CPA Trendlines Podcasts

With Steven SacksTo be more competitive, CPAs need to shift their focus from compliance service to process-oriented, value-added work, veteran CPA David Bergstein tells CPA Trendlines. This means working with clients to understand their business operations, competition, and financial challenges, such as liquidity, solvency, and profitability.The Key Takeaways:Accountants need to switch their focus to look to the future and real-time accounting, which means that the right way of doing things these days is to take advantage of all technology and automation.It’s a small and mid-size business that doesn’t have a bookkeeper, that doesn’t have an accountant, that doesn’t have a controller, that doesn’t have a CFO that looks to CPAs to help them. CPAs’ advantage is to use that technology to automate all those processes and then spend time selling value-added services.Today, to be successful as an accountant, you must identify what platform or platforms you’re going to use to capture your clients’ data at the source to move it through the system.Payroll tax processing services can be expanded by setting up the human resource tools that go with it. Beyond processing payroll, CPAs can find ways to get lower workman’s compensation; automate the onboarding of employees, and provide various benefit options.As part of the de-emphasis on process, younger staff members don’t want to do vouchering anymore, which will be supplanted anyway by automation. So, it’s great for firms to offer more training opportunities to their younger staff regarding analytical thinking, selling, and how to consult with clients to find out what their needs are.

Staffing, Recruiting and Retention for the COVID Age.With Richard RothsteinClick here for more by Richard RothsteinSteven Braunstein, managing partner of Snyder Cohn in North Bethesda, Md., talks about the impact of COVID on staff recruiting and retention -- including virtual "Lunch with Steve" sessions. Braunstein describes the culture at the 100-year-old, 80-person firm and how that makes a difference in recruiting. Snyder Cohn has also implemented some interesting ideas to promote retention during the pandemic that go beyond work life like “Lunch with Steve” and having more virtual time together through shared lunches.  Transcript Richard Rothstein 0:10Hi, there, this is Richard Rothstein and I am talking to Steven Steen of Snyder Cohn, in Bethesda, Maryland. And we're gonna be talking again a little bit about how his firm has handled recruiting this year and this crazy year, both before and after COVID. So, Steven, how you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Richard. So if you could start out by telling, how were you handling recruiting accounts pre COVID? Steven Braunstein 0:46Sure, pre COVID there were multiple different avenues where we would recruit accountants. We work with agencies, I mean, that's always been something that we always talk to them, sometimes they can get some candidates that we're not getting, we would talk with different referral sources that we work with lawyers, bankers, investment advisors, and always just ask them, we're always looking for good people if you know someone. So we did a little bit of that. We did some work on LinkedIn with our HR person. And we had a handful of college campuses where we recruited entry level accountants from so all of those things were done in the pre COVID world. Richard Rothstein 1:48Are there any referral sources in particular that you found to be helpful? Steven Braunstein 1:53Over time, I would say, No, but because I think it just kind of depends, you know, does somebody know someone who's looking? So we were doing that. The other thing we did, but we didn't have great results, is offering an incentive for employees if they knew someone, we we did some of that over the years, and but not as much as I would have liked. Richard Rothstein 2:26The next step to that is once you find the people is, how you how you make competitive offers. So, what what were you doing to make sure that Snyder Cohn was as a competitive opportunity for people to consider? Steven Braunstein 2:45So I think we're always looking at different salary surveys to make sure that we're aligned on salary trends. But we also like, we feel strongly about our culture. And we think we have a good culture we had, for years, we've had a flexible work environment where we allow some people to work remotely, work remotely part of the time work, remotely all of the time. So we have always had that, and we think that's important. We always had a number of people who were part time, because some people with small children may not have that the full time 40 hours a week available. So that was a cultural thing. I think that the family friendly environment that we had, is people felt that when they would interview with us, that coupled with what we felt was a a competitive starting salary with, the traditional benefits health insurance 401k match. We felt that we were able to stay competitive, although I think that over the last couple of years that they're there, and I think it continues on even today now is there's a little bit of a supply and demand issue where there's just not enough accountants, and especially not enough entry level accountants to to satisfy all the accounting firms. Richard Rothstein 4:07So once you bring people on board, how long have you found that they would be staying with you? Steven Braunstein 4:22One thing