accounting services – Cooper Mann Consulting

January 30, 2014March 10, 2015

Client Experience and Perceived Value: It’s Looking Cloudy for Accountants Working with Small Business

Every day it seems there is another professional accounting or bookkeeping firm asking questions about how to get new clients for their new “online accounting” business. Most of these professionals are likely missing the point that their current clients are probably already looking at online accounting solutions and services. Just like in the days when QuickBooks was beginning to take the lead in the market; today’s increasingly popular online accounting solutions are gaining popularity with the direct users, and are bringing those solutions to the professional community (not the other way around). Professionals who wish to build their businesses on what the market demands would do well to recognize that the push to the cloud coming from their clients is a reflection of past activities, and firms riding the wave are much more likely to see success than those fighting it.

In reflection, remember that QuickBooks, unlike the other business accounting and financial products at the time, was a retail product marketed to and sold via retail and direct-to-customer outlets rather than via a channel or reseller approach. At that time, State of the Art Software (which became Peachtree and then Sage 50) was the solution preferred by most accounting professionals, yet more and more small business owners would come to the professionals with the QuickBooks product already in hand, so accountants threw up their hands and adopted (if not embraced) the software. Over the years, QuickBooks became the “go to” software for small business accounting, and many professional firms didn’t just gear up to work with it, but went as far as developing standards and practices based on the product.

With the introduction of high-speed broadband access, business Internet connectivity and affordable remote/mobile service, businesses are now finding that their options for shopping for, purchasing and implementing various solutions to business problems is possible at any time and from anywhere. Even more, social computing and the blurring of the lines between personal and business use has made it all but assured that new business owners will seek online solutions where they can access business information and perform business-related activities regardless of location or mode of access. This is what they have come to expect as consumers of information and services, and the expectation extends no less into their small businesses.

Professional firms must recognize that these evolving paradigms represent opportunity, taking advantage of cloud-based, real-time collaboration models to provide more timely value to their clients. Where the more traditional on-premises and paper-based models have flourished, the online working models representing lean process and sustainability become the focus.

The movement to the cloud for small business accounting started with the consumer, who ultimately became the small business, and who may eventually become the big business. The professionals who recognize the value of and wisely adopt cloud technologies and online application services in their businesses – specifically in terms of how they work with clients and deliver value – are the firms which recognize that the client experience and perception of value delivered are the most important elements of all.

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January 28, 2014

Why Accounting in the Cloud?

Business owners and managers need to keep close control of their financial data. They need to know where they stand at all times, and having information available to make business decisions is essential. When the financial information is in the office but the owner isn’t, how can wise decisions be made without access to supporting data? They can’t, and that’s a problem. The solution is simple: work in the cloud.

A cloud computing model properly applied to accounting and bookkeeping systems helps businesses of any size keep their financial data and accounting applications in a safe a secure environment, yet accessible to those who need it. By locating the business applications and data in a protected central location, access to programs and data sets can be provided to authorized users regardless of location or computing platform. For a small business owner, this means that working from home or on vacation can be as productive as working in the office. In larger businesses, cloud-based accounting means the accounting department, CFO and financial advisers might all access the same financial records and applications no matter where they work from.

Cloud computing and hosted application models applied to accounting and bookkeeping represent a viable option for managing, securing and providing access to critical financial information. Businesses outsourcing their accounting or bookkeeping work find that cloud based approaches offer workflow and process efficiencies to help get the necessary information in the hands of those who need it, quickly and efficiently.

Keeping accounting and bookkeeping systems safe yet available, providing business decision makers with the flexibility of accessing their financial data from anywhere and at any time is a highly valuable service. Accounting and finance professionals can act as the trusted adviser to their clients, providing important business insight and information, with guidance in developing cloud computing and online accounting approaches being among the benefits the firm offers. Working closer with clients allows professionals to produce better, more accurate and insightful results. Cloud computing models remove distance barriers and allow professionals and their clients to work more collaboratively with applications and data than ever before.

Many firms are just recently discovering the relationship between technology adoption and business competitiveness. Those that embrace new computing paradigms gain the ability to meet client requirements in innovative, efficient and timely ways while those that do not adopt these new models continue to struggle, unable to communicate value and differentiation in their service offerings.

There are some recognized truths in business, and one is that is isn’t what you know but who you know. Another truth, an understanding that is just now being fully recognized, is that it’s not what you do, but how you do it that matters. Accounting and bookkeeping for business is absolutely an area where cloud computing and the wise application of technology and service can improve cost efficiency, accuracy and turnaround times, allowing the firm to provide a higher level of service to clients. Accounting in the cloud is a technology-enabled approach which propels the firm into an entirely new range of capabilities and potential service offerings, reaching higher levels of performance and profitability.

Joanie Mann Bunny Feet Make Sense?

