CPA_Practice_Advisor_June_2020 - 17

THE LEADERSHIP ADVISOR

Advisory in the
Age of Coronavirus
FOR YEARS, ACCOUNTING professionals have discussed the difference between compliance
AMY VETTER, CPA.CITP, CGMA

Mindful Technologist &
Keynote Speaker
@AmyVetterCPA

accounting and consultation. Most of the time, the conversation happened in the context
of the increasing value of leveraging advisory services over compliance operations, which
technology will increasingly make easier and less vital. Now, however, we're all doing our jobs
and living our lives under a very different context, one where the coronavirus pandemic and
our collective response to it has touched every American life. While the all-encompassing
nature of COVID-19 has no doubt changed the focus both for your firm and your clients,
that doesn't mean it's time to fall back on tried-and-true basics.

With clients scrambling to
find the best way forward under
immensely difficult circumstances,
it's important to do everything possible to help guide them through
the process. None of us has gone
through anything like a pandemic
before, so everyone is in need of an
ear and some wisdom. If you can
have meaningful advisory conversations with your clients, you'll do
more than simply strengthen your
bond with them; you may end up
helping to save their business.

OPERATIONAL ADVISORY
The first kind of actionable advice
you can offer your clients is with
regard to their operational expenses
and revenue streams. You know
intimately where your clients
may be spending excessively and
where they may have surplus cash
reserves on hand. Some business
owners are resistant to change,
but nobody can afford to be strident

about maintaining the status quo in
a world that's changed overnight.
If there has ever been a time when
your clients are open to having
serious conversations about altering
their strategies, it's now.
These discussions should cover
many topics, not just where there
is fat to be trimmed. Businesses
need new revenue streams-or at
least need to reshuffle the resources
allocated to different channels. If
you can help your clients find and
focus on the safest and soundest
way to run their business, you're
offering them nothing short of a
lifeline. In a situation like the one
we're facing, no idea is too novel and
no opportunity to become efficient
too small. Whether providing advice
on a granular or large-scale level,
you need to be clear in your communication and have the data to back

up your advice. Of course, there's
one major area where millions of
clients are looking for advice right
now...

PAYMENT PROTECTION
PLAN (PPP) ADVISORY

information about these concerns
(https://aicpa.org/covid19). When
in doubt, be proactive and reach
out to your clients, even if it's just
to say hello and check in. Showing
that you care how they are doing in
a personal way will go a long way.

Businesses don't have to face this
crisis without help from the government, which has deployed a historic
level of capital in order to ensure
that our economy, as well as our
populace, can make it through with
as little lasting damage as possible.
One of the biggest and most talkedabout tools is the Payment Protection Plan (PPP), a program designed
to allow employers to keep their
employees on staff during the crisis.
However, as we've quickly learned,
neither the PPP or its ramifications
are straightforward.
Unfortunately, your role as an
advisor isn't entirely clear cut in this
regard. Due to the use of the word
"agent" in the legislation regarding
business financing, accounting
firms were initially unsure if they
were allowed to render advisory
services for their clients. Now,
however, the consensus is that
firms can be of great use provided
they act with caution and prudence.
The AICPA is a great place to find

An often repeated saying
in recent weeks relating to the
pandemic has been that "we're
all in this together." The reason
it gets repeated is because it's
true. But when you think about
it, that's always been true of you
and your clients, for whom success
is inextricably linked. Now is the
time to forge strong bonds through
advisory services, frank discussion,
and shared spirit. If you don't take
the chance, you'll surely end up
regretting it. ■

JUNE 2020 ■

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

https://www.aicpa.org/covid19 http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

CPA_Practice_Advisor_June_2020

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