Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Source: CPA Trendlines

Following are excerpts from a September 21, 2009, blog post by Rick Telberg.

With client retention replacing the staffing shortage as the most troublesome issue facing CPA firms, it may be surprising that so few firms are taking a high-profile, proactive approach to the problem.

According to Bay Street Group's latest soundings, six in 10 firms have no formal client satisfaction monitoring program. Even more, seven in 10, rely on “real-time feedback” from clients, which, to me, sounds a little like “we don't ask, they don't tell.”

But if you really want to know what clients are thinking, you have to ask them, which is exactly what I've been doing. I've heard from thousands of CPAs and financial managers on the private side of accounting in business and industry. Their suggestions and guidance on what makes a CPA-client relationship prosper or fail should be heeded.

One senior finance manager at a mid-sized company says, “What we really want is an attentive, service-oriented, reasonably priced firm that appreciates our business. We don't have that because our parent organization has dictated that we must use the same firm that they use.” “At Big Four prices,” she says, “I shouldn't have to review in detail to find their errors.”

Or listen to this Midwestern CFO whose company is fighting for its life. He wants a CPA who can provide “survival skills for a tough economy and market.” This CFO provides only a lukewarm recommendation for his current accounting firm, but he still needs advisers who can “provide objective insights during these tough economic times.”

To read the entire post, click here.

From CPA Trendlines, http://cpatrendlines.com, September 21, 2009, “Do You Know the Secrets of Happy Clients?”