What's Next For Accounting? - Issue #146

Author

Jason Staats
August 01, 2024

🤝 Building Bridges Between Bookkeepers & Tax Pros

There’s generally a lack of communication between the tax pro and bookkeeper on an engagement, and it leads to unnecessary workflow headaches.

I'd like to round up feedback from folks on both sides and put out a tool made up of four things:

1. Bookkeepers: Here's what tax pros want you to know

2. Tax Pros: Here's what bookkeepers want you to know

3. A one page form bookkeepers provide to tax pros to gather their preferences

4. A one page explainer tax pros provide to bookkeepers to communicate their preferences

You may not agree on the right approach, but step 1 is to communicate what we'd each like to see.

So if you’re a tax pro, hit reply and tell me:

What do you want bookkeepers to know?

Expectations posting adjustments, maintaining books on tax basis, how to tie to the Schedule L, or if they even should.

What's the perfect workflow for you?

And if you’re a bookkeeper, hit reply and tell me:

What do you want tax pros to know?

Do you want them posting adjustments directly to the ledger? Are you being given conflicting instructions from the client & tax pro?

What's the perfect workflow for you?

💎 This Week's Sponsor

Check out Jason’s demo 👇

📅 This Week

  • Canadian marvel bearded Ryan Reynolds Chad Davis is launching an automation community for accountants called.. get ready for it.. 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕋𝕠𝕨𝕟 - first 50 members are grandfathered into cheap pricing forever, launch event is Tuesday

  • The greatest time-saving change you can make in the next week is probably better email management - here’s my approach Video Audio

  • On the podcast I recently ran through who my first 20 hires would be, and now I’m getting other folks in on the act:

  • A few ideas for things you can stop doing, since this is the path to 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇

  • Today SafeSend launched Gather AI, new functionality to gather client tax docs. Excited to see it in action

  • If you’re an Airtable nerd, they recently launched an AI assistant for their app builder

🔮 Q&A

Last week on the pod we spent a whole week going through the canonical value pricing literature to work through some blockers & explore how it holds up today.

Is value pricing amoral? Link
Not inherently. While charging different prices for the same service may feel uncomfortable, it reflects the varying value perceived by different clients. Absent value, there isn’t a more real price out there. However there's a point beyond which extreme price discrimination get dicey in my opinion.

I don’t like value pricing because no pricing should be based on the means of the client. Link
A client's financial means can certainly influence their ability to pay, but the value a client derives from you is impacted by a host of factors beyond means. By digging into these factors, and building a sales process that takes into account sources of price resistance, we can probably make a bit more on each engagement.

How do you address the challenge that value is in the eye of the beholder? Link
Educating the client on the value of what you do is a core tenet of value pricing, but is a mountain many pros are unwilling to climb. To do so successfully also requires being differentiated from other providers, otherwise they’ll go to the person across the proverbial street. Rather than communicating the value of bookkeeping or tax advisory, start by understanding how the client’s business makes money, and where you plug into the equation.

How can small firms practically apply value pricing to piecemeal work? Link
The more granular the scope of work, the trickier it’s going to be. Just about anything can be de-commoditized, but getting a client to “value the relationship” is a tough hill to climb if all you do is piecemeal work. Unless it’s a foot in the door to a larger scope of work, it may not be a project worth taking.

How important is differentiation when using value pricing? Link
In my opinion value pricing only holds up if there aren’t any substitutes. You may be a better advisor, and the fact you lean into value pricing may be a signal to clients of your capabilities, but if you’re selling the same haircut as the guy across the street you’ll have a tough time.

😍 From The Community

My private peer networking community Realize for firm leaders, and it’s now reached its cap of 500 members 🎉

▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ 500/500 members