Visionary CPA Firms Align Strategy and Technology
Posted by Sarah Templeton on Thu, Feb 17, 2011
By Steven Templeton, CPA, Managing Partner
The days of a few CPA’s operating as a “firm” with partners essentially sharing the costs of office rent, a receptionist, and a coffee pot are quickly passing. Clients want their CPA’s to provide multiple services to help them build their businesses and effectively plan their exit strategy. Successful CPA’s are transforming their model from “book of business” practices to multi-disciplined professional services firms that operate as a single unit and offer a myriad of services to their clients. Rather than operate as multiple firms under one roof, they are learning to operate as one firm under multiple roofs.
These firms have, or are in the process of, defining their commonly-accepted core values, formulating their mission statement, and adopting directional strategies and goals. In the quest to build one firm, they generally move toward a corporate governance style and seek to consolidate systems and standardize business processes. Some of the key requirements for these firms to address include:
- Marketing and business development functionality with reporting capabilities
- Event and marketing campaign management
- Social media outreach marketing
- Collaboration and cross-selling visibility across practice disciplines
- Mobile access to relevant firm data in support of alternative work structures
- Enabling a growth platform and culture (organic and acquisitive)
It is imperative that firm leaders investigate, adopt and leverage appropriate technology to achieve the level of integration needed to support these key considerations, including:
- A common technology platform across functions, geographies, and disciplines
- Rich data analytics and dashboards, customized by role
- Deep insights into relationships both within the firm and with external firm contacts
- Sales pipeline and business development accountability metrics
- A single system from proposal to final billing
- Single user authentication and point of interface
Imagine the future. Can firms reduce the number of programs and systems that they support, provide access to real-time key performance indicators and information to its managers, create an environment for collaborative work and knowledge sharing, and dramatically increase efficiency and profitability while providing world class service to their clients? Visionary CPA firms have made tremendous strides in their practice model over the past decade or more. We believe that technology can be the enabler to efficiently facilitate continued growth and profitability.
To learn more about our solution, visit www.tcpracticemanagement.com or email info@templetonco.com.