Help Your Clients Benchmark Their Performance

Source: AICPA CPA Insider

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Vikram Rajan.

You have the power to answer the burning question for each of your business clients: “How am I doing compared to . . .” As their CPA, you oversee multiple businesses in multiple industries, across many locales. Every metric and ratio from overhead margins to employee gains provides opportunities to reveal financial comparables. Whatever the size of your practice, you are privy to vital data. The power comes from your comprehensive numbers, not from any one client.

Even though you would not share specific data from any client, you should still obtain written consent before using any clients' data in any public way. Remind them that their private information will not be revealed and that their metrics will be compiled along with many others. It will help you grow their businesses more intelligently. The compiled study could even shape public policy.

Your published report, summaries and visuals make you extremely attractive to be quoted by media, associations, and even local officials. Information mapped year over year reveals trends.

Your survey should be as specific as possible, highlighting specific demographics, including revenue, employees, industry (NAICS), etc. Your report can be made available on your website, and at libraries, chambers of commerce, and relevant trade or professional associations. You can present such a product as a webinar or video presentation. Moreover, your publication creates an opportunity for you to review your clients' current financials with those of their peers: they are not alone; how they are ahead; and where they need to improve.

For the complete article, read “Brand Your Expertise As a Resource”

From AICPA CPA Insider, February 22, 2011, http://www.CPA2biz.com.