In Pursuit of Profit
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For those familiar with college athletics, March is known for the Division I college basketball championships. You may not, however, know how a few years ago the NCAA allowed student-athletes to change schools with no loss of eligibility by creating the “Transfer Portal.” When an athlete declares that they want to leave for another school, their name gets put in the Transfer Portal database. Voila, other coaches see this and say, “I want that center” or “I want that point guard” and reach out to them. What does this have to do with hiring accounting professionals? Well, the transfer portal concept is not just for college athletes. There’s also a career transfer portal – it’s what happens out there in the world of recruiting. Using an external recruiter is the best way to ensure you are accessing accounting employees that are in the transfer portal. At the end of last year, the popular accounting resource Accounting Today published an interview with 100 of accounting’s top minds where they asked the simple question, “What is the most important issue currently facing the accounting profession?” and recorded their responses. Their answers ranged across topics such as staffing shortages, independent audits, AI, financial reporting, private equity, and technological advancements. If you get a chance to read it, you should! There’s some great insight to glean. Since we employ a vast network of consulting accountants across Washington, Oregon, and Colorado, we asked our consultants to do something similar. However, instead of having them focus on what’s important right now, we asked them to be more forward-thinking in their responses. We posed the question, “What will be the most important topics in accounting this year?” These were some of their responses: Sometimes we have people ask us, “If I’m outsourcing my bookkeeping/accounting to an accounting firm, how do I know if my business is a priority to that company?” The chances are that if you’re asking this, you’ve felt like your business wasn’t the most important client in your accounting company’s portfolio of clients.
If you feel like your accounting company isn’t prioritizing your needs, you might be right! The speed at which AI is being introduced into our everyday lives is head spinning! Recent discussions of using AI in the accounting field are all over the map. Some say it’s a huge time saver, while others say it’s potentially disastrous (some will even spout both opinions in the same sentence). Since the industry seems so conflicted about this hot topic, let’s explore the potential advantages and possible pitfalls of using AI in accounting. Family businesses are a true gem! They are integral to the soul of our country and touch so many people’s lives in a way that’s unlike any other type of business. And, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, they also play a big role in our country’s financial infrastructure employing 63% of the workforce and generating 57% of America’s GDP. Of course, most family businesses are not nearly as large as the ones that have made it big over the years (like Ford, Chick Fil-A, Dell, Aldi, and Walmart). But, nonetheless, family-run businesses are still essential to our local communities, and always will be. That’s why we are particularly passionate about helping family businesses succeed! We understand that in family-run companies there are a lot of challenges that must be overcome to find success, and we want to offer the resources that help them along the way. Today we’re going to be addressing some of those challenges through a financial lens by looking at the top accounting-related obstacles for family businesses and discussing ways to address them. Similarly, the beginning of the year brings excitement for business planning. Business leaders are filled with optimism over the idea of starting out the year right by getting their financial house in order so they can streamline and improve to avoid the pain points they dealt with in the year prior. But, then just like the people who decide they’re going to start working out and buy a treadmill only to let it collect dust, mangers and executives fall back into the same habits of “business as usual.”
So, what can you do to prepare yourself for the wave of turnover that may be coming?
When they hear about this trend most employers will go into “fix it” mode and ask what they can do to keep their accountants from bolting soon. Unfortunately, at this point there’s probably very little that can be done to keep them long-term. If the year-end bonus they just got wasn’t enough persuasion, any sort of incentive you throw at them is likely just going to delay the inevitable. (Plus, the quality of work they do and passion they bring to the role is only going to suffer further if they already have one foot out the door.) Instead, your best bet is to get ready for what’s coming next. Take the steps now to be prepared in case your accountant leaves so that you’re not scrambling during tax season to find and onboard someone new. 1/23/2024 Prioritizing your Accounting Needs
Maturity in business acumen comes from knowing what to prioritize for the greatest return. Whether you are handling it in-house or outsourcing your accounting activities, knowing where to devote limited resources is crucial for good decision making.
But how do you know where to start? What’s the most critical thing that absolutely needs to be done first? What will offer significant benefits down the road when more resources become available? And what would be nice to do eventually, but isn’t essential? And what should you avoid doing entirely? Obviously, there’s not a single right answer to these questions because every organization has different business needs. However, there’s a framework that you can use to make these kinds of decisions, regardless of individual circumstances, so you know what to do now, soon, later, and never. |
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3/18/2024