“Taxpayers need to be able to distinguish
between the professional capabilities and
education of the different groups of tax preparers,” she said.
The proposed regulations would start to
implement a plan that the IRS released in
January to register and assign a preparer tax
identification number to all paid tax preparers who will file tax returns in 2011. The IRS
expects to begin registering tax return preparers in September.
Registration
FROm PAGE 1
Thompson said that the AICPA opposes
the provision in the proposed regulations
requiring employees of CPA firms who help
prepare tax returns, but do not sign returns,
to get a unique ID number. “PTINs are not
necessary for non-signing preparers in CPA
firms,” she said.
“Tax returns prepared in CPA firms are
generally reviewed and signed by a CPA,
who is responsible for the overall accuracy
of the return under both the Internal Rev-
enue Code’s preparer penalty provisions and
the CPA profession’s ethics rules,” Thompson
added. “The IRS should be able to contact
the signing preparers who have the records
of who in the firm worked on a particular
return.”
She said that taxpayers are further protect-
ed when a CPA prepares their tax returns be-
cause both CPAs and CPA firms must register
with their state boards of accountancy, which
subjects CPA firms and their employees to
the state’s ethical and competency rules.
Engagement partners at Sobel & Co. in Liv-
ingston, N.J., also talked with clients — their
own — but for a different reason. They wanted
to offer extra advice and guidance for those
who were struggling to keep their doors open.
“You could feel the pin dropping at the bot-
tom of the well where we literally had clients
calling and saying, ‘My phone hasn’t rung in
three weeks, talk to me, tell me what I should
we go far beyond the financial statement, the
tax return or whatever it is we offer.”
REVVING UP CLIENT SERVICE
Taking stock and focusing on current clients
was also a strategy at The Bonadio Group in
Pittsford, N. Y. Dubbing 2010 the “Year of the
Client,” the firm wanted to make sure their
clients were both happy and getting all the
MEETING WITH KEY CLIENTS
McKonly & Asbury in Camp Hill, Pa., created
something similar. It introduced what it calls
a “5-Star Client Survey,” which allows a senior
partner in the firm to meet with key clients
— who aren’t their own clients — to ask how
they are doing.
“During this listening tour, we’ve learned
many new ways to add value,” said Scott
Heintzelman, a partner at the firm. “We often
gain a new perspective on our clients. Where
one engagement team may ask the same
questions or bring the same perspective, this
new person has a very different view. Our clients have seen a lot of value in this process
and we have been provided the opportunity
to serve our clients in new areas.”
‘The whole point of that
work is that we are trying
to find the best ways to
stay in front of our clients.’
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INDEX
be doing,’” said Sally Glick, a principal of the
firm and chief growth strategist.
The conversations were dependent on
the client’s industry, how hard they were hit
and what kind of options they had, Glick explained. “It was a strategic discussion about
are you collecting your payables fast enough,
is money sitting on the shelf, are you managing your inventory?” she said.
And while those conversations were happening, Glick also played up her firm’s consistent programming to her clients — executive
roundtables, an annual business symposium,
more than a handful of programs geared towards the nonprofit community, and a bimonthly women’s group specifically targeted
at women in high leadership positions. Glick
also makes a point of nominating clients for
community awards whenever they come up,
which helped get her clients recognized on
a larger scale.
“The whole point of that work is that we
are trying to find the best ways to stay in front
of our clients, as well as other business col-
leagues, adding extraordinary value on stuff
that they touch everyday,” she explained. “And
to remind them that we are the providers and
services they could possibly need.
VALUE PROPOSITION
“Our Big Four competitors are cutting fees
and attempting to recapture clients they ig-
nored over the past few years,” Bonadio said.
“And smaller competitors continue to use the
fee card against us.”
McKonly & Asbury’s Heintzelman said that
this is a typical response to retain clients dur-
ing a recession — a strategy he is not fond
of. “That is a weak response and very short-
sighted,” he said of lowering fees. “I am all in
favor of working with clients during difficult
cash flow times, but simply dropping price
shows a lack of value.”
Proving value is key, and at Heintzelman’s
firm, aside from creating five industry-spe-
cific blogs that coincide with seminars the
firm hosts, an IT review was added as part of
audit engagements to help identify areas of
weakness and strength for clients.