that I think is phenomenal about Snyder Cohn is that the number of our partners where Snyder Cohn has been the the only firm or almost the only firm where these partners worked. And so so from a growth perspective, that's a huge thing. And we we are very proud of that. I would say that that More than half of our accountants have been with us, probably more than more than three or four years. And we have a number of people who have been with that been with us more than 10 or 15 years. And this is, you know, it's a career for them. They're not necessarily all interested in becoming a partner. But I think we really do manage to retain people when they come on board. I think when I reflect back on people that have left Snyder Cohn, some people have left, because they decided they don't want public anymore, you know, so that's one thing. And I think some people have decided that they don't want to later on when they move out of the area. I think, given the pandemic, that dynamic has changed, because we now have two people that have said they're going to move to a different place, but they want to stay with Snyder. So we're really excited about that, that they want to be part of the Snyder Cohn family. Richard Rothstein 5:56That's a big trend right now in positions like accounting, where, it's really the skills that matter, that you can transfer things, you can send them documents, they can, do their accounting wizardry and send it back to the firm or even directly to clients with some tools, that it becomes more about where is the best talent? And not just where's the best talent in my backyard? You talk something about remote work, which is great, because I feel like that is a big thing that people are talking about and doing more of now. But what is that? I think some of that you touched on some of this about it being, what are the big changes have been into, you know, post COVID? Steven Braunstein 6:53I think my changes are, we have to rethink, we've had to rethink how we do training, how we make people feel like they're part of the organization, as a partner, I could just stop by someone's desk and chat with them and see how it's going. It's a little bit harder to, to, you know, send an email to my staff account, Richard, and say, Hey, Richard, I'd love to set up a time. Can we talk tomorrow? And then Richard is terrified that he's meeting with a partner tomorrow for just a check in why is that? Maybe he's going to be fired. I'm going to just like have, Thursday morning coffee with Steve. But just like that, it's a known thing, that I'm going to be putting things on the calendar, so don't be scared that this happening. Maybe it's over the course of a couple of weeks, specifically with some of the lower level people that I wouldn't normally work with. Because I feel like, as a partner, I work with more of the supervisors, and managers, and I'm having discussions on a regular basis with them. And I'm checking in with them on how they're doing. And I think they have a history with the firm, and they feel like they're part of the family. But how do we get that passed down to the people below? That's one of the things that I'm trying to wrestle with here, on what to do best, what do I want to try? And what do I then want some of my other partners to try and record? Richard Rothstein 8:46I think that's definitely a great thing as far as retention goes, Just from a business aspect, as well as the people who are on the ground who are doing these things. They're the newest people so they may have some new ideas that'd be great. Pull up to the top quickly and not have to wait years for them decide and I really want to be in this industry. Do I want to try and be partner do I want to hang out manager? So I think that's a really cool idea. Steven Braunstein 9:40We've just started like having our staff accountants do like a weekly Let's eat lunch remotely together. for a half hour, people just talk about what's going on. On again, at least that group of staff, It's seniors, you know, different people that are of the like level can all have an opportunity to be talking to one another. And so we'd like that. And when we onboard some new people in the pandemic, what we've done is, each of them as part of their training, is doing a 30 minute meet and greet with each of the partners and each of the managers. But I'm sure there's even more stuff we have to do to improve our onboarding in the remote world. Richard Rothstein 10:48Have you been doing anything different from a recruiting aspect, and post covered world? Steven Braunstein 10:54That's what we're trying to figure out, what we need to do a little differently, Richard? And, you know, we're still doing all of the other things that I mentioned previously with, you know, recruiters and LinkedIn, but we're trying to say, How can we do some of this stuff on LinkedIn better? We're hoping that, that we're going to get to a better place where we're getting more qualified candidates that we're excited about from this. Richard Rothstein 11:28What what do you expect the recruiting situation to look like, you know, a year from now, do you think it quieted down and feel out like it did before? Do you think these COVID changes are like, embedded? Or do you think it's going to look like something totally different? Steven Braunstein 11:46I don't think it's gonna look totally different. But I think it's going to look across between where we were pre COVID, and, and in where we are now, and