Client-Centric Approach Can Boost Revenues

Source: AICPA CPA Insider

Excerpts from this article by Rick Telberg are reprinted with permission from the AICPA.

Most accounting firms believe they provide pretty good client service. And most of them are probably right. But there are other firms that strive to deliver more than just satisfactory service. Most firms are service-centric, meaning they focus on the services they provide, i.e. tax, assurance or estate planning. But in too many firms, that means the client becomes fixed in one silo. In other words, if they came in as a tax client, the tax department probably "owns" them. Of course, if the client needs an audit, the tax department "refers" them to the audit department.

To completely embrace the client, Edi Osborne of MentorPlus in Carmel Valley, Calif., is telling CPA firms to "stop looking at the client through your services and instead start looking at the client like a client. CPAs have an under-leveraged opportunity to work with clients to improve operations, strategy, processes and even hiring.

In one case, an ambulance company was trying to accelerate its collections. "You'd think that getting the billing out fast would do the trick," Osborne says. "But that wasn't the problem. In fact, faster billing actually delayed collections." The reason? The bills were going to the patient's address. So the ambulance company started billing the hospital instead and collections improved.

In a service-centric approach, the tax accountant or the audit partner may never have asked the questions that led to finding the right problem. A client-centric approach can lead to greater revenue per client at higher fees with better margins.

For the complete article, click here and read "The Big Mistake CPAs Make in Client Service" in the March 22, 2010, issue.

From AICPA CPA Insider, March 22, 2010, www.CPA2biz.com.