January 21, 2014November 10, 2017

Efficiency and Value with Cloud Accounting

For some accounting professionals, the problem is finding a way to provide services that are valuable to the client, and doing it in a way that makes it profitable for the provider. Outsourced and online accounting models are the answer, employing innovative tools in the practice and with clients: tools and resources necessary to get more informed and run the business better.

accountingCloud

With online accounting solutions the firm is able to increase profitability with the range of services offered, often adding clients and work without hiring more personnel. Online solutions allow professionals and their clients to work from anywhere at any time, providing both with the freedom to focus on core business capabilities (and lifestyle).

Reducing the requirement for sophisticated on-premises technology may mean providing everyone with the ease of use and security of server-based computing models, which is among the benefits of a cloud IT approach. Centralizing and managing applications, protecting valuable data resources, and streamlining business processes are among the benefits to be achieved with an outsourced, managed application hosting solution. Businesses who outsource their IT management often realize an increased capacity to do business simply by leveraging the cloud to make the current working models more efficient and effective.

Leveraging mobility and real time access is also about increasing the overall range of opportunity to deliver value. Contractors, employees and clients all find improvements in getting the information they need when it matters, and the firm finds a greater agility in meeting client demands and expanding service offerings.

Cloud computing and online accounting solutions have proven the viability of anytime, anywhere working models, and professional accounting practices of all sizes and orientations are realizing the benefits of working closer with their clients by applying them to the engagement.

Cloud accounting is really about improving the profitability of the accounting practice while delivering higher levels of service to the client. The movement of information from one place to another; translating data from one form to another – these are the processes representing the cost and inefficiency in the practice, and are specific areas where a collaborative, online approach may introduce new service efficiency and value.

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It is worth noting that “cloud accounting” and online accounting models do not necessarily require the use of a SaaS solution. QuickBooks Online, Xero, Freshbooks – these are new small business offerings that exist purely on the web. QuickBooks desktop editions can be “cloudy”, too, when they’re hosted by an authorized QuickBooks hosting provider. The point is not necessarily to use web software, but to approach IT management and systems from an outsourced perspective, allowing for centralized management and administration and delivering secure remote and mobile access. The systems should facilitate the working model, not force it.

January 14, 2014

The Productivity Paradox: Accounting for Returns on IT Investments

There has always been somewhat of a struggle between the IT department and “management”, much of the difficulty existing with the need to demonstrate clear returns on investments for IT purchases. Unfortunately, expenditures in information technology are often the result of short-term views of long-standing problems, applying “solutions” that do not fully address the requirement or which do not deliver the productivity or performance gains expected, particularly in a dynamic and rapidly changing business environment. The assumption is that a wise investment in information technology will result with improved profitability and performance. Demonstrating this on paper is not always easily accomplished.

There is a great deal of research on the subject of accounting for returns on IT investments. Some of this research describes “The Productivity Paradox”, referring to early studies on the “relationship between information technology and productivity, and finding an absence of a positive relationship between spending on IT and productivity or profitability”. [1] Previous to the emergence of cloud computing and widely available remote and mobile technologies (and now possibly even more with the prevalence of available options), businesses invest heavily in IT infrastructure and applications which deliver nominal benefit to the business when measured against the cost of acquisition and implementation. Heavy IT investments are made with little or no measurable benefit to profitability, even if operational performance improvements are created. In many cases, the difficulty in “proving” benefit from information technology investments rests with the lack of information relating to impacts in non-operational areas, such as with investors, auditors or analysts.

The early research has become a foundation for making the argument that accounting professionals should be more directly involved in determining the value and impacts of IT investments – due largely to the fact that accounting professionals are generally familiar with the variety of formulas and approaches which become relevant in measuring the effects of IT purchases. Information technology spending will result in short-term impacts, but will impress on the business over the longer view as well. With a foundation in accounting principles, valuation and analysis, and accompanied by IT knowledge and experience, management accounting benefits from an improved ability to recognize the relevance and value in IT implementations even where no direct profit improvement is visible.

Can difference in firm performance be explained by differences in IT investments? — Can differences in firm performance be explained by differences in IT investments?

Emerging technology models are having huge impacts in business capability as well as risk, and this new paradigm requires that accounting professionals apply their skills to understanding more fully the influences from and results of IT spending in the enterprise.

Having a basis for studying valuation and recognizing the good and bad of focusing on various key measurements (return on assets vs equity vs sales vs investment…) is essential in developing a “formula” for predicting impacts of and potential returns from IT spending, and solving the puzzle that is the productivity paradox.

