CPA_Practice_Advisor_July_2020 - 4

FROM THE EDITOR

Long Days and Fireflies and
How to Help Our Clients
JULY HAS ALWAYS been my favorite month. When July begins, there's still an endless sea of
summer ahead, the days are long, the fireflies twinkle in the evening, and the air is warm.
Even when July ends, the dog days of August are still waiting to be experienced. Life just
seems easier when it's summer. [For any of you from the Southern Hemisphere who are
reading this, you know what I mean, you're just six months away from it right now.]
Normally, I'm scheduling the
minutia of my life at least a year in
advance. But beyond the events and
plans I actually place on my calendar,
I carry with me a clear idea of where
I'm going in life and how I'm going to
get there. Obstacles may redirect me
but they don't deter me. I can take a
detour but I stay on the right track.
But this year, this COVID year, is
so different from all the rest. Not just
because of everything that is going on
right now in the world around us, and
not because it seems like the year we
were anticipating hasn't even really

CPA

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm

started yet, but because the future
has become blurred. When you can't
see beyond what is right in front of
you, it tends to make future planning
almost impossible. It's like suddenly
you're in a cave and the exit has been
blocked, your light has burned out,
and you don't even know where the
exit is supposed to be, let alone how
to get there or how to move that thing
that is blocking you.
When we think about our clients
and how they might be trying to
survive during the pandemic, we can
help them navigate the here and now,
but preparing them for the future,
when that future is so uncertain, is
a difficult endeavor. One of the most
significant services we can offer right
now is Client Accounting Services
(CAS), or Client Accounting and
Advisory Services, (CAAS), depending
on how you want to name this (see
Randy Johnston's column on page
6, and also our lead article from

NSA

CPA.com on page 5). In addition, you'll
want to pay special attention to our
small business accounting system
reviews, beginning on page 8, as you
might find yourself needing to provide
more than you have done in the past
in the way of analytics, dashboards,
and forecasting.
By helping our clients see where
they are today, when all around
them the world might seem bleak
and the way to the future might be
blocked or impossible to see, we can
provide real-time visualizations of
how their business is faring, where
their strengths and weaknesses lie,
and we can help prepare them for
that unknown future that is awaiting
them. Now perhaps more than ever
our clients need a partner, one with
a guiding light, to prepare them for
whatever next stages of their business
await them, to help them spot the
changes that are occurring around
us, understand how those changes

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm

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VOLUME 30, NUMBER 6
Publisher: Barry Strobel
Editor-in-Chief: Gail Perry, CPA
Managing Editor: Isaac M. O'Bannon
Contributors: Ken Berry, JD
Doug Sleeter
Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP
Kristy Short
Randy Johnston
Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP
Paul McDonald
Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP, CGMA
Becky Livingston
Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA
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John Higgins, CPA
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JULY 2020 ■

Editorial Advisory Board:
Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP, CGMA, CFF
Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP, CGMA, MBA
Bob Cedergren, CPA.CITP, CGMA, CISA
Randy Johnston, MCS
Greg LaFollette, CPA.CITP, CGMA
Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA
Doug Sleeter
Sandra Wiley, PHR, SPHR
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GAIL PERRY, CPA

Editor-in-Chief
gail.perry@cpapracticeadvisor.com
@gperrycpa

impact them, and analyze the
opportunities and alternative courses
of action that will inevitably appear.
The value to your clients of having
someone by their side, letting them
know they are not heading down this
uncertain path alone, is priceless, but
you might want to reconsider just
how you've been pricing your value
with the help of Jason Lawhorn's
article (www.cpapracticeadvisor.
com/21141747). Try not to lose sight
of the bigger picture. You and your
clients might have put your future
plans on hold, but at least we're all
here, we're together, building experiences we didn't anticipate, and trying
our best to help one another. Someday
this point in time will be in our rearview mirrors, and when that happens,
your clients will remember you as
someone who made a difference. ■
- Gail Perry, Editor-in-Chief

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