it's going to be like a blend. And I think we're gonna, you know, we've got to learn to pivot on waiting on the changes. And again, I think some of it is, some of it's a supply and demand issue. And I think that right now, there still are a lot of accountants out there, which is why I think it's going to look more similar rather than less similar. But it's, there's, again, there's still going to be a remote element. I think that that's, you know, here to stay for the accounting profession. It may not be all remote, but I think there's there now is a much greater acceptance of remote work, you know, even two or three days a week. I think that's where we're gonna end. Richard Rothstein 12:44Cool. And finally, is there any advice you have for other firms that are looking to hire right now? Steven Braunstein 12:52I think you've just got to try everything. I think that's been what I'm experiencing. And, and I think you never know where that next person is going to come from. And, you know, and that's why we're just we're pushing to hire more entry-level staff accountants that we can find them because we feel like let's get people in on the ground floor running. And, you know, just like myself and lots of my other partners, hopefully, it's gonna stick and they're gonna love the profession, and be my next partners. Richard Rothstein 13:27 Sounds great. Awesome. Well, Steve, thank you so much for chatting with us today. It's been truly enlightening what you guys are doing and it sounds like you're really doing some great stuff. So thank you. Steven Braunstein 13:39Three Big thanks, Richard.

CPAs and finance leaders have to start asking some really painful questions like, according to Gary Cokins, an internationally recognized expert in performance management, in this interview with Steven Sacks for CPA Trendlines.Questions like:• Do we know where we make or lose money, reasonably accurately? • Do our managers understand the strategy? The executives? • Are we measuring the right things?KEY TAKEAWAYS There is confusion, a lack of consensus about what Enterprise Performance Management and Corporate Performance Management is. Many think both are a process and a system. They are actually the integration of multiple methods. An effective EPM and CPM method depends on good high-quality source data that needs to produce facts and cannot just depend on opinion.  EPM is much broader than a CFO initiative. It's all about giving CFOs better information so they can have the insights to make better decisions. It is for any type of organization in any type of industry. Three major issues in operations: strategy, execution, failure, flawed measures of costs and profit of products, service lines and customers. It's all about aligning the behavior of the employees and managers with the strategy of the executives.  Activity-based costing is just standard that is basically full absorption costing done correctly. This is management accounting information. With external reporting, if the numbers are wrong, you go to jail. Management accounting, you get the numbers wrong, you don't go to jail.  When people are defining key performance indicators, they need to use a technique called correlation. You can look at a KPI and how it goes up or down and its impact on the next KPI that it influences. If it's poor correlation, it means that is it not a particularly good KPI. EPM and CPM can be applied to customer or client profitability. Consider high maintenance customers; always changing schedule; never buying standard, always special. Always calling the help desk. Always returning goods. Low maintenance customers are preferable because they only buy standard. Never changed schedule. Never call help desk. Never return goods. If those two customers bought the same volume, same mix, same price, they're not equally profitable. Because the high maintenance one is really, really eroding a lot of work. For CPA firms, they have to look at their clients, their revenues, and their billable hours. And basically, if they use activity-based costing principles, they're all based on work activities. It differentiates what causes high client profit high, very profitable client from low profit clients. Activity-based costing is necessary to get the true cost of products, service lines, etc. When it comes to strategy, execution, leaders have to understand the strategy. It is important to get measures. That's where the KPIs come into play. You get what you measure. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. If you can't manage it, you can't improve it. The impact on robotic process automation and artificial intelligence on the CPA profession, will eliminate a lot of jobs, and not just in the area of audit, but also transactional areas like payroll clerks, invoicing and purchase orders.  Everyone should go to the YouTube video: “Humans Need Not Apply." The audit is not just sampling, because through AI, it’s going to be 100%. Gary Cokins is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, and author in enterprise and corporate performance management improvement methods and business analytics. He is the founder of Analytics-Based Performance Management, an advisory firm located in Cary, North Carolina at www.garycokins.com . Gary received a BS degree with honors in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research from Cornell University in 1971. He received his MBA with honors from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 1974.

