Category: trusted advisor

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Your Clients Don’t Need More Software. They Need Better Business Outcomes.

Accounting professionals spend a lot of time thinking about technology inside their own firms. They automate repetitive tasks, modernize workflows, and try to help their teams get more done with less friction. That matters. But it is only half the opportunity.

You already understand how our clients’ businesses work. You see the financial information, the reporting gaps, the approval bottlenecks, the internal controls, and the places where people are holding a process together with spreadsheets, email, and sheer memory. That perspective puts accountants in a powerful position—not to become the client’s IT department, but to help connect technology decisions to real business results.

Start With the Problem, Not the Product

Too many technology conversations begin with a product demo. I think that is backwards. Before anyone starts comparing applications, we need to understand what is actually getting in the way.

Where is the same information entered more than once? Which reports take too long to prepare—or arrive too late to be useful? What work depends on manual follow-up, email, spreadsheets, or one employee’s memory? Where do errors, delays, and approval bottlenecks keep showing up?

Those questions open the door to much better conversations. The answer may involve document management, payroll, billing, expense capture, reporting, workflow automation, system integration, cybersecurity, or responsible use of artificial intelligence. But the category of software is not the starting point. The business problem is where you start.

Match the Solution to the Client

A solution can be technically impressive and still be completely wrong for the client. Cost matters. Complexity matters. Existing systems, staff capability, security requirements, available resources, and risk tolerance all matter. The goal is not to recommend the newest tool. It is to recommend an appropriate tool that the client can realistically adopt, manage, and use.

This is also where scope and trust become critical. Accountants should be clear about where advisory guidance ends and implementation begins. When a project requires deeper expertise in integration, cybersecurity, configuration, or deployment, bring in qualified specialists. That is not stepping away from the client relationship. It is protecting it.

Start Small, Assign Ownership, and Measure

Big transformations sound exciting. They also carry big risk. A better approach is to identify one meaningful problem, define the result you want, and create a focused improvement initiative.

Give the initiative an owner, a realistic timeline, an approved budget, appropriate access controls, staff training, and a clear way to measure success. Then look at the results: Did it save time? Reduce errors? Speed up reporting? Improve visibility? Remove a recurring frustration? If it delivered the promised improvement, build from there.

This Is Where Accountants Can Create More Value

Clients need more than efficient accounting. They need better information, stronger processes, fewer handoffs, and technology that helps the business run better. Accountants can help them get there because we understand both the numbers and the operations behind them.

Do not start by shopping for software. Start by asking one client where work consistently slows down, gets duplicated, or depends on manual follow-up. Define what better looks like. Solve that problem well. Measure the result. Then take the next step.

Your clients deserve technology that works as hard as they do. Partner with Noobeh to build an IT foundation they can count on.

Make Sense?

bunny feetJ

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Cloud Platforms for Client Data Help Reduce Workload Compression in Accounting and Finance

Accounting professionals have always viewed much of their work as being seasonal, waxing and waning with the turn of the months. From monthlies and quarterlies to the annual tax return, accountants’ work is focused as much on when as it is how much work must be completed. This regularity in the timing of the work has created somewhat of a false barrier to efficiency, largely because many professionals wait for the workload to appear, and it always appears at the last minute. Instead, we suggest leveraging technology to create new working models with clients to alleviate workload compression and deliver improved service and insight in real time, when it really matters.

Accounting is no longer considered to be a final resting place for financial and performance information. Accounting isn’t passive; it is an active participant in developing and managing data as it flows through a business. Professionals who continue to perform write-up and other time-consuming “re-accounting” tasks will often find that their approach removes them from the truly interesting part of the job. Instead, when the professional participates with their clients’ businesses and information on a regular basis, the accounting data can be adjusted so it is treated properly from the start. Better data provides for more informed decision making, and this is the real benefit the accountant can deliver.

The key for every accounting professional is the technology and how it might be applied to decompress the workload and even things out. Structuring standard processes for client intake, implementing workflow tools to closely manage data and deliverables, and improving the speed and quality of internal communications are all areas where tech can make the work more consistent and manageable. Much focus can be placed on the technologies a modern accounting firm would apply to its own workflows and data handling processes, yet there is often little consideration for how the accounting professional might maximize efficiency as well as effectiveness in working with the client data at the source.

