|
Victoria
Shoaf, Queens/Brooklyn Chapter President, can be reached at shoafv@stjohns.edu.
Managing
an Accounting Practice in Queens
Trusted
Professional Staff
 |
| Instructor
Rob Reider (pictured) came all the way from New Mexico to
give a presentation for the Queens Chapter's first Managing
an Accounting Practice conference held at Queens Crossing
in Flushing on Sept. 17. |
Although the
Managing and Accounting Practice (MAP) committee in the Queens
Chapter has only been around for six months, it has already held
a successful conference on Sept. 17.
Liren Wei
co-chaired the event with Ed Torres and said that the event
held at Queens Crossing in Flushing, was a success, having had
35 attendees.
"The
purpose of the conference is to help practitioners work less by
working smarter," Wei said. "And hopefully make more
money."
Although there
was no precedence for topics, Torres managed to find Dr. Rob Reider,
who is a management and organizational consultant based in New
Mexico to come as a speaker for the event.
Some of the
discussion topics included: Services for Our Firms to Offer and
how Best to Provide Them; Client Value added Services and Maintaining
an Efficient Tax Practice and Marketing for Success.
Reider said
an example of a value added service was taking the time to review
a client's record to see if there was any obsolete inventory.
Instead of writing it off, Reider said accountants can help their
clients figure out ways to sell the inventory. This in turn could
help a client better forecast their production or inventory purchases
and better interact with their customers to prevent future accumulation
of obsolete inventory.
Wei said that
the client value added service was a way of billing a client for
services that did away with the traditional hourly rate.
"Rather
than just providing them with the features of the service (and
providing an hourly bill), you'd explain to them the how they
benefited," Wei said. "And maybe they'd be willing to
pay you more for it."
Reider also
discussed the importance for accounting firms to market themselves
and create a brand. He said that a good logo or a wise slogan
could enhance their practice. He also said that it's a good gesture
to send a gift to someone for referring clients to your practice-anything
from Yankee tickets to Broadway tickets.
Another recommendation
Reider had was to never underestimate the personal touch. He recommended
getting new clients by having employees give special seminars
to present their services.
"People
with the best selling skills should be encouraged to become great
firm sellers," Reider said.
Reider also
said that personnel considerations needed to be addressed. He
suggested ways to make employees feel that the firm was their
own business, such as building a compensation structure that would
reward the staff.
Members
interested in joining the Queens/Brooklyn Chapter's Managing and
Accounting Practice committee can contact Liren Wei at liren@weiweico.com
|