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[1] Journal of Information Systems Vol. 16; “Returns on Investments in Information Technology: a Research Synthesis”

October 10, 2013

Managing Client Relationships in a Down Economy | Accounting and Business Technologies

Managing Client Relationships in a Down Economy

There is no question that the current economy is putting the squeeze on many professional practices. While most accountants aren’t in danger of going bankrupt, there is heightened anxiety throughout the industry as professionals grapple with flat or falling revenues and rising costs. You, too, are probably feeling the effects of the economic downturn, as your clients also look for ways to cut costs.

During tough economic times, a familiar pattern occurs in small business. As production drops, profits drop even faster. Even a slight drop in income sets off alarm bells in the minds of many owners. To stave off a serious decline in revenues, the small business owner will often feel compelled to offer services to customers that might previously have been referred out to “specialists”, or to substantially discount products or services in order to obtain business. Additionally, the business owner will certainly seek to cut business overhead.

This last point has a direct impact on the livelihood of the professional accountant, bookkeeper or business consultant. When businesses tighten their belts, they may not necessarily do it in a logical manner. They may procrastinate by stalling on purchases or putting projects on hold indefinitely. They may buy smaller quantities of supplies, even if this means ordering much more frequently. And they may cut back on their reliance on accounting or consulting professionals.

August 22, 2013

Predicting Outcomes and Providing Guidance | Being Nostradamus| Proformative.com

I have a gripe with the accounting profession. My gripe is with the fact that accounting information delivered to most business owners is old news. Stuff happened, the professional properly recorded it and reported on it, you paid your taxes, and that’s that. Game over.

Once upon a time, accountants had to work with book ledgers, pen and pencil (mostly pen, putting that single line through incorrect entries), and stacks upon stacks of paper documents. Just keeping up with the process of recording transaction information, adding it all up (and making sure the footing totals jibe), and then summarizing the information into usable form took all the time available, and the focus was on the accuracy of the work – not necessarily the timeliness of it. With the advent of computers and computerized accounting systems, the process of creating and storing the data became easier, but the volume and nature of information increased and thus the complexity and time to process increased (the “everlasting gobstopper” problem.. it never really goes away).There isn’t any argument over the critical value and importance of that work. Every business owner understands that not properly accounting for business activities can mean increases in tax burdens, penalties and interest, and more. It’s good work… but what do you do with it? My intent is not to try to diminish the value of today’s approach to accounting. Rather, I’m trying to point out how the accounting profession could make a huge impact in today’s pathetic economy, help businesses get financially healthier, and help put the small/medium business market on a path to growth and success. It involves seeing into the future.

These days, technologies exist which facilitate acquiring the information (even in paper form), converting that information into digital data, and then actually interpreting the data to arrive at a transaction. Traditional software and cloud service providers alike are recognizing that mechanical data entry is passé, and do-it-yourself solutions for accounting and bookkeeping will rely upon “smart” engines which can read and properly understand what each scanned document means.

So – once the accurate data entry problem is solved… what’s the next logical step? Analytics! It’s only really possible now that online solutions have brought the business information to the accounting professional in real-time, and have allowed the accounting professional and the business owner to collaborate and share data faster than ever before. If information is power, we have a lot of power in our hands… but do we really know it? This is where BI (business intelligence) and analytics come in, and where the opportunity exists for the accounting profession to become a guiding force in rebuilding our economy.

What if an accountant could not only tell his client that the business lost money last year or last month, but that they’re going to lose money through this month and year if they don’t change their behavior? And, what if the accountant could run a variety of scenarios which would help forecast the most positive business outcome based on certain choices which could be made, or certain activities which could be handled in different ways? What if the accountant could help his client peer into the future, and get an inkling of what the business could look like if certain economic or business conditions continued… changed… ?

Maybe I’m a little overzealous when it comes to believing that the accounting profession could have recognized the economic trauma which was coming, or that they could have prepared their business clients for it. But I don’t believe I’m very far off the mark in believing that not nearly enough “analysis” occurs in the typical public accounting engagement, and even when it does… is the suggested path the right one? I would submit that BI is new enough to so many people that it may not be. Learning what the numbers are telling you is one thing… staving off disaster is quite another.

I would encourage all BI and Data Analytics fanatics to check out an article on CFO.com on this subject: That New Big Data Magic http://www3.cfo.com/article/2011/8/analytics_that-new-big-data-magic

A few memorable takeaways from the article:

“you may be spot-on about a problem, but the solution doesn’t magically appear out of the data.”

“what you do with [data] is a people-based activity, a skill base you have to mature. And it doesn’t come quickly.”

“CFOs have a gut sense that there’s money out there in all that data… The challenge is how to turn that data into new opportunities.” The good news.. is that new technologies are making it more economical to make sense of Big Data… The caveat is that those technologies will not provide those opportunities. That’s still up to the people who make business decisions.”

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reblogged from Proformative.com Being Nostradamus – Predicting Outcomes and Providing Guidance