Peerview Data Insights

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:

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?"

Recently we stumbled across an article on Entrepreneur's website. It's titled "6 Critical Questions to Help Businesses Cut Through the AI Hype." In it, author Brett Jackson shares tips for sorting through the jibber jabber about AI that seems to be tossed around businesses today, calling it his "bs detector."

The list of questions he encourages companies to consider consists of: 

As we've been focusing a lot lately on how our app can help you be the best consultant to your clients as a CPA, we were floored to find this recent article on Accounting Web. The concept of how you may be "hiding in plain sight" from your customers among other "experts" is the point Lee Frederikson drives in this article. He begs the question: are you, a qualified professional and expert, simply not visible in the way you need to be in order to inspire confidence and draw in new business?