Most fundamentally, accountants typically work in places where the client or data is not. Business is done at the business location, and that’s usually not where the public accountant is. Even in large enterprise, the work gets done and data created by others than those in finance, so it is up to finance to find the way to gain access to the data and ensure its proper treatment throughout the system. This is among the reasons for the emergence of remote access solutions and services. Through remote access the professional can access the information of the client businesses, performing data entry or adjustments directly into the client’s accounting system and avoid lengthy reviews and write-ups later.

While remote access solutions may work for some, the time-sharing approach that leaves the client waiting while the accountant does the work does little to maximize the efficiency of either party. Instead, an online working model that allows the client and the accounting professional to work independently yet collaboratively addresses the needs of both.

Online working models in no way require web-based or online applications as the sole foundation. For many operations, online or web-based versions of accounting and line-of-business applications lack the cohesion and functionality that more robust desktop and network applications can provide. Where some businesses have limited functional requirements that a simpler online app may meet, others continue to rely on the maturity and proven functionality of desktop solutions. For these businesses, the adoption of virtual IT platforms brings the “online” working model, system agility and managed service potential that are at the center of web-app popularity.

Once the accounting professional has access to the clients’ systems as well as the data they produce, the accountant can take a more proactive approach to correction and adjustment, as well as gaining a basis for providing insight and advice. The after-the-fact approach to accounting is the essential flaw in attempting to decompress the workload of an accounting practice. As long as the tabulation and treatment of business data remains a job to be completed at the end of the period, there will always be urgency in completing the task and the value of the work product is unlikely to increase.

However, through the intelligent application of technology – online application services and virtual computing platforms – accounting professionals can not only help their clients embrace transformative efforts to improve business and performance, but the accountant can relieve workload compression while delivering even greater value on a continuous basis.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Next Generation Accountants and Businesses

Understanding the value and application of information technology is the cornerstone of building a successful “next generation” accounting or consulting practice. Professionals are finding that new opportunities to engage with new and existing clients comes from closer involvement with client financial and operational systems. Collecting and analyzing data, integrating applications and automating data exchanges, and leveraging cloud platforms and services is rapidly becoming the next level of “standardized” service offered by many professionals.

The pace of change is increasing, which makes it increasingly important for business owners to wisely select their technology partners and solutions. While many accounting professionals consider themselves to be the business owner’s trusted advisor, their clients often seek advice on increasing efficiency and reducing costs from software and IT consultants instead.

Yet conditions will change and could force the client business to make adjustments that impact the applications and services supporting the operation. Do the solutions in place have the agility necessary to meet changing business needs, being adaptable enough to meet new conditions or orientations? This is where accounting professionals can help their business clients make the right choices to address current and potential future needs.

Even as information management paradigms continue to shift, accounting professionals can help their business clients achieve better business performance and profitability through innovating workflows and increasing process efficiency. Whether or not the existing systems lend themselves to these efforts remains the question, and represents an area where the professional could provide great value.

Accounting professionals should look at services they can provide to clients that have direct and meaningful impact on operational efficiency and resultant profitability.  These areas represent not simply cost and efficiency improvements, but speak to quality of service and sustainability as well, creating better and repeatable outcomes that can support the operation even as operating conditions may change.

Improving data collection and analysis provides the foundation for understanding more about the operation, and delivers the insight required to identify areas where performance might be improved and then to prove the outcome.

Automating data exchanges and imports, eliminating redundant entry and the potential for manual errors, establishes structure in processes which can then be streamlined to deliver consistent and predictable results.

Utilizing cloud platforms and services allows the business to utilize the infrastructure required to support operations while providing a level of affordable scalability that doesn’t push the business beyond its reasonable boundaries.

What this discussion touches on is the subject of digital transformation and what that really means for small businesses and the accounting professionals who support them.

Rather than performing the accounting and financial work as after-the-fact participants, accounting professionals should help their business clients take a new view of processes and activities performed throughout the business, identifying areas where new approaches can be applied to increase efficiency as well as agility, developing a stronger foundation for growth and profitability. 

From the adoption of paperless and electronic workflows to merging social media with marketing and support activities, digital transformation represents an ongoing effort within a business to fundamentally shift from manual processes to electronic exchange, and expanding considerations beyond physical boundaries to include the virtual, as well.

All of this represents new opportunity and enhanced value for the accounting professionals ready to help their clients become “next generation” businesses.

Make Sense?

J

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Mobile IT for Contractors and Builders (for every business, actually)

The Trend Is Up For Single-Family Housing Market

Even as lot and labor shortages and other supply side constraints continue to impact builders, and while the cost of building materials continues to rise, the demand for housing continues to increase at a fairly consistent rate. “November’s builder confidence reading is close to a post-recession high-..” NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald said in a recent release.

