LivePlan’s mission is to help people succeed in business, both accountants and their small business clients, which makes QuickBooks Connect the ideal conference for us.
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Small businesses want help from accountants on strategic planning and financial forecasting. This word cloud represents a summary of popular responses from small businesses when we asked them this question:
“If you could get help in one area of your business right now, what would it be?”
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A strong financial forecast is at the heart of any successful Strategic Advising relationship. Many people assume that reporting is the most important, but the forecast provides the roadmap, and therefore the basis for advisory services.
Summer break is ending, and I can feel it.
With three weeks remaining before the beginning of a new school year, there is a need to get it all in! There were big expectations for our summer plan: night time bike rides and star gazing, s’mores, family reading, and pool time. Maybe a trip to the mountains, and if we are applying stretch goals, the ocean too!
Avoiding the potholes
Implementing a process to manage the work of Strategic Advising is the key to making it happen in a profitable, seamless way. Having a regular routine can make all the difference.
Scaling New Heights 2018 was a great experience! It’s always a true pleasure talking with customers face to face and reconnecting with industry peers. It’s also fascinating to see how the industry is growing and shifting year over year. This year there were a few big takeaways for me.
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When I decided it would be good to align LivePlan’s method for advisory services with a workflow toolset, I wasn’t sure where I would begin. Then I met Ian Vacin, VP of partnerships and education at Karbon (and known accounting industry thought leader).
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I wrote this very first blog post for the Strategic Advisor blog back in July of 2016, right after Scaling New Heights, and a series of accounting conferences and industry meetings. It was true then, and two years later it is still true—except now I know more! With tax season just ending, it’s a good time to reintroduce this article with updates. Two years later, we are still drowning in the message!
It’s the question I get asked the most by accountants who are thinking about branching into Strategic Advising services: “I do budgeting already. What’s the difference between a budget and a financial forecast?"
The answer is both simple and complex, and has a lot to do with the real value of advisory services, which is aiding small business growth.
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Client advisory services, like any other offering in an accounting practice, must be profitable to be worthwhile for your business. At the same time, Strategic Advising, or client advisory services, have the distinction of being the most open-ended type of work you can do in the spectrum of public accounting.
This might seem like a really great opportunity, but it can also be your biggest potential risk if you don’t plan for the work correctly.
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The best way to grow and scale an accounting firm—and this is true of any type of service firm—is to implement standardized and structured business processes for all work. Categorize the work by service type and implement a manageable process—one that will ensure solid client deliverables, and also profitability for your firm.
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The accounting industry is changing rapidly, and your clients are turning to you for advice on their business growth challenges and opportunities.
Your firm needs to be able to offer Strategic Advising services confidently and profitably.
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LivePlan was happy to attend Accountex 2017. The show’s national sales manager, Patrice Hampson, really listened to us about what we hoped to get out of attending, which was to share and teach people about our scalable business process for Strategic Advising services, The LivePlan Method.
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I am often asked during LivePlan training sessions: “When should I do a full business plan for my client, and how do I charge for it?” It’s a great question because it gets to the heart of advisory services.
Advisory services, done right, do not involve writing a traditional business plan.
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