management tools such as customized webinars, live events and CPE; a robust member expertise directory; and access to collaboration platforms via discussion lists and sharing calls, show how your
profession evolves. opportunities to learn from one another will be small group Practice Improvement diligently to source new content and consultants to support you, the heartbeat of day-to-day interaction among CPAConnect peers is our email-based
accomplished via the Zoom platform and clients in unchartered conditions. Watch your email in early June for call invitations.
new and confusing regulations has been shared by our members in daily conversations in the discussion list forums.
Your member-driven commitment to
By sharing your combined knowledge and expertise, many members were able to better serve their clients and communities. In addition, members have distributed updates, content and templates that have been the lifeline to the continuation and productivity of many
the nation, and the amount of gratitude be understated. Member contributions during this time of crisis has proven once again that the greatest resource of CPAConnect is YOU. On behalf of the CPAConnect community, THANK YOU for the dedication and support you have shown.
You can easily locate many of these templates in your members-only Sharing Library. Simply log in to the CPAConnect website and a quick search can provide you with engagement letter templates,
To learn more about CPAConnect events and sharing opportunities, please contact D’Yan Davis at ddavis@cpamerica.org.
Coronavirus Technology Overview: Insights on Work at Home By Randy Johnston, executive vice president, K2 Enterprises Technology now plays a significant role in virtually every type of business. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies had to work at home, including professional accounting firms. During a post-tax season debriefing, it was interesting to learn what worked and what didn’t work during this time. Remote meetings became common. Collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and workflow became critical, too. Firms that used
outsourcing wound up with work at home advantages. Companies that provided cloud services like Microsoft and Amazon stepped up their game to handle the extraordinary volume reported to be as high as a 770% increase. What worked and what didn’t work for you? Fortunately, you don’t have to know everything there is about tech-related tools to get the job of remote work at Work at Home , continued on page 3
Getting Ready for the Big SitDown With Clients
CPAs review notes and listen closely, among other things, to get the most from annual meetings. This is Part 2 of 2 of the article (with content from CPAConnect member Craig Franklin of Craig Franklin, CPA, P.C.). Sarah Ovaska-Few is a freelance writer based in North Carolina. To review part 1 online, go to https://issuu.com/cpamerica/docs/1_2020_ cpaconnections_final. By Sarah Ovaska-Few Use agendas wisely. CPAs have differing opinions and preferences on how they use agendas in their meetings. Figure out which way works best for your personal style, and make that a practice going forward. Franklin, the San Antonio-based CPA, chooses not to hand out agendas for his in-person meetings u nt i l a f t er t he meeting is over. He finds that too many clients, when handed a piece of paper before a meeting, will focus on that, and it can bog down the flow of the meeting itself. “I’ve noticed clients will start getting distracted,” he said. Not having a paper copy in hand ‘helps everyone get focused.’” Instead, he frequently displays a copy of the agenda on a screen on which he also can go through numbers and various financial scenarios with clients. Ballentine, meanwhile, sends out a detailed agenda before the day of the meeting, so clients know what they’ll be talking about and can bring related thoughts and ideas. He then shares copies of important documents at the meeting to aid discussions. Determining what works best for your style, and that of your clients, will go a long way in helping you steer the meeting. Highlight your offerings. Throughout the year, Goering’s firm asks managers and partners to list services that might benefit each client. Those offerings are then brought up in the client meeting to see if added services might be advantageous. “We want our team members to think proactively for the client,” Goering said. Her firm is creating targeted materials for new and highvalue clients, with information about how the firm works, its offerings, and general tax and financial information. The goal is to showcase how the firm’s various offerings can help different clients. Listen to what clients say. It may seem obvious, but keeping a 2
close ear to what clients are telling you can lead to needed insight as well as opportunities to introduce some new products that might help them, Ballentine said. If a couple who own a small business mention that things are going well, but that they’re keeping their books in Excel and working into the night to send out invoices, it could be a chance to mention that the firm can help with accounting services such as bookkeeping and invoicing, he said. No matter what your approach is during regular meetings, take the time beforehand to refresh yourself on each client’s needs and think through what may benefit them. It not only helps clients, but also it could help cement the practitioner-client relationship for years to come. “Just take the time to do it right,” Franklin said.
