CPA Practice Advisor

MAR 2014

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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18 March 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com FEATURE An Island Nation? If yours is like most CPA frms, one t h i ng hold i ng you back cou ld be several diferent practice manage- ment systems spread across you r f i r m . Gold stei n Schechter Koch (GSK,) a 100+-person frm ser v ing south Florida for the past 60 years, found itself in a similar place. "We were using a my riad of dif- ferent systems, as most traditional CPA f ir ms do. One of t he i m me- d iate cha l lenges was t hat we had isla nds of data w it h i n ou r f i r m," said GSK's Chief Financial & Chief A d m i n i s t r a t i v e O f f i c e r, M a r k G u t h r ie . M a i nt a i n i n g mu l t i pl e systems creates a lot of overhead, and separate data islands compli- cate reporting. "Our systems were not integrated, and it was difcult to ex tract data. It was ver y t i me- intensive," continued Guthrie. G u t h r i e k n e w g r o w t h w o u l d come by focusing more time on the f rm's clients– not on maintaining the systems r unning the frm. "At the end of the day, it really hindered ou r g row t h ," obser ved Gut h r ie, GSK's CFO/CAO since Febr uar y of 2012. A Bridge to the Mainland You probably guessed that geting connected is one way to address the p o o r i n s i g h t a n d c u m b e r s o m e maintenance that such a fragmented env ironment creates w ith in your frm. GSK came to a similar conclu- sion . R eca l led Gut h r ie, " We felt strongly that we needed a diferent approach– a n i nteg rated t y pe of infrastructure that automated our revenue cycle. We started with the prem ise t hat we need to go w it h more of an enterprise-type solution." Bringing your frm together on a single practice management system resolves many of the issues hindering your frm's growth: • REPORTING. A single system avoids the data inconsistencies that make reporting so difcult, and a start-to- f inish workf low means you can understand what actions or decisions led to each result. • RESPONDING. Suppose you need a new approval process, to set up a new service line, or simply on-board a new user. Without having to modify mul- tiple systems or maintain brittle S pending more time w ith clients reveals more service opportunities– leading your frm to higher growth. Yet you might spend more time than you'd like just managing your growing frm, trying to understand what's really working and struggling to adapt as the business changes. Join me on one frm's journey to address these challenges– and to put itself in a beter position to serve clients. By Drew West Rising Above ... By Moving Your Firm to the Cloud CPA 0314 1-21.indb 18 3/24/14 9:37 AM

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