CPA Practice Advisor

NOV 2015

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/599790

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 19 of 21

20 November 2015 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com THE PROADVISOR SPOTLIGHT SPONSORED CONTENT The concept for the "Firm of the Future" contest was birthed about a year ago through conversations with Intuit customers and accountants. "As we talked to our customers and other professionals about where the industry was going, a theme started to emerge. Te frms that were success- fully making the transition had three things in common – they embraced the Cloud, they were trusted advisors and they were connected," said Jim McGi n n is, V ice President, I nt u it Accountant and Advisor Group. "At the same time, we were also noticing four key technology trends within the accounting profession. Everything is centered around data, mobile, social and the Cloud." Intuit's "Firm of the Future" contest asked frms to self-identify and show how their frms were exemplifying the three pillars of a "Firm of the Future." From the applicants, 20 fnalists were selected and submited videos to the contest 's website. From t hose 2 0 videos, Intuit selected its fnal winner – Two Roads. "The videos showed some of the most energetic, creative, for ward- thinking people you're ever going to meet and it was hard picking just one winner. What really made Two Roads stand out was how focused they were on becoming a trusted advisor for their small business clients," said McGinnis. "In watching their video, it became clea r t hat t hey embody t he sa me principles and values that Intuit has stood for from day one." Two Roads frame who they are as a frm to their clients – everything they do is focused on helping their clients become beter. Geting into the cloud for the cloud's sake is "ridiculous." Te frm was started in April 2011 when founder Chad R idner saw a need for small business bookkeeping and tax services. Before it was a "Firm of the Future," Two Roads operated along the same traditional methods as most accountant frms – clients drop their fles of and pick them up afer Rinney and his team were done with entry and fling. About six months in, they soon discovered there was a more efcient way and started the transformation. "We had some friends in the IT p r o f e s s i o n t h a t o f f e r e d t o h o s t Quick Book s Desktop on a secure server. Tat was really the genesis of it all. If we could host our accounting sofware, what else could we host on the server?" said Ridner. Today, Two Roads is 100 percent in the Cloud. Most of their clients use Quick Books Online and only t wo clients operate QuickBooks Desktop on the hosted Cloud server. " We love d be i n g a pa r t of t he QuickBooks environment. With the improvements to QuickBooks Online, we were able to move everyone to the Cloud. I like to think we've made a lot of progress and are very competitive," said Ridner. Once R idner saw the benefits of operating in the Cloud, he quick ly moved h is f ir m a nd cl ients to t he Cloud. One of the biggest benefts for the frm has been enabling the team to work from home. Many of the frm's staf members have young families and it's important to Ridner that they are able to be engaged in simple things such as picking up their children from school. Life balance is really important to R idner and is a core part of the Two Roads culture. Majority of the team members work from home and the rest work in the frm's ofce in the heart of Downtown Nashville. "Te beauty of the Cloud is that it allows our team to have the fexibility needed to create work-life balance. And, that's huge! We believe that if we take care of our team members, they'll take care of our partners because we created a work environment where t hey just love what t hey do," sa id Ridner. Another important beneft of the Cloud for Two Roads is the efciency t he y h a v e a c h i e v e d b y d i g i t a l l y exchanging fles with clients and no longer printing checks. In addition to o p e r a t i n g i n t he C l o u d , R id ne r b e l ie v e s a c c ou nt a nt s c a n r e a l l y leverage their efciency and value with a fxed rate model. Clients know the payment is going to be the same every month, so they are going to focus on the value of your services as a whole and not each task. "Most clients feel like they are being nickeled and dimed. If you have a c l ient wonder i n g , 'S hou ld I ju s t Google this or call my accountant?' you have a problem. Tey don't think you're worth that phone call," said Ridner. Ridner believes the key to becoming a trusted advisor is to recognize your clients' proactive touchpoints and use them to consult with your clients on how they could proactively improve their business. Instead of working with cl ients a f ter t he fact, accountants should focus on providing useful and relevant information throughout the year that allows business owners to ta ke ac t ion i n t he present for t he future, as opposed to for the past. " Pe o p l e c a n o f t e n v i e w t h e i r accountant or bookkeeper as a trans- actional relationship – someone you engage from time to time, but not really a trusted advisor. We wanted to change that, so we started calling our clients partners, and worked to change their view of us from someone whose phone calls they returned to someone they wanted to actively include in their business' success," said Ridner. "We're a part of our partners' stories but we're not THE story. Our partners are passionate about what they do and we want to participate in that. We want to help them be more successful because it's important to us that we help them become beter at what they already do well." Two Roads is also busy rebuilding its website to engage more clients and prospects. T here are two roads to becoming a "Firm of the Future" – adaption by choice and adap- tion by obligation. Earlier this year, Intuit announced it would host a contest to identify frms taking the frst road. Several months later and Two Roads, a small tax and bookkeeping frm from Nashville, Tenn., has been named the winner. Two Roads That Lead to a Firm of the Future The Two Roads team: (L to R) Joe Carufe, Adam Tinker, Chad Ridner, April Randolph, Zach Cochran

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of CPA Practice Advisor - NOV 2015