The World Changed; Did Your Communications Approach? John Adams is quoted as saying, “Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.” The changes brought on by the coronavirus created many problems for most businesses and individuals. Now let’s find the opportunity. Many people are scared and confused … and, given all the new government programs, most need their CPAs more than ever. Respond the right way and you’ll reinforce or truly establish your position as your clients’ financial quarterback. Current circumstances actually give you the opportunity to build on the trusted advisor role most CPAs desire but many struggle to achieve. Of course, you’re busier than ever meeting your clients’ needs so your AR will go up, but how many will pay promptly? Now’s the time to focus your marketing like a laser … on current and prospective clients not as badly affected by -- or even thriving from -- the COVID-19 upheaval. Your actions now will determine how you come out the other side. We’ve been told a lot of “cannots” during this period, but from a marketing standpoint, you can still do many things. Most importantly, you can still communicate with current, past, and prospective clients.
Where do you start?
Target your current ideal clients first (some may actually be past clients). “Current” is the key word here. Unfortunately, some of your pre-COVID-19 ideal clients may simply not be viable, with whole industries knocked out. You’ll continue to service them as professionally as you always have, but now you may need to pivot your brand communications to more lucrative markets.
Business people and individual taxpayers are starved for good information, so send useful guidance frequently. If you’re providing good content, you’ll never be seen as a pest. The key is to segment your book of business and prospect See
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Work at Home, continued from page 1
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home done. For pretty much every task that calls for technology, there is an opportunity to outsource. Outsourcing tasks when you don’t have the expertise is wise.
list and send personalized communications. Is this time consuming? Absolutely. Is it effective? Absolutely, squared. Communications can be individual emails (do not send blasts right now; everyone else is doing that), texts or invitations to video meetings.
Yes, you want to be able to do simple things like checking your email and working on documents. Still, there are many things that a CPA firm should consider outsourcing—even if it’s solely to save time. However, some technologies made the difference for firms that had to work at home. Here are a few of the most common examples:
These targets are or will become your A-list, so consider a VIP program. You’re probably already providing VIP treatment;
Video Meetings
Few things are more important for keeping your firm running smoothly than the ability to communicate between team members and with clients. Tools like these video conferencing tools made all the difference for video conferencing: • Google Hangouts • GoToMeeting • Microsoft Teams • WebEx • Zoho Meeting • Zoom Video conferencing became so common that new words were added to our vocabulary. Zooming, meaning to have a Zoom meeting, or Zoom-bombing, anticipating to have your web conference broken into by bad actors became commonly used. Further, learning to use creative backgrounds to convey place and space became common since this feature was in Zoom and added to Microsoft Teams during the crisis. The most creative firms created a virtual background from their firm, often using a picture of their lobby showing their logos as a background. Microsoft claimed that in their Teams product, that 38 percent of the meetings included video, up two-fold, which was still about half of the rest of the world.
Workflow
A second claim made during a post-tax season debrief was that workflow made all the difference in working effectively. One firm said, “we were so fortunate that we had implemented XCM last summer. I don’t know how we would have functioned without it.” Another stated that they had used XCM for several years because of the coordination between offices and for controlling work processes in multiple areas of the firm. It was clear that firms that didn’t have workflow also suffered inefficiencies during this time. Another firm noted that they had to work around their manual workflow system and try to do their new work at home strategy work by handing off tasks via email. In effect, they said that they were using old methods trying to work in the new remote way. It was clear that this problem had to be addressed soon. If the “new normal” became work at home, optimizing workflows was a must.
Cybersecurity
CPA firms are a big target for cybercriminals. Many cyberattacks focus on CPA firms. It’s difficult to overestimate the importance of having adequate security measures in place. And the truth is, software security is involved. Not only can trying to maintain a proper level of security for
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codifying and sharing what you’re doing will make them feel even more special.