Richard Rothstein and Frank Stitely discuss How COVID Changes Recruiting, for CPA Trendlines. In this video, Richard Rothstein (Founder of Rothstein Consulting, CMO of Clarity Practice Management) interviews Frank Stitely (Managing Partner of Stitely & Karstetter, CEO of Clarity Practice Management) about how Frank’s firm has handled recruiting accountants in a competitive environment before and during a pandemic. Stitely & Karstetter has a unique compensation plan that allows staff to work towards their own goals for revenue instead of relying on a straight salary. The firm also has a long history of remote work for its employees which Clarity’s Practice Management software has made even easier and widespread. Frank also had some interesting ideas about where you find good talent. He networks constantly with others in the field to know if they are looking for work and a good fit for his firm. Definitely some great thoughts and tips about how recruiting looks for accounting firms.

Rethinking Workflows in a Work-from-Home World, featuring Ian Vacin, Karbon co-founder, with Matt Solomon, CEO of The Center for Enlightened Business, for CPA Trendlines.

With Matt Solomon for CPA TrendlinesBill Carroll, CEO of Hoops HR, reveals the three keys to smart hiring for accounting firms, in this conversation with Matt Solomon."We look at retention in really three key areas," Carroll says. "It's security for that person. A lot of that has to do with income, but a lot of that has to do with how they're treated internally as a person. How does the organization engage in conflict? How do they solve a conflict? Is there ultimately a resolution? There's a security aspect to that, and pay is just a portion of that.""Care is another," Carroll adds. "Security plus care. We look at care as benefits packages or access to benefit packages. Then there's retirement and perks, which should really be aligned with your core values."The third element is appreciation. "Appreciation will ultimately lead to retention. We all know that experiences drive beliefs, beliefs drive behaviors, and behaviors drive results."    Matt Solomon: Hello, everybody. Matt Solomon here, CEO of the Center for Enlightened Business. It is my honor, my deep pleasure and privilege to introduce everybody to Bill Carroll, the founder and CEO of Hoops HR. Bill and his team are on a mission to revolutionize the way that companies hire, and I can attest to the fact that they are absolutely doing that. Bill, welcome, man. Great to have you here and thanks for spending time with us today. Bill Carroll: Hey, thanks for having, Matt. Excited to be here and spend a few minutes with you. Matt: Me too, it's a privilege. I know you have a lot of knowledge and information, especially as it comes to hiring. Here's the deal. I want to start off with the question, for most people hiring, it's an art and a science that they just can't seem to manage, that they can't seem to get right. What do you see as the common pitfalls, the common mistakes or challenges that people are doing in the hiring process? What are they missing, Bill? Bill: I think what we see the most, and it makes sense, we work with a lot of organizations that are sub 200 employees, typically entrepreneur-led, and hiring is a second thought as opposed to a more proactive. I would say one of the biggest pitfalls we see is moving too fast through the process and not taking their time to really understand the kind of candidate they're looking for, how does that candidate align with their culture? Not only just the job responsibilities, but all of the other intangibles that that candidate needs to bring and then really be thoughtful through that process to determine the right fit. Matt: I love that. We've made some mishires in our past and it's amazing. Sometimes, there's top performers that are just totally the wrong cultural fit. It's so hard to make a move like that, but the cultural side of it is so important. The other side of it is we've had people who were great cultural fits that just couldn't do the job and finding the balance of those two things is always a challenge. Certainly, the business can't move forward when those things are not perfectly in alignment, so I love that. Could you tell me, Bill, what are the great misconceptions around hiring? What do you see people are coming to the table with that maybe information that's not accurate or practices that are not accurate for hiring top-down? Bill: The one that we see the most is that the person with the skill is the person I should hire when really, we need to look at it in a more holistic view. Skill is absolutely important. Even intelligence, IQ is the other piece of it, but then there's this whole other side of the equation that encompasses leadership and just interaction with people and cultural fit and all of those intangibles. We put those into what we call the EQ bucket, the emotional, intelligence bucket. Having a well-rounded ideal candidate profile really helps organizations understand and get the right person the first time, because it's extremely expensive. As you know and I've experienced, we've all experienced it, it's extremely expensive to not get the right hire. What I would tell you is on the other side, when we see a lot of transitioning out of employees, it's never because they weren't smart enough and it's rarely because they didn't have the right skill or the right words on their resumes. It