CPA_Practice_Advisor_July_2020 - 7

FROM THE TRENCHES
every day in small businesses and that
advisory work can be more strategic
than the day to day Client Accounting
Services work. We can create both an
interesting life and business for CPA
professionals with advisory services.
Work with clients to make investment
decisions, open new locations, grow
(or perhaps just as important not to
expand), make wise hiring decisions,
see market trends, and develop new
product and service offerings. These
actions can and should be collaborative
decisions with you, their accountant,
and trusted advisor.
Further, I have learned to respect
competent professionals who have
quietly been providing CAAS services,
while struggling to find technology
tools that offer them leverage in
their practices. Only a few software
providers have the vision of what
advisory professionals need. There is
undoubtedly a blurred line between
CAS and CAAS. In January 2020, I was
fortunate to have an insightful conversation with Dr. Chandra Bhansali
at AccountantsWorld. I was reminded
again that he and his wife Sharada not
only saw the need for CAS and SaaS
in the late 1990s, but they built the
Accounting Power platform to deliver
CAS and now CAAS services. Chandra
has seen the value of advisory services
for years and the importance of CAS
for years before that. The Bhansali
family, including their son Div, put
me on the path of emphasizing CAAS
and independence early in 2020, and
I am thankful that they provided the
prescription to improve my vision of
the problem and the solution.

AND WHAT TOOLS HELP
US MANAGE CAAS?
Through the years, we have covered
small business accounting, which
is included in this month's issue.
Likewise, I have discussed reporting tools, cash flow modeling, and
many more in prior articles. Writing
this article for you reminds me of
how many third-party add-ons and

other advisory tools we have not
discussed in detail, and that will
serve as useful content for future
columns. CAAS tools may include:
■■A c c o u n t i n g s o f t w a r e w i t h
AccountantsWorld Accounting
Power, QuickBooks Desktop hosted,
QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct,
Thomson Reuters Accounting CS,
Xero, or Zoho Finance Plus.
■■Payroll software with AccountantsWorld Payroll Relief, ADP,
Intuit Payroll, OnPay, Paychex,
Paycom, Paycor, or Thomson Reuters
Accounting CS Payroll.
■■Third-Party add-ons that provide a
more robust or specific solution in
inventory, eCommerce, manufacturing, construction/job costing,
field service, professional services,
expense reporting, mileage tracking, accounts payable, payments,
point of sale, customer relationship
management, HR, and more.
■■An integrated CA AS Suite with
AccountantsWorld Power Practice
or Thomson Reuters Accounting CS.
■■Dashboards and BI with FinJinni
1-2-3 (on-premises; QBO, QBD),
Jirav (cloud; QBO, Xero, Intacct,
NetSuite), Microsoft Power BI (cloud
or on-premises; QBO, Xero, Dynamics 365, many others), Qlik Sense
(cloud or on-premises; numerous
integrations) and Zoho Analytics
(cloud; QBO, all Zoho apps, Xero,
many others) or other professional
products.
■■Reporting with Fathom (cloud; QBO,
Xero, MYOB), My Business Manager
eze (cloud; QBO, QBD, Xero, some
Sage), QQube (on-premises; QBD),
Qvinci (on-premises; QBO, QBD,
Xero) or other professional products.
■■Budgeting and Forecasting including
cashflow with LivePlan (cloud; QBO,
Xero), Planning Maestro (cloud; QBO,
QBD, many mid-market solutions),
ProfitSee (cloud; QBO, Xero) and
more.
■■Advisory centric tools that provide
a collaborative platform or specific
solution with Avii, FibreCRM, STAR

Practice Management, and Thomson
Reuters Onvio Advisory being good
examples.
■■Digital Plumbing or iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) tools that
provide a collaborative platform
or specific solution with CData,
Celigo, Microsoft Power Automate,
OneSaas, Webgility, Workato, and
Zapier being good examples.
■■Document management w it h
Auto-Entry (cloud; Sage 50 (US/
CAN), Xero, QBO), DocuXplorer (onpremises; QBD), Hubdoc (cloud; QBO,
Xero, Bill.com), Neat (on-premises
or cloud; QBO, QBD), SmartVault
(cloud; QBO, QBD, FreshBooks, Xero,
Intuit tax apps), or Vic.AI.
■■Portals with Aero Workflow, ATOM
Software, AVII, or Clarity Practice
Management.
■■Workflow with Aero Workflow, or
XCM.
■■Sales and Use Tax compliance with
Avalara, ONESOURCE, Sovos, TaxJar,
or VERTEX.
■■And more
Small business accounting tools
have changed so much, and the
demand for CAAS is stronger than
ever. During the AICPA's Engage 2020
this year on June 9, Jorge Olavarrieta,
Vice President of Product Management at Intuit, noted in his presentation "Better Together - Helping your
firm and clients succeed" that there
was a case for advisory services.
Asking the question, "My practice
is successful, why should I change?"
Jorge answered the question with
three critical points: 1) Technology
Enabled Automation, 2) Accountants
Impact on Small Business, and 3)
Everything has changed, referring
to the impact of COVID-19 on small
businesses and firms alike.

YOUR KNOWLEDGE HAS
ENABLED YOU TO DO
THE RIGHT THING

to Zoho. We've also looked at supporting tools throughout the years.
K2 Enterprises currently has small
business accounting, add-ons, and
advisory services topics covered
in our K2 Technology conferences
or OnDemand CPE, like we have
covered small business accounting
and CAS in the past. When it comes
to small business accounting tools,
it is time to move on from transactional to transformational. It is time
to move on from tactical "how" to
strategic "why" and help your clients
on the front line of tough decisions.
You can choose your toolset from
the list above. Consider the services,
value, and business development
strategy to expand yourself and
your firm from compliance to CAS
or best of all to CAAS by including
advisory services. We explained the
need for advisory services in my column, "Does Your Firm Have a Clear
Vision on Advisory Services," (www.
CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/21124966)
and independence in, "Do You Have
a Clear Education Vision," (www.
CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/21129064.)
As an accountant, you have been
educated on the regulations. You have
been exposed to dozens and more
likely hundreds of clients. You understand the compliance functions of tax
and audit in accounting. Many accountants have used their background to
specialize in wealth management,
fraud, litigation support, and more.
The wave has turned for CAS, and
many in the profession have chosen
this additional service. However, the
need is great for CAAS. Do you have
the skills or desire to help your clients
improve their businesses? Can you step
up beyond bookkeeping? Can you take
on the controllership, CFO, or advisory
role? Small businesses need your help
now, like no time before. ■

Through the years, I've written about
small business accounting products
from Sage 50 to QuickBooks to Xero

JULY 2020 ■

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

http://www.Bill.com http://www.Vic.AI http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/21124966 http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/21129064 http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

CPA_Practice_Advisor_July_2020

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