Prioritize your marketing tactics
Nielsen routinely publishes marketing trust rankings, or how prospects of all ages rank communications about your business. Let numbers 1 thru 4 guide your promotional hierarchy: • Referrals from people they know. Use “referral drivers,” such as newsletters, individual notes, and those timely, personalized updates via email and texts. • Branded websites. Ensure your website is regularly updated, especially now. Your clients and prospects are definitely online searching for answers and you need to be their go-to resource. • Online reviews. When you help at-risk clients who can’t pay their bills till they get government relief, at least request positive reviews. • Editorial content. Show your expertise to your current, past and prospective clients by offering guest articles and posts to targeted publications, websites and social media. Are you too overwhelmed right now to focus on marketing? Perhaps try something you wouldn’t normally consider: many of your clients are struggling; can you create a commissiononly system to offer work for rote tasks that you can quality check? (i.e., Pay per correctly completed task.) Be creative. Their extra set of hands may be just the relief you need to turn potential COVID-19 problems into marketing and actual growth opportunities … and they’ll be grateful for the extra income. This article was written by Lisa Pappas and Steve Kaufman, owners of SJK•PR, a full-service marketing communications firm and a CPAConnect Preferred Provider. Learn more at www.BolsterYourBrand.com. 3
Cybersecurity, continued from page 3 your firm and clients prove time-consuming, but it can cost you significantly if not done
be worth considering if your voice systems didn’t work well, and you had to use your cell phone all the time you worked at home. ▪ Intermedia Unite - $29-39/user/month ▪ Microsoft 365 E5 - $57/user/month ▪ Ring Central - $19-59/user/month ▪ Vantage Unified Communications $19-59/user/month
correctly. An online security expert will be able to keep you informed on your firm’s security status and make any necessary updates remotely.
You can learn more in our K2 courses like K2’s Securing Your Data - Practical Tools for Protecting Your Data or at our K2 technology conferences by attending the security sessions. Outsourcing tasks like cybersecurity help you keep up in the everchanging world of IT security.
Communications
Two other areas that didn’t go well during the conversion to work at home were phone and voice support as well as virtual private networks (VPNs). Both areas suffered from bugs and errors, as well as getting the logistics correct. Some firms were using Voice Over IP (VOIP), and their transitions were generally easier. With VOIP phones, you can have a physical phone in the office and at home and have your cell phone serve as your phone as well. For organizations using VOIP before work at home became mandating, the transition to using VOIP primarily from home was relatively seamless. Hosted VOIP services like Vantage and Ring Central seemed to hold up well under the load. These services may
IT professionals reported that VPNs also caused some problems. The major providers of SonicWALL and Barracuda both had trouble syncing CCH Engagement binders under this type of load and provided emergency fixes during the first quarter of 2020. If your firm needs secure communications to your private cloud or a public cloud, IT professionals will have to address how your VPN works. On the other hand, firms that used centralized computing with tools like Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops were able to transition to work at home with minimal issues leveraging the built-in VPN capabilities of this product.
Outsourcing IT Infrastructure
As with cybersecurity, IT infrastructure is very complex, and it can eat up a lot of your time. From choosing servers to securing and managing hardware, keeping this task in-house can prove ineffective and costly. Going with an outside cloud service that facilitates all your backend operations can help your firm flourish and make life much more comfortable in the process.
For CPA firms, make sure that you look for cloud providers that are authorized to host your primary applications, such as QuickBooks, from high-quality providers such as AbacusNext, Ace Cloud Hosting, CETROM or Right Networks. If a private cloud approach is better for your business, outsourcing tasks like IT infrastructure management to managed service providers like Network Management Group, Inc., augment your computer efforts. As a CPA firm partner and owner, there’s not enough time in the day for you to do everything—especially things in which you have no expertise. Think about outsourcing tasks for tax and bookkeeping, communications, cybersecurity, and cloud services to take advantage of technology and move your firm forward. You might be surprised by how quickly you notice things going in the right direction!
Member Spotlight Please feel free to welcome your fellow members to our association with an email or call.
www.cpaconnect.com
Ellen Donovan at: edonovan@cpaconnect.com
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