was typically because they didn't handle internal conflict well, they weren't aligned with the cultural values and for some reason, it just didn't click. That's what we continue to hear on the transitioning side. We want to make sure we solve that and account for that on the front side. Matt: I love it. It's so easy, especially I think in the accounting industry to look at IQ to see, "Does this person have the skills?" Obviously, it's important that they can do the job, but I think so many people miss the EQ, the emotional intelligence. I love that you speak to that. It's such an intangible thing, it's probably pretty hard to measure, I would imagine. When you can nail that too, then you have the holistic solution, somebody who can do the job, but also be in the job and be part of the team at the next level. I love that. Bill: What I would tell you is it is hard to measure, it is hard to glean. What we work with our clients on is understanding who within your organization can start to dissect and understand that within a person. We are big proponents of multiple people in the interviews. I'll tell you for myself, they won't let me in an interview [laughs] because I'm so excited about the business that I ultimately ended up selling the candidate on why they should go to work with us. Having people that understand and see different things, just different perspectives, really helps with that interview process. It's important. Matt: Thanks to your support. We've been bringing in additional people to our interviews and we're catching things that I never would have caught myself when I was doing the process alone for the last couple of years. I love that. I think it's perfectly right on. Everybody does bring something else to the table. Bill, we're also dealing with a lot of uncertainty. We're dealing with a work environment that has just been disrupted in a lot of ways. COVID has rocked the world, there's a lot more remote workers out there. What are you seeing as a result of that in terms of hiring, in terms of working? What's up? Bill: It's an environment like we've never seen before. Organizations are having to move in different directions, especially on the technology front. Many organizations have made significant investments in the virtual and meeting online and the Zoom meetings and all of those things. The technology is now in place to do even online interviews and video interviews and things along those lines. It's also opened up the opportunity to recruit from all over the United States or Canada, or all over the world, candidly, and really get the best people, the right fit. When I say the right fit, it's everything that we just talked about, not only the IQ skills and an EQ for your business. They're out there and it can really change the economic impact of your organization as well. It's obviously a little bit less expensive to go to certain states and get high levels of talent as opposed to going to maybe New York or California or one of the higher priced areas. It's really just opened up the flood gates for opportunity for employers right now. I'll tell you, the top people that are out there, we talk to them all the time. We play on both sides of the equation. We are actually recruiting people away from organizations and they're looking for organizations that are moving in this direction. They've grown accustomed to being at home, in being able to go to the soccer practice at 5:30 as opposed to sitting in traffic for an hour. The opportunity for them, they're a lot more open to learning about those opportunities as well. Matt: We have headquarters in New York, we have offices in California. We've been hiring people all over the country now. What's really nice about it is we're getting a discount on top talent. We're also able to pay people more than they would be if they were just staying in their state work, and so it's a win-win. The other side of it is that they have a quality of life now that they've never had before. We're getting some of the happiest people that have ever worked with us. We know that the dogs are going to bark in the background like everybody knows now because of COVID, and we know that they're going to need to duck out and pick up their kids or do something, whatever it is.It's been an incredible environment for us. It's been amazing to not only get a discount on top talent, but to give a quality of life to somebody that we didn't have before. Bill: It's fantastic. That's fantastic. Matt: I want to understand, when you do find the right person, when you do find somebody with the right IQ, with the right EQ, they're good cultural fits, they have the skills, their values are deeply aligned with yours, what's the key to retaining those people? How do you actually hold on and keep top talent? I know it's one of the largest over the last 20 years, every accounting report I've ever seen, the issue is about retaining top talent. What are the secrets? Is there a piece of gold that you can give us before we leave? Bill: Yes, absolutely. We look at retention in really three key areas. It's security for that person. A lot of that has to do with income, but a lot of that has to do with how they're treated internally as a person. How does the organization engage in conflict? How do they solve conflict? Is there ultimately resolution? There's a security aspect to that, and pay is just a portion of that. Honestly, you have to be competitive in