CPA Practice Advisor

APR 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/58700

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 19 of 29

FROM THE TRENCHES Which Accountant Programs Are For You? P 20 20 April 2012 ersonally, I try not to be lazy, but philosophically, I do not like to waste time, money or effort. Perhaps you have a similar attitude about these three items. Conserving time, money and effort in addition to getting benefi ts of superior technical support as well as marketing are among the key reasons you should review your eligibility for programs targeting tax & accounting professionals. Many companies off er signifi cant discounts and benefi ts to accounting fi rms so the fi rms will recommend their products and services to their client base. Some of the programs represent simply a "free account" for the accountant, while others off er thousands of dollars of savings, special support queues, product training, and other benefi ts. For a complete listing, you can visit our resource at www.cpafi rmsoſt ware. com/cpaprograms.html. To name a few of the alternatives in the market, consider: • Avalara Accountant Advantage Program • Bill.com Accountant Program • Concur Advisor Program • FreshBooks BeanCounters United Program • Intacct Partner Program • QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program - Call 888.250.7279 and use Discount Code: C87403 • Results Partner Program • Sage Accountants Network • SAP CPA Advisor Program • SmartVault Affi liate Program A good rule to follow is to always join a vendor's accountant program if you use their product. T e programs listed above are all good in their own right, and represent publishers of products that are worth adding to your strategy if you do not have a relationship with them today. Benefi ts in most programs include: • Use of their software for free or at reduced rates • Access to special support lines that are usually not available to non-members • Access to training, oſt en for CPE credit • Discounts on software that can be passed on to clients or used for extra margin Randy Johnston Mr. Johnston is executive vice president and partner of K2 Enterprises and Network Management Group, Inc. He is a nationally recognized educator, consultant and writer with over 30 years' experience. He can be contacted at randy.johnston@cpapracticeadvisor.com. April 2012 • www.CPAPracticeA www • Installation and support services • Participation in the publisher's national conference • Special installation methodology • Practice Development aids As most of us have learned, vendors oſt en want to sell to our clients, not just our fi rms. Traditionally, we have tried to protect our clients from predatory w.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com sales practices. To our knowledge, the programs above are designed to help you service your clients bet er. T ere are oſt en collaborative capabilities built into these products so you can work directly with your clients on their data. Oſt en there is a client dashboard that has easy access from your fi rm to one or more clients. Examples of collabora- tive products include: Bill.com, Fresh- Books, Intacct and SmartVault. T ere are other products that have client interaction as well such as Accoun- tantsWorld PowerPractice, Paychex SurePayroll or Xero. Vendors who have created these programs frequently update or modify their programs to add benefi ts, and rarely take benefi ts away. Certainly a winner in the benefi t improvements category is Sage who has been adding more and more useful features to their program. Upper management had a recent discus- sion with me about what could and should be added to the program. You can expect Sage to add additional features in their accountants program based on their philosophy, strategy and respect for accounting professionals in public practice. The company is going to extraordinary eff orts to improve their program and how they work with accountants. Read more for yourself at www.sageaccountantsnetwork.com/. Another example of commitment to accountants is shown in the Concur Advisor Program at www.concur.com/ en-us/concur-advisor. Concur includes their expense management solution for up to two users, four hours of free online CPE courses, unlimited support, and discounts for your clients. Most accountant programs are designed to improve client service, and this program is no exception. T e reason we recom- mend most programs, though, are the benefi ts your fi rm can deliver to clients. For example with Concur, the client benefi ts include reduced time spent on expense reports, bet er tracking of employee spending, and reduced fraud risk. A program that can help you grow your own practice by automating and controlling business development as well as growing your clients' businesses is the Results Partner Program. You can see details on this program at: www.results-soſt ware.com/Partner_ Resources/Partners/. T is soſt ware publisher has a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product that integrates into Outlook, QuickBooks, SmartVault, and Constant Contact. T ey provide installation services to help you get the product confi gured properly for your fi rm. T is product is another great example of a product that you can use in your practice to track engagement opportunities. Cli- ents can use Results CRM to produce quotes, manage sales pipelines and do more extensive business management. T e Results CRM product extends your practice management product to properly track business development opportunities, and can be used stand- alone or to extend your client's QuickBooks installation to improve their customer service and sales capabilities. When a CRM product is used properly, it can improve both top-line and bot om-line dollars. During 2012 you will see new pro- grams introduced by even more pub- lishers. The programs that will be introduced include products that you should use in your practice, and that you would pay for if they were not available in an accountant's program. Expect most of these announcements between April 15 and June 30, 2012. Consider and enroll in accountant programs that fi t your strategy and needs.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of CPA Practice Advisor - APR 2012