Client advisory services (CAS) have been available for a while, but public awareness of their benefits has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly in the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic. The client looks for better client service and advice for the better and economic stability of their firm. Consider running an accounting firm.
The initial stage of providing the best services to the client is to provide them with the best pricing plans and compliance services based on their needs and company objectives.
Use technology to scale your business
Creating a specialized CAS department inside a CPA firm takes time and money. CAS services, on the other hand, may be highly profitable with the proper resources. It is critical to have the appropriate technology to deliver these services.
Capacity is one of the most significant barriers to establishing a viable CAS practice. Busy professionals discover many strategies to minimize their time and enhance their tax services. The important thing is to automate as much of the transactional and compliance labor as feasible. In conjunction with reasonable procedures and outsourcing, automation offers the potential to supply CAS services that are more focused on relationship development. You’ll need a cloud-based general ledger application at the very least.
Evaluate your pricing model
If your CAS practice has grown well over the predicted 12% -15% annual growth rate for CAS, the first thing to do is evaluate pricing. Examine how services are priced in greater detail, focusing on actual prices rather than predicted expenses. When performing these estimates, make careful to account for all expenditures, from various technological tools to human resources. But don’t just look at expenses; turn to your rivals for important information into what pricing levels your target market can bear. Changing niches to fight slow growth makes your new niche less susceptible to price fluctuations.
While these assessments are happening, transactional work may be building up, but this is significant — the business may have unwittingly underpriced its different CAS products. Alternatively, if rivals purposefully undercut to gain an advantage and establish a foothold in the desired market, it may be time to raise pricing to an acceptable markup.
If the company has proven that its pricing methodology is accurate, congrats – you are ready to go on to the next stage!
Streamline your business for a sustainable future
To continue development and extend your CAS practice, the company will need to expand capacity beyond the benefits of workflow simplification. Staffing issues — a constant source of frustration for many businesses – may rapidly become an impediment to developing a successful and growing CAS operation. Look to a mix of upskilling existing personnel and utilizing tech-enabled services to gain the additional capacity required to take on new customers and conduct higher-level advising work.
With the continued difficulty of finding new personnel with the requisite skills and certifications, many businesses are upskilling existing employees. Unfortunately, finding the time – and people willing to learn new skills – can be challenging. Many individuals appreciate their current job responsibilities and may resist coming out of their comfort zone. Furthermore, the employees most likely to be targeted for additional training are likely to be highly regarded and working at full potential. Training them takes time away from their regular tasks, putting further strain on an already overburdened CAS staff.
There is a distinction to be made between growth and sustainable growth. Review each of the points stated above to transform your firm’s quickly growing practice into scalable and sustainable development. You update workflows, examine pricing, upskill workers, and look for highly qualified individuals with CAS tech stack experience.
It is challenging to discover skilled employees, hire them, and give them enough time to master programs and stay updated on the latest advances. By utilizing technology-enabled services such as CAS Outsourcing, you may relieve in-house workers of the stress of transactional labor, allowing you to scale your CAS business successfully.
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