CPA Practice Advisor - 34

BUILDING YOUR

NICHE PRACTICE

4-Step Marketing Campaign for Accounting Firms to Win
Municipality Clients
IF ONE OF your firm's goals is to increase clients in the municipality industry vertical, you may have to focus on the nitty gritty of
their accounting and finance pain points.
Each month we explore the
advantages and intricacies
of developing and growing
a niche practice.
This month we're examining
what it takes to serve the
niche of municipal accounting.

RESOURCES FOR
THE MUNICIPAL
ACCOUNTANT

* Understanding City
Finance https://bit.ly/2K7W7HP
* GASB Standards and
Guidance:
www.gasb.org
* Fund Accounting
Fundamentals:
https://bit.ly/2KhXl1F
* Fund Balance Guidelines
for the General Fund:
https://bit.ly/2ZmuJdY

According to Governing.com
(https://bit.ly/2GcWlL3), those pain
points include:
■ Balancing the budget;
■ Defining a long-term financial plan;
■ Privatizing Assets;
■ Misapplying a temporary, financial
windfall;
■ Shortchanging pension obligations;
■ Making unrealistic projections about
rate of return; and
■ Ignoring financial checks and balances.
Oh, and, don't forget lease agreement regulatory changes.

BE THE ELIXIR
You know that county, town, village,
or city levels of government and

YOUR MARKETING PLAN

STEP 1

Begin by identifying the
pain points your firm can
help them overcome
now, and those you can
help with in the future.
Then create a project
plan that defines release
dates for services you

STEP 2

Create
pain-pointsolution content that
can be posted on your
website, shared in social
media, emailed to prospects, announced on a
postcard, designed as a

3 Keys to Serving Governmental Entity Clients
By Gail McIntyre, CPA, CGMA and Keeley Hines, CPA

PRACTICING IN THE government and municipality industry sector
requires a high level of technical expertise and an acumen for a
host of accounting and auditing standards that stretch beyond the
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and U.S. Generally
Accepted Auditing Standards.
GASB
be familiar and in compliance with.
For one, the practitioner must be
qualified to perform audit and attest
engagements in accordance with Government Auditing Standards, and have
the resources available to continue to
meet the professional standards that
come with said work. Professional
standards are continually evolving to
keep up with today's business environment and the requirements outlined
in the 2018 Government Auditing
Standards (Yellow Book) www.gao.
gov are a testament to the density of
regulatory guidance which one must

public service need strong financial
management and sturdy financial
controls. They must also meet stringent compliance regulations, find
ways to minimize risk, and be fiscally
accountable.
That's where you come in with your
skills, services, and team. But how?

can offer throughout each lead's life
cycle. Too much too soon may be overwhelming and too costly a proposition.
So, take it slow.
For example, if a lead reads your
website content and downloads an
ebook or attends a webinar about
balancing the budget, you'll reach
out to them about that service. Once
they become a client and you've had
a chance to see "under the hood" of
the organization, you may be able to
propose additional add-on services.

AUGUST 2019 ■

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

From an accounting perspective, the
Government Accounting Standards
Board (GASB) is the go-to body of
standards and it too is complicated
and constantly evolving. Practitioners
seeking additional resources often
turn to the Governmental Audit
Quality Center GAQC (AICPA) to stay
abreast of technical developments.

EDUCATION
Education is just one of the often tricky
requirements. Although continuing professional education (CPE) is

required for all CPAs and requirements
may vary from state to state, a practitioner must comply with the more
rigorous CPE requirements as part
of Government Auditing Standards.
With this often comes a need to obtain
more hours and courses concentrated
in government subject areas than
CPAs who do not practice in this area.
It is also important to note that the
education requirements extend to all
members of the engagement team
and the aptitude is necessary prior to
engaging in the work.
Furthermore, as part of the Yellow
Book standards, practitioners must
maintain a system of quality control
that includes a process for monitoring quality and a practitioner must
undergo and obtain an external peer
review report on a triennial basis. The
review process is robust, and includes

http://www.Governing.com https://www.bit.ly/2GcWlL3 https://www.bit.ly/2K7W7HP http://www.gasb.org https://www.bit.ly/2KhXl1F https://www.bit.ly/2ZmuJdY http://www.gao.gov http://www.gao.gov http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

CPA Practice Advisor

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CPA Practice Advisor