Supported by rising homeownership rates and a reduced number of available homes for sale, the trend up is expected to continue.

Increased competition for new business opportunities in the building market require that home builders and developers leverage available technologies and IT resources to improve operational performance and increase the profitability of every project. Applications for better estimating, project and cost management and accounting represent the foundations for information management and supporting the flow of work.Extending workflows to embrace mobile workers and remote offices is the next step to developing an efficient anytime/anywhere business. 92 percent of U.S. construction executives believe that technology will fundamentally change their businesses, and help them bridge the performance gap, according to KPMG’s Make it, or break it – Global Construction Survey 2017 report.

Collaborating while on the go and exchanging ideas and concepts quickly helps businesses be more agile and better-able to meet changing customer needs. Remote and mobile access provides businesses with mobile office options that allow users to get their jobs done no matter where they happen to be.

Business moves at a fast pace and working smarter means implementing the right IT to keep moving up with the demand and creating sustainability for leaner times.

Make Sense?

J

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‘Tis the (Filing) Season – Time for W2s and 1099 Reporting

1099-santa-hatEvery year-end brings with it not just the holiday spirit, but also the underlying dread felt by small business owners – a creepy and back-of-your-neck hair-raising feeling associated with annual business tax reporting and filing. That old saying about “death and taxes” has a lot of validity to it; sometimes they feel like the same thing to a small business owner. And this is the filing season. Ho ho ho.

The reporting requirements for small businesses seem to be growing at a rapid pace, and business owners are struggling to find the information and tools that ease the adjustment to increasingly burdensome reporting and compliance. The IRS has implemented a number of measures to increase tax revenues and enforce compliance, including stricter 1099 reporting requirements. With information provided at both ends of the “transaction” it is easier to identify those discrepancies which trigger audits.   With this type of business intelligence, the IRS has developed a fairly strong weapon to combat non-compliance, so small business owners need to really pay attention (the IRS is).  If the feds are tooling up, then business owners should, too.

Just to add to the seasonal festivities, make sure you upgrade your accounting software in time to benefit from the right rules and forms. If you run a small business and keep most of your information on spreadsheets (still? really?), that’s OK because there are solutions available which draw the information from spreadsheets, eliminating the need to re-enter data. Seriously, though, you should consider using actual bookkeeping or accounting software.

It is also important to remember that payroll tax filing dates for W-2s and 1099 forms were changed for 2016 taxes, and these changes continue for 2017. The filing deadline for 2017 W-2s and 1099 forms (including Form 1099-MISC) is January 31, 2018, which is a month earlier than the pre-2017 filing date. Thankfully, the deadline for providing W-2 forms to employees and 1099-MISC forms to other workers for 2017 has not changed. This deadline is still January 31, 2018. 

Using a cloud-based service to file 1099s online should be something your business considers doing if it isn’t already. Because most services include form and feature updates, users don’t have to go looking for the right documents or worry that they are using an outdated form.  In an online or hosted solution, users benefit from updates without downloads and get stricter security around their data than would likely be present on their own PC.  As it relates to your accounting software, make sure it has the capabilities you need in this area and don’t settle for limited functionality.

Here are some features you’ll want to look for in your e-filing solution this year:

  • The ability to print and/or mail forms to recipients as well as e-filing forms directly with the IRS or SSA
  • Have Form 1096 or W-3 automatically calculated and transmitted electronically with the detail forms
  • Upload volumes of data with Excel templates or import from your accounting software (saves time and reduces input errors)
  • Store data securely and provide full access to filed forms for multiple years
  • Maintain payer and recipient records securely for use year after year.
  • Encrypt data upon submission and keep it encrypted throughout the entire process
  • Supports 1099 Corrections (should allow filing of corrected forms regardless of how the original form was filed)
  • Accountants, Bookkeepers and Tax Preparers should be able to set up multiple payers and file on behalf of many clients from a single account, even filing for all clients at once or via batch submission

Year-end tax filing, especially dealing with 1099s and W2s, is an arduous task for most small businesses and their professional service providers, yet it is one of those things that simply can’t be put off.  Where there is a single income tax return there could be literally hundreds of associated 1099s or W2s to file.  1099 filing in particular has become more of a focus as authorities crack down on contractor versus employer classifications and seek to develop easier identification of audit candidates (something every business owner wants to avoid).

