Building An Accounting Practice You Can Be Proud Of

• Chartered Accountant (Aussie CPA) - 10 years in practice  

• 3 x Xero award winner in first 3 years of practice being opened(most awards globally)  

• 30 under 30 entrepreneur in Australia  • 5 startups in 5 years (1 failed, 3 running, 1 dormant)  • Obsessed with Accounting + Technology and

delivering better information to small business owners to make better decisions and change the world.  

• CEO / Chief Ignitioneer at Practice Ignition.

A bit about me

Interactive Accounting  interactive by name and nature

• Self funded + bootstrapped from the ground up (whilst I bartended at nights)  • 5 years old (2010 start date)  • 3 offices around Australia  • 20 amazing people onboard  • 100% cloud from day 1  • Model built on the back of studying startups  • Clients in 8 countries  • Services high growth companies, High Net Worth Individuals and 100%

cloud businesses.  • Helped companies raise $100m in funding

Let’s talk accounting

• What is your USP?  • Business Model for your practice.

• Your Clients. Your lifeblood.  • Can you scale?  • Make yourself obsolete.

• Key Technology

• Do something that matters to you.

• Takeaways.

• Q+A.

Agenda

What is a USP  Unique Selling Proposition. It’s what makes you stand out from the crowd.  Example  In the cloud accounting field in America, there is one stand out for having picked a niche. Chaney + Associates

This firm focuses 100% on non-profit religious and faith based organizations around the USA.  Picking one  Usually you will have one area that you are great at in your business. It could be anything, but, you need to be “the best” at this and identifiable by your USP.  Remember being a “proactive accountant, trustworthy, thoughtful” CPA is not a USP. It’s expected.  1. List the common services you provide by industry, demographic, size of business and stage of

business;  2. List any particular software you focus on or specialize in;  3. What value add work are you capable of?  NB: the sooner you get this defined, the easier is your path to market.

Defining your USP

Your USP will affect your business model.  Who are you?  Are you a surgeon, a local coffee shop or a McDonald’s?  The Surgeon  You’re a specialist at what you do. Everything in the firm is designed to have you at the top, to do the delicate work, the sign off and you only generate revenue when you work.  Local Coffee Shop  Personalized service to your local area, region, market , but a jack of all trades to everyone.  McDonalds  

Your business model

It doesn’t matter what any expert says. These people are the most important people at your practice. Without exception.  Money talks  Your clients are the reason that you have a practice, they fund every decision you make.  Bullshit walks  They will stay with you whilst there is trust. Don’t bullshit them. Don’t over promise and own up when you stuff up with a plan to fix the issue.  What do they want?  As an industry, we are afraid to ask this questions. Make sure you ask your clients if they’re happy with your service and ask them if they would refer you (net promoter score is built into Zendesk etc.)  

Your clients

Have you considered the limitations of your practice?Don’t be a bottleneck for your practice, make sure it can run without you signing every little detail off.

Systems  How hard is it for your way of doing things to add 1 more client?

People  Have you got the right people on board, what’s the average time required to do the next job?

Clients  Is there only 1 point of contact for your clients, do they have an easy way to interact with you?  

Goals for your practice  

Can you scale?

As a practice owner, this should be your ultimate goal. To be an owner, not a worker.  Practice what you preach  The #1 reason to work towards your obsolescence is to be able to share with your clients how you became obsolete, no matter what model you chose or clients you chose to serve.  Remember entrepreneurs want to be owners and work on the business not in it.  Knowledge  Share your knowledge with your team, don’t be a bottleneck, don’t protect your knowledge, incentivize this sharing at your practice.  People  I started my own accounting practice because I believed that I could do a better job of running an accounting practice and then trusted people. The result: I became an owner only after 3.5 years of a multi-million dollar turnover CPA firm.

Make yourself obsolete

There are certain key technologies that you’ll need to have in place to really build value in your practice.  Internal/back office  Practice Management, Tax and DocumentCommunication (chat, email etc.)  Data management  Payables Accounting/ledgerDebtorsPayroll  Client facing  CommunicationsReportingWebsite, social etc.

Key Technology

utilism – the greatest good, for the greatest number.  Help  Help your fellow man, woman and child. Help your family. All your goals should be aligned.  Grow  Grow your practice, grow your clients business, grow your influence to achieve great things.  Access  Access to information is one of the key problems you are here to solve. Better information = better decisions.

Teach  Once again, share your knowledge and pay it forward. This is what entrepreneurship was built on.

Do something that matters

Remember, what you do is important.  Don’t downplay your role in the world. Accountants have the ability to be a huge difference maker, to help entrepreneurs paint the future and help families increase their take home pay, their ability to give to others and their overall happiness (taxes are a huge stress).  

Pick something you want to tell your grandkids about  

It’s not all about money. What did you do to change “the world you live in”?

Be Proud. Be a trusted advisor.  Make a difference.

What legacy will you leave

behind?

Stand out from the crowd  Whatever you choose, make sure you stand out in the crowd and make sure you have an easy way to explain what you do and for whom you do it.    (e.g. video that changed the game for interactive accounting)  Business model  Work through your path to clients and define what you are about. I recommend you start with the lean canvas model to define your services, your market and your path to growth.  PricingPricing models for fixed fee models are available here, pick the right model that enables ease of sale to your chosen clients or a hybrid, fixed fee for low value and value based for high end work.  • Looking At Pricing Models• How To Price Your Practice• Worksheets To Build Your Practice

Takeaways

Decisions to make• Who are your clients?  • How big do you want to grow?  • How will you charge?  • Are your clients happy?  • What can you do to make them happier  • Can you scale?  • How far are you from being obsolete?  • How do you get there from here and when?

Thank you