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INVESTMENT PLANNING The The Benefi t sBenefi ts of A dding Y our s a tax and accounting profes- sional, your clients already trust you to provide profes- sional tax advice that is in their best interest, so why do you keep referring your clients to another fi nancial professional for invest- ment services? Tax professionals like you add fi nancial services because their clients request it; they want to be competitive; they want to diversify their practice and increase their revenue. By adding fi nancial services to your tax practice, your clients will benefi t from professional, personal services; expert knowledge, comprehensive fi nancial services, reduced taxes and increased income, a wide range of investment alternatives, education, and fi nancial guidance all in a cost-eff ective manner. In addition to helping your clients meet their fi nancial goals, you'll see increased client satisfaction, more referrals, practice growth and increased revenues, personal satisfaction and diversifi cation of revenues. Most clients want someone to help them because taxes and investments are confusing. T ey want to listen to someone they trust, like their tax profes- sional, and they know you will not risk the relationship you have built with them by recommending some fl y-by- night investment. T ey will respect you for helping them identify a need and fi lling it. According to the AICPA's 2009 Top Issues Survey (www.aicpa.org/ InvestmentI of Addingnvestment Planning to our Practice to Y P ractice Planning mediacenter), client retention is currently the most challenging issue confronting CPA firms in the United States. Retention is important to your practice, because off ering new services to clients who already trust you is much more effi cient, and cheaper, than persuading new clients with the same old services. And according to the Maryland Asso- ciation of CPAs (www.macpa.org), the more services you can off er your existing clients, the more loyal they will become. T ese loyal, satisfi ed clients will refer others to you, which is a cost-eff ective way to expand your business. Incorporating investment planning services into your tax practice can increase your revenue per client and generate more income per hour. By making more per hour, you can choose to lighten your workload during tax season by handling fewer clients or working fewer hours, which puts you in bet er control of your business and your life. Financial planning revenues can outweigh revenues earned from tax clients alone, while overhead costs stay relatively low. According to a study by Tiburon Strategic Advisors, the average tax practice off ering fi nancial services has more clients and earns more revenue per client than a practice off ering tax services alone. T e study found that the average annual income opportunity for those practices off ering comprehensive services topped $200,000, compared to $54,000 for practices that only off ered tax services. 30 February 2012 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com I BELIEVE TAX PROFESSIONALS ARE THE MOST APPROPRIATE, AND PERHAPS THE ONLY, PROFESSIONALS WHO CAN PROVIDE COMPREHENSIVE FINANCIAL SERVICES TO CLIENTS, BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND BOTH THE CLIENTS' TAX AND FINANCIAL SITUATIONS AND ALREADY HAVE AN EXISTING RELATIONSHIP BASED ON FINANCIAL TRUST. Diversifying your practice by adding fi nancial services can help protect your practice from seasonal and business cycle slowdowns. Because tax services and fi nancial planning services are not necessarily interconnected from a timing perspective, the two activities can lean on each other. When the tax business is slow, you can focus on fi nancial ser- vices, and vice versa. T is diversifi cation can help stabilize your income, increase cash fl ow and give you more fl exibility. Knowing you can concentrate on fi nancial planning clients between tax seasons, and that you have the potential to make more money per client, may also allow you to service fewer clients, freeing up more time and alleviating income shortfalls when your tax business is slow. The First Step Are you unsure how to get started with fi nancial services? By leveraging the knowledge gained from preparing your clients' tax returns and understanding your clients' long-term goals and other personal factors, you can develop fi nancial solutions. Many investment areas can be explored with clients by using their 1040s as a roadmap to start the fi nancial planning process. A simple review of line items on their returns can open a whole world of investment planning opportunities for your clients. T is is one way to identify your clients' needs and begin the dia- logue to help them fulfi ll those needs. Tax professionals just starting out in the investment arena may fi nd it easiest By Roger Ochs Roger Ochs is the President and CEO of H.D. Vest Financial Services (www.HDVest.com), which was founded in 1983 by a CPA seeking to serve more of his clients' fi nancial needs. Today, the company supports nearly 5,000 tax and accounting professionals, helping them to integrate comprehensive fi nancial planning solutions and investment services into their practices, including securities, insurance, money management services and banking solutions. to provide three basic types of investment planning for their clients: retirement funding, educational funding and risk management. By reviewing your clients' income, exemptions, tips, wages and other information, you can start identifying your clients' needs such as insurance to care for dependents, college education funding and retirement gaps. Of course, there is a lot more training involved in choosing the appropriate investment to solve the issues you may uncover by examining 1040 forms of your clients. T erefore, it is important to be aligned with a fi nancial services partner that specializes in helping tax and accounting professionals and their clients, and who can provide the proper training, technology, support and turnkey solutions that will help identify and address your clients' fi nancial goals. I believe tax professionals are the most appropriate, and perhaps the only, professionals who can provide compre- hensive fi nancial services to clients, because they understand both the clients' tax and fi nancial situations and already have an existing relationship based on fi nancial trust. Stop referring your clients to the broker or insurance agent down the street and begin off ering your clients the trusted fi nancial advice they have come to expect from you. As a tax professional, you have the knowledge and understanding to make a diff erence in their lives. It's time to start realizing the benefi ts that you can provide your clients and your practice.