Peerview Data Insights

Your clients have questions about their business. They want to know how they’re measuring up to their competition and how much progress they’ve really made toward making their goals. As their CPA and consultant, how do you best answer their questions? What’s the best direction to point them in? How are you even to know?

Being goal-oriented is what this fast-paced world we live in thrives on. If you don’t have your sights set on achieving “something” or going “somewhere” then you might as well be doing nothing and going nowhere.

This is especially true in the world of business. You can keep moving and adapt to changes or be left behind by the competition — something your business clients know all too well.

In an article published this week in Entrepreneur, Pamela Slim evaluates common problems small companies face and how she thinks they can best overcome these issues. 

You know consulting is the next step for your firm. You know Peerview Data is the right tool to help you get the job done, but you still hold onto some reservations. 

You’re heading out into uncharted waters in the world of consulting. Excited about the business this will bring to your firm, you remain optimistic but apprehensive. What tools do you really need to be the best consultant you can be?

Consulting is the best way to get your CPA firm out of the tax-services-only rut. It not only has the ability to make you more of an asset to your clients, but it can propel both of you forward in terms of performance and growth. Because you already have an established relationship handling a company's finances, you're in the great position to apply your expertise to help them achieve their goals.

Before you start, however, here are some tips on how the be the best consultant:

You're already a pro at handling your clients' numbers. Come every tax season, you're the person they turn to. But now, as you're working to move more toward the position of a consultant for your clients throughout the year, it can be hard to know what tools to use to get yourself to "expert status."

When it comes to the right tools, Peerview Data can help you be every bit as prepared and informed as you need to be as you consult with your clients and help them move toward becoming optimized. Our "do-it-for-me" software makes it easy for you to work with your clients to:

Over Easter weekend my thirteen year old niece was over at my home with the rest of our family for lunch. I tried talking to her about her life, finding myself asking her all the questions I used to hate when I was her age (how's school, how're sports going, do you have a crush, what's his name, how's your best friend doing?). Her answers were brief, as 13-year-old answers often are, and she spent a majority of her time on her phone. She was constantly pulling up videos to show us, taking pictures of her food and herself, and even fixed a glitch on my phone that I'd been struggling with forever like it was nothing. 

I was over at a friend's home for game night last weekend and we ordered food through a delivery app for dinner. Complaints ensued when the food was fifteen minutes late even though picking up the food ourselves is something we could have done twenty minutes ago to avoid waiting. One of our friends voiced this, only to have their point countered with the blatant statement: 

In a recent article from Entrepreneur, Gene Marks provokes CPAs and business owners alike to think about their tax services in the context of "Now that tax season is over... should I fire my accountant?"