The point of the discussion is that there are cloud-based tools which are highly useful, feature rich, and very affordable… and business owners and their accountants or bookkeepers would be wise to take a look rather than assuming that the general accounting software will do the trick this year and the next.  Remember that tax filing season is an annual event, and being able to rely on a consistently useful solution can make the season a bit merrier (or at least a little less stressful) for all.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

Hi! I was looking for the Frangos.

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MSP, IT, Telecom, Channel: Convergence and the Cloud

Small and growing businesses have always relied upon various service providers and vendors to deliver the solutions required which support the business operation. Often viewed as the critical infrastructure of the business, phone and computer systems are among the first acquisitions a new business makes.  Phones and voice service, wired and wireless networks and all forms of communications infrastructure are part of IT and represent a large portion of the business information systems.

Small businesses used to have a phone guy they could call for phone stuff. The phone guy was a person or company who got phone lines installed, ran cabling for phones, installed phone systems and set up voicemail. The phone guy could help get cheaper long distance calling rates and train users on how to use the paging system and transfer calls.  The phone guy interacted mostly with the office manager or receptionist – the person in the office most likely to be “in charge” of the phone system, influencing these purchasing decisions greatly.

The computer guy, on the other hand, made sure the workstations and server were working, defragged hard drives, installed software and set up printers. The computer guy was the person or company that sold and supported the IT in the business, and often consulted with the business owner or line manager when it came to addressing information system requirements.

Telephony and networking is now clearly in the realm of IT, which changes how services are selected and purchasing is influenced. Computing and communications infrastructure, networking and mobile is all part of business IT. The separation of services – voice versus data – is gone.  The phone vendors and the IT suppliers are now the same company, providing the critical infrastructure, the platforms and the application services that businesses are buying. These service providers understand that the foundations for delivering voice and data services are the same; the skills of their techs and the tools they use have converged to the point where there is little separation of duties.

Cloud services and outsourced solution providers offering hosted PBX and virtual applications infrastructure have revealed to business owners that there is often little difference in what the phone guy and the computer guy can provide. Business owners want converged solutions: voice and data when and where they need it to support business operations. Just a little research reveals that these anytime/anywhere models are widely available and that the cloud is the key.

IT services are critical to the business, but the server doesn’t have to be under the front desk or in a back closet in order to function.  There is simply too much evidence in the market for these business owners to ignore;  shooting the server is now a viable option.

Every day more business owners are being inspired to [shoot their servers] seek out the services that will allow them to continue to benefit from innovations in technology while relieving them of the direct responsibilities of equipment purchasing, implementation, administration and lifecycle management.

Cloud services deliver this capability, and channel partners and Value Added Resellers should recognize their opportunity to get inspired as well, and to start offering cloud-based and hosted services to their customers and capture the “buying decision” opportunity that has [been] created.

Ready. Aim. Fire.

Source: Go Ahead and Shoot the Server: End of Microsoft Small Business Server Inspires Cloud Adoption with Small Businesses « Cooper Mann Consulting

Recognition of the convergence of voice and data services and channels hasn’t really hit home for a lot of resellers and channel partners, and this has rightfully positioned providers on both sides of the equation as viewing the others as direct competitors.  The phone guy thinks he is his customer’s “trusted advisor”, and that the loyal customer will certainly come to him if there is ever a need.  As well does the computer guy believe that he is the trusted advisor, having the ear of the business owner and wielding enough influence to ensure a continued revenue-earning relationship.

In truth, both the phone guy and the computer guy probably have earned their business customer’s trust and were the go-to people when there was a new business need. The problem is that the customer may no longer call one or the other of their “go-to” guys because the forward-thinking guys are offering one-stop service that delivers everything the business needs.  The lines between phone and computer stuff are not so clearly drawn any longer; it is all cloud IT and full service providers are winning the customer business.

Channel resellers, agents and MSPs are all telling their SMB/SME customers the same things, and at a base level they’re selling the same things, too.  Everyone is talking about lower up front investments and improved business productivity… and what they’re all selling is cloud and virtual. “Businesses need cloud in order to compete; move CapX to OpX; mobile is the new office” and “remote workers and devices need a secure quality network”.

Whether it relates to telephone systems with voicemail, automated attendants and a little intelligent voice response thrown in, or if the deal is for servers and workstations, software and network cabling, it is all business information technology and the trusted advisor is the guy who can provide it all. Convergence has clearly arrived.

Make Sense?

J