september2021 - 11

FROM THE TRENCHES
Make sure to take
some downtime so
you are ready to
face your challenges
and assist with
those of your
family, friends, and
clients.
ideas of any of these books for you, because I believe
the short time and small amount of money are worth
your investment. Instead, I suggest you won't look
at any of these topics in the same way after reading
the books. Isn't that the idea of continuous learning?
We have watched the evolution of Software as
a Service (SaaS) and private cloud hosting, which
rapidly became mandatory during the pandemic.
The ability to work effectively remotely has led to
new opportunities for employment. Are you living
where you want to, doing the things you want to?
The profession went through
a period of discussing work/
life balance, and we are
going through a period
of diversity and inclusion.
Isn't the actual value
of life around family and true
friends?
Many of you know that I live
in Hutchinson, KS, and much
of my family lives in this area.
We spend significant time together
and enjoy our extended families. While
my Mum has just turned 98 this month
and continues to enjoy good health, it has
been a blessing to spend time together during
the pandemic since our family maintained a
quarantine pod throughout the entire time.
Maintaining our pod minimized the isolation
for our family. In addition, it minimized the
risk of COVID infection, although we did choose
to quarantine at various times due to known
exposure before we were vaccinated. For example,
our extended family hung out at the swimming
pool together during the past week and have had
multiple meals together. How valuable is that time?
Can money buy that experience?
Each of the books cited above has driven my
valuable insights on collaboration,
KPIs, and the changing model of
working.
The most significant impact on your
practice and your clients' businesses may
be the case for human-centered work that Steve
Cadigan builds in Workquake. Steve suggests that
work culture has changed and will never go back. In
other words, we must adjust to the " next normal, " not
the " new normal. " I'm not going to summarize the
thinking about Family Experience, Client Experience,
Team Member Experience, and how the culture and
market have shifted in the last decade. Further, my
refined vision of Advisory Services has converted
my problem-solving view of consulting from narrow
and deep to high and wide. As noted in earlier
articles on advisory services, we need to be proactive
with clients, not reactive. We need to be forwardlooking
and spend less time on backward-looking
compliance. While most practitioners make most
of their revenue today from tax or audit, and both
are getting more complex, we will have to figure out
how to do the more valuable work for our clients
framed with an Advisory approach. The best overall
strategy I have seen at this time is Advisory 101,
a K2 Enterprises program. The program provides
three levels of certification: Foundation, Diploma,
and Advanced Diploma plus 12 hours of CPE Credit.
Yes, we'll have to choose tools to make this all
work, like The Complete Advisory Solution, portals
to effectively transfer information such as Liscio or
Suralink, Practice Management (PM) tools to support
this style, such as Canopy Practice Management,
Clarity Practice Management, or Karbon, as well
as appropriate document management (DMS),
Client Accounting Services (CAS), workflow, and
other practice tools. In addition, we may have to
find new sources of labor such as SurePrep, Taxfyle,
or Wolters Kluwer CCH/XCM outsourcing. But the
real difference is understanding and applying the
forward-looking advisory framework to your personal
life, your business, and your clients.
SO, WHAT CAN WE DO TODAY?
Take time to decompress. Determine your current
focus, primary mission, and tasks to accomplish
that mission. Look to eliminate tasks that you
don't have to do. Reducing your work could be
done by referring work out, contracting to experts,
or outsourcing. Leverage the tasks you do have
to do by choosing the best technology available.
Minimize the number of technologies you use,
remembering less=more. Automate more tasks
where possible with tools like Hubdoc, Vic.ai, or
Dext. Take time to learn how to use the tools
you do use better. For example, I'm appalled at
the time professionals waste because they think
they know how to use email, spreadsheets, word
processors, workpapers, collaboration tools like
Teams, portals, or search tools and haven't taken
the time to learn the easy way to do it. Further,
don't let technologies like email or social media
distract you.
You know these sayings and the sentiment
behind them: " If you don't know where you are
going, any road will get you there, " a Lewis Carroll
paraphrase. " Work smarter, not harder, " attributed
to industrial engineer Allen F. Morgenstern.
While I enjoy playing hard and working hard, I
do value quiet time and the renewal that a vacation
in nature brings. Make sure to take some downtime
so you are ready to face your challenges and assist
with those of your family, friends, and clients. After
all, we have just come through a taxing situation,
and I suspect there is more to come. ■
SEPTEMBER 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
11
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september2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of september2021
