june2021 - 13

COVER STORY
It's likely that you're already doing some of the work of a
personal financial advisor, but making the decision to formally
offer financial planning services can benefit both you and your
clients: increasing revenue for your firm, while also providing
both new and existing clients with a more robust menu of
services to choose from.
Some of the personal financial planning services you can
offer your clients include:
* Managing personal goals: These can include small things like
planning a wedding or graduation, or buying a house.
* College savings: From the time a child is born, many parents
start thinking about how they'll pay for college. And with
tuition at an all-time high, it's important that these parents
understand the multiple options for saving.
* Emergencies: Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans have enough money
available to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense, according to
a recent survey conducted by Bankrate. Helping your clients
set up an emergency fund can help them be better prepared
when unexpected expenses pop up.
* Retirement: Retirement planning is a big one. Starting your
clients off early by schooling them in their retirement options
can prove beneficial down the road.
Financial planning can range from putting together a
simple plan for your client in a few hours, to creating a live
plan that will be consistently updated as your client's financial
circumstances change over time.
Adding financial planning services is particularly well
suited for accounting firms that spend a lot of time preparing
client taxes, since the financial circumstances of your clients
has a direct impact on their tax return. By actively advising
your clients throughout the year, chances are that you can
help them avoid tax penalties or reduce their tax burden.
There are a number of advantages to adding financial
planning services to your practice. These include:
* Easy expansion of services: If you already have an established
client base, it's a smooth transition to start offering financial
planning services, particularly since many financial planning
tasks such as retirement planning impact your client's tax
return.
* Increase per-client revenue: If you typically complete a client
tax return and you don't talk to your client until next year's tax
return is due, you're missing out on a lot of revenue possibilities.
Providing financial planning is a year-round task, and it will
nicely fill up the holes left by only preparing tax returns. As
a result, you'll have steadier revenue year-round, rather than
an influx at the beginning of the year, followed by lower or no
revenue the rest of the year.
* Convenience: Offering financial planning services is not only
convenient for you, but it provides your clients the convenience
of going to one location for all of their financial services.
* It's a differentiator: If you're looking for ways to stand out from
the competition, offering financial planning services may be
the way to go. And while taxes may initially bring clients to
your firm, knowing that you offer other services makes them
more likely to stay.
There are many ways to get started offering financial planning
services. To begin, you may want to consider partnering
with an established financial planning firm. However, you can
also choose to handle financial planning in-house.
You'll need to create a fee structure built around the new
services you'll be offering, with complete clarity surrounding
all fees charged. And make sure that you update your website
to reflect the new services you're offering, and how clients
can benefit from those services. Same goes for any brochures
and fliers that you may distribute.
While financial planning can add additional revenue to
your firm, it will also increase your workload as well as the
workload of your staff. Be sure you have adequate resources
in place before you launch any new services.
Offering financial planning can help you expand on the
tax preparation services you already offer. Adding these
services to your firm can help you retain your current client
base as well as attract new clients to your firm. ■
Mary Girsch-Bock is a freelance writer specializing in business and
technology issues and is the author of her first book, several HR
handbooks, training manuals, and other in-house publications. She
can be reached at mary.girschbock@cpapracticeadvisor.com
Be sure you have adequate
resources in place before you
launch any new services.
JUNE 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
13
http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
june2021

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