Category: Your Clients

It was 1998 and I was thinking about the firm of the future

In 1998 I was the CEO of Results Accountants’ Systems – the Accountants’ Bootcamp company. During a particularly difficult time I wrote a weekly report to our 100+ team scattered around the world. The report I wrote on August 15 talked to a “dream” I had about the way firms would be operating in the future. I picked 2008 as the year that defined the future but was out by 10 years. Continue reading “It was 1998 and I was thinking about the firm of the future”

Ever thought of playing a game with your clients?

One of the more interesting and enjoyable experiences I’ve had in the past year is spending some quality time with Paul Kennedy and his team in his Goffs Oak office in the UK. I’m about spend another 5 months there to finish a project that I think all accountants (and other business advisors) should seriously consider. Continue reading “Ever thought of playing a game with your clients?”

What Frogs and Gross Margins have in common

You’ve probably heard that if you drop a frog into a pot of cold water and slowly bring it to the boil the frog will, in the first instance, adapt to the rising temperature but will ultimately succumb to the heat and die. On the other hand, if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will immediately jump out and proceed on its merry way. Continue reading “What Frogs and Gross Margins have in common”

Do accountants really understand what offering a business advisory service means?

Several years ago, as part of a Principa marketing initiative, I conducted a telephone survey of 58 accounting firms in northern Nevada and California who had described themselves in the phone directory and/or their web site as being accountants (CPAs) and business advisers. Continue reading “Do accountants really understand what offering a business advisory service means?”

A Day in the Office With Paul Kennedy: How One FirmTransitioned from Compliance to Advisory

This is the story of how O’Byrne and Kennedy changed their business model from an unremarkable suburban compliance practice with 500 clients to a remarkable niche business advisory firm with 50 clients and in the process dramatically increased profitability, client loyalty, and team member engagement while having a life-changing impact on the clients they work with. Continue reading “A Day in the Office With Paul Kennedy: How One FirmTransitioned from Compliance to Advisory”

Are you doing all you can to help your clients prepare for retirement?

In this note I want to address something I raised in an earlier blog post about an accountant’s responsibility for alerting clients about the need to take financial planning very seriously and to do so from a young age. My interest in this piqued after reading Tony Robbin’s recent book called Unshakeable: Your Guide to Financial Freedom. Continue reading “Are you doing all you can to help your clients prepare for retirement?”

Discounting as a Pricing Strategy: A 100 Year Old Story

I’m inviting you to Boston MA 1891. In that year Edward and Lincoln Filene took over the management of their father’s retail store called Filenes. At the time it was quite a successful business that specialized in women’s fashions and accessories but the two brothers built it into one of the world’s leading retail companies by implementing a non-traditional business model. Continue reading “Discounting as a Pricing Strategy: A 100 Year Old Story”

Managing Working Capital Is Key to Growth and Survival: Hard & Costly Lessons

In this post I want to share a story with you. It arises from a chance conversation with a member who is working with a client who has an inventory management challenge which came on the back of an article another friend of mine sent me about a report on the failure of the Dick Smith retail group in Australia. Continue reading “Managing Working Capital Is Key to Growth and Survival: Hard & Costly Lessons”

The theater of service has been around for a long time

I’ve been reading a biography on the Wright Brothers that describes in minute detail the hugely difficult process they went through to create an airplane. One of the side notes that caught my attention was a reference Continue reading “The theater of service has been around for a long time”