Arvid Mostad, President
Mostad & Christensen, Inc.
During the hectic tax season, it’s especially important to project an air of calm efficiency. Have your entire staff do a general housecleaning now to remove accumulated clutter. Move noisy printers to an area where they won’t distract staff members or clients, and turn down the sound on telephone ringers.
Hold a brainstorming session with your [...]
What should an accountant’s disengagement letter contain?
Most accountants will find a need to write a letter of disengagement sooner or later. The need for such a letter could be as simple as an engagement outside your area of practice resulting in an amicable parting of the ways. Or the letter could be necessitated by something [...]
As you prepare for the upcoming tax season, you might find this brief rundown of 2012 tax changes useful.
PAYROLL TAX CUT for employees extended through February 29, 2012. (Social security tax rate on wages up to $110,100 will be 4.2% rather than 6.2%.)
ADOPTION TAX CREDIT decreases to $12,650 for adoption of an eligible child.
SECTION 179 [...]
There is nothing worse for a local accounting firm than to be without a website. Wrong! Having a website with out-of-date information is worse than not having one at all.
Consider the impression on your clients or prospective clients when they read two-, three-, and four-year old tax information. Archiving your tax tips or blogs may [...]
Here are suggestions to help reduce the number of new clients you will end up firing. Your initial consultation is the proper time to screen a potential client to see if the individual or business and your firm will be a good long-term fit.
Consider these points:
1. How many prior accounting firms has this prospect used?
2. [...]
Today there are more ways than ever to reach clients and prospects — from the tried-and-true client newsletter to social media like Facebook and blogging.
Combine print and electronic marketing to cover all the bases in your marketing strategy and get the best practice-building results. Take advantage of the increased opportunities [...]
Your current clients and prospective clients like dealing with a well-known and successful accountant. The more visible you are, the more likely it is that people will consider you successful. Take the opportunity to speak at local service clubs and to write articles for your local newspaper or trade journals for industries in which you’re [...]
How does the size of your firm affect your client’s perception of your professionalism? This may be difficult to measure. However, some clients may be more willing to deal with a partnership than with a sole proprietor. This does not have to do with professionalism; it has to do with security.
If you are absent from [...]
Perhaps your firm should seek to increase the number of paraprofessionals you have in lieu of hiring more professional staff.
If you hire sharp, ambitious, paraprofessionals who do not aspire to be CPAs, you may solve one of the main problems facing accounting firms. You will lessen the need for producing higher and higher gross revenue [...]
While with a client, leave your cell phone off and out of sight. That’s it. That should be all that needs to be said.
But many of us seem to think we should be an exception to this common courtesy. Imagine being in a meeting where you are paying your attorney for his professional advice. If [...]