your pay. That's the one thing. Care is another, security plus care. We look at care as benefit packages or access to benefit packages. Even if the employer is not able to maybe pay as much or kick in what they ultimately like to, at least, there's an offering there. That really goes to, yes, it's an offering, but it also speaks to, again, this security side of it that the employer is, "They care about me and my family and my well-being." Then there's retirement and perks and what we throw into all the perks. Those are great and you see a lot of organizations that, "Hey, lunch every Friday," or whatever it is. The perks, those should really be aligned with your core values.If you're not a partying company, you're not a partying person, but a lot like you, Matt, you're about meaningful, purposeful relationships, the perks associated with your business are going to look very, very different than a Facebook or Google or any of those places. It's really security, care, and appreciation will ultimately leave lead to retention of those folks. I would just kind of wrap it all up in what we call an experience. What is your overall talent experience? As you know, there's ton of research out there on this and we all know that experiences drive beliefs, beliefs drive behaviors, and behaviors drive results. Starting on that lowest level of taking an account for what your overall talent experience looks like, not just from your point of view because you think it's good, put yourself in the employee's point of view and look at it from their side. We had one of our customers look at the experience around their health insurance, for example, and it wasn't very good. They couldn't read and so they would go to the doctor, it was a high copay. Then they get this benefit thing in the mail and they're walking through this as one of their employees and realizing, "Wow, we need to add additional help and support around this particular program." It may not just be the program. It may be the support that you offer your employees around those programs that makes all the difference in the world.

Steve Sacks interviews Jack Shaw about the 101 of Blockchain for Business for CPA Trendlines. The Blockchain Basics for Business podcast discusses the elements of the technology, its early beginnings, the industries impacted, and the practical business applications. It is part one of a two-part series. The second part will cover the applicability of blockchain as it relates to accounting and finance. KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM BLOCKCHAIN FOR BUSINESS WEBCAST  Bitcoin is only an application of Blockchain which is the platform  Decentralized nodes eliminate the possibility of hacking  Blockchain has many business uses in the financial, insurance, media, medical, consumer and supply chain  Industries impacted by blockchain include energy, entertainment, manufacturing and transportation  Blockchain stores records such as identities, ownership of assets, business transactions and contractual commitments Jack Shaw is an innovation and change management consultant, who has been voted one of the world’s top 25 speakers and one of the top 5 technology futurists. Jack integrates his executive experience in Industry, technology, and consulting to speak on Innovation, Change Management, and Transformational Leadership. And, he has decades of experience designing, developing, and implementing emerging technologies and how these will impact business and society. Jack has advised key decision-makers at such Fortune 500 organizations as Mercedes Benz, Bosch, GE, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Oracle, and SAP. Jack has delivered over 1,000 keynote presentations and executive forums in 26 countries and every state across the U.S. He is a Yale University graduate, and holds a Kellogg MBA degree specializing in Finance and Marketing. Jack’s expertise is in the strategic impact of leading-edge technologies, including Blockchain technology, 5G, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. He can be reached at https://jackshaw.io/jacks-story/

David Bergstein, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is a leader in tax and accounting technology issues, and a sought-after speaker, writer, and practitioner.David has been in the accounting industry for many years and has been a practicing accountant since 1966. While at the IRS he held various positions, including agent, trainer, speaker and technical chief.He received his CPA and a Masters in Taxation from Long Island University’s CW Post College. He was an accounting professor at Suffolk County Community College in New York for more than 15 years. He blogs on technology and new ideas in the global information industry, and has a strong Twitter following.He helps CPAs understand the true power of Intuit’s offerings that allow them to become strategic advisors to their clients and increase their revenues and niche specialties. In 2011, he was the recipient of the ”On the Edge” Innovation Award from the Leading Edge Alliance, which recognizes industry leaders for their vision and significant contributions to the accounting profession.

Listen in as Adam Batchelor and John Higgins discuss the tectonic shift in the CPE business - PICPA acquiring CPA Crossings, LLC - with Rick Telberg for CPA Trendlines.

Join Rick Telberg and Hitendra Patil for this informative CAS Webinar, "Success Factors in the Age of Covid".