CPA_Practice_Advisor_June_2020 - 34

BRIDGING THE GAP

Practice Management in a
Future-Ready CPA Firm
MANAGING A CPA firm has never been more complicated than it is today. Firms of all
sizes are grappling with uncertainty and volatile economic conditions. Client and employee
expectations are changing, and technology is rapidly commoditizing and disrupting many

JIM BOOMER, CPA.CITP

CEO, Boomer Consulting, Inc.
Director, Boomer Technology Circle™
jim.boomer@cpapracticeadvisor.com

traditional firm services. Is there a magic solution that will bring all this into harmony
and allow your firm to cruise calmly forward into the future? Unfortunately not.
However, firm leaders can position themselves for success by aligning people,
processes, and technology.
A SHARED VISION FOR
THE FUTURE
The first necessity for this alignment is a shared vision of the future,
articulated in a clear strategic plan.
Every firm that goes through a
strategic planning process will ultimately realize that to be successful,
the firm needs a commitment to
growth. This doesn't necessarily
mean more people, but it does
require the team to be as efficient
and effective as possible.
In the best of times, high functioning firms focus on developing
talent and enabling them to work
effectively from wherever they
might be - working remotely, nontraditional hours, or simply keeping
up with their workload while traveling. Today, that kind of flexibility
and technology isn't just a "nice to
have," but a requirement for firms
that want to remain operational and
competitive for top-level talent.
The best firms view technology
as a strategic asset rather than an
overhead expense. Yet the best
technology in the world won't make
much difference if the firm isn't
committed to refining processes to
take advantage of the opportunities
technology presents. Technology
and process go hand-in-hand. New

JUNE 2020 ■

technology makes new processes
possible, while new processes can
get the best return on investment
from your technology budget.
Fortunately, the tools required
to align people, process, and technology are available and affordable
for firms of all sizes - whether you
have one office with just a few
partners and a small staff, or a
multi-office firm with several hundred staff members and a diverse
partner group. In both cases,
however, partners must be willing
to buy into investing in technology,
following firmwide processes, and
forgoing personal preferences.

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESS
One way to improve results is to
rethink traditional ways of doing
essential functions. This applies to
client services as well as internal
functions, such as sales and marketing, scheduling, onboarding,
budgeting and billing.
Most firms have a variety of
systems for handling these different functions. Far too often, these
systems aren't integrated, limiting
the firm's ability to share critical
information at the right time, and
the firm missed out on a lot of
opportunities as a result.

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For example, without
a CRM system, firms miss
out on the benefit of a full
view of all interactions
with prospects as they are
nurtured toward becoming
clients. They might use a traditional
"time and billing" application to
track time and expenses, accrue
WIP, and track AR after invoices
are issued. Too often, time and billing, WIP and AR aren't integrated
with the accounting system, so
producing the firm's own financial
statements requires one or more
journal entries. It also makes it difficult for firm leaders to "drill down"
into the information contained in
the financial statements without
resorting to multiple applications,
each with its own database. These
firms would benefit greatly from
reviewing their processes and
technology to identify opportunities
for integration of systems, automation and streamlined processes and
eliminating redundant data entry
and tasks.

EXECUTIVE DECISION
SUPPORT
For the firm to run efficiently,
decision-makers need timely and
accurate information. For many
firms, getting information to sup-

port a decision means rounds of
customized reporting to get the
information the partners need,
supplemented with spreadsheets
where the reporting falls short or
is suspect.
Streamlining reporting can
have a significant payoff. Instead
of going to multiple places to enter
or update common information,
do it once and let the applications
share the data. Instead of drawing
information from various sources
and compiling it for reporting purposes, let the reporting application
draw upon the information it needs.
It will be easier to supply the right
information presented in a clear
and concise form. Best of all, performance metrics are available in
real-time, which can be a powerful
tool for accountability at all levels
of the firm.
Has your firm committed to
aligning people, processes and
technology? Are you positioned to
meet the leadership challenges of
the future? If so, congratulations! If
not, it's time to get started! ■

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CPA_Practice_Advisor_June_2020

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