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 | 2020 Canada Member Meeting Schedules
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Mississauga
Member's Morning
Friday, Nov. 18
9:00am - 1:00pm
Case Study
on Audit Standards
Speaker
Fred Watkin, CA
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| 2020 Canada Webinar Schedule and Registration
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Webinars
are scheduled for Tuesdays
at 1:00 pm Eastern
Upcoming Webinars
Keys to Include in Your Partnership Agreements
Joel Sinkin
Sept. 27
Payroll - You Can Be Competitive!
Sam Vassa
Payment Evolution
Oct 5.
Free Webinar
Click here for Listing and Registration Form
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| Marketing Mondays with
Thomson Reuters
| Every Monday, Jack LaRue, Senior Vice President, myPaySolutions, Thomson Reuters has a marketing tip on CS.ThomsonReuters.com . These tips are a way for tax and accounting professionals to get usable bits of marketing expertise.
Recent entries. |
As always, if you have any questions or comments, please contact me at peggy.tyers@2020canada.ca .
This newsletter has focused on leadership. Dr. Maxwell suggests that "Successful people have a clear future orientation". How does that affect you in your practice?
Please take time to consider where you are taking your practice. Where will you be in five years? Do you want to grow your practice? Does that require a marketing plan? Should you hire more staff? Who will take over my practice in the event something happens to me?
Should I be outsourcing to accomplish some of my goals? Thomas Friedman in his book The World is Flat States "The accountant who wants to stay in business in America will be the one who focuses on designing creative, complex strategies, like tax reduction or tax sheltering, managing customer relationships,. He or she will say to his clients, 'I am getting the grunt work done efficiently for away. Now let's talk about how we manage your estate and what you are going to do about your kids". You may use this time do business consulting (special projects). Our next CD "How to Grow Your Practice by Outsourcing" features a 27 year old man who headed Friedmans advice. He has grown his firm to 6 offices with revenue of $3 million through successfully outsourcing.
I receive calls from many of our members. If you would like to share your vision for the future with me I would be happy to listen.
With Thanksgiving around the corner; I want to thank you for the support and encouragement you have given to 2020 Canada over the past year.
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 The
Canadian Innovator | Greetings!
"Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune."
Jim Rohn
We have just completed several days of seminars and conferences with accountants across Canada. No matter the size of the company, one of issues confronting the firms is retaining clients and getting new clients. "How do we do that?" This requires each firm spending some time evaluating their clients.
- What is our market niche?
- What are our core services?
- What are our specialty services?
- What do our clients want from us?
Many of you will say, we do not have time to do this, we can barely keep up with the work we have.
Answer - OUTSOURCE! 2020 Canada can help you for a very reasonable fee develop a marketing plan and a survey for your clients. We can use the results of this to target your clients.
Finally, at our Strategies for Success seminar last week, Mark Latimer of Search Dynamics did a very interesting presentation on Search Engine Optimization for Accounting firms, and how you can improve your position when potential clients search for an accountant. He has offered a a free Website Ranking Report that will show you how your website performs on various search criteria. It's valued at $200. He has extended this offer to all 2020 members. See the coupon and contact info below.
As always, here a a little motivational movie for you to enjoy:
10 Rules for Success
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| 2020 Professional Development 2011
Webinars - Announcement
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2020 Canada is pleased to announce a partnership with CPA Leadership Institute, Inc. - www.cpaleadership.com
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Who Would Run Your Firm?
Practice Continuation Agreements Help Plan for the Worst
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Joel Sinkin
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Joel SInkin & Ira Rosenbloom, CPA
(Originally published in the Journal of Accountancy by the AICPA February 2011)
There comes a time when every sole practitioner or small firm owner needs to consider the consequences of a disruption in leadership of his or her CPA practice. Illness, disability, family obligation or death can be devastating for the CPAs clients, family and employees. Proper planning, however, can mitigate the consequences.
Several powerful planning opiions are available. This article addresses practice continuation agreements as a first step for protecting a practice.
Practice Continuation Agreements
A practice continuation agreement is a contract between a practitioner (or firm) and another accounting firm or trusted employee, to take over a practice permanently or temporarily depending on the circumstances. Practice continuation agreements (PDAs) spell out the terms and conditions for the takeover. The core business elements of a formal PCA include:
- A definition of the circumstances that will trigger the activation of assistance.
- The financial terms for the assistance process or the purchase of the practice in the event of the death or permanent disability of the practitioner.
- Noncompete and restrictive covenant provisions for the period of coverage and subsequent to the coverage relative to clients and staff.
- Specific professional responsibilities to be performed by the covering party and how a party can terminate the agreement.
- Billing and collection protocols and procedures to be followed during the coverage period.
- Record retention and return of record provisions.
- Definition of permanent disability temporary disability or leave of absence.
- Notification of activation of coverage and transfer back of practice.
- Approved agent to act on behalf of the party requiring coverage.
- Staff and client retention obligations.
Click Here for Entire Article
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Adding Staff When Others are Downsizing
Marc Belaiche, CA
With the labour market in constant flux, organizations can never be certain what direction the market will take. Some media outlets forecast a shortage of labour, while others predict unemployment will remain high and layoffs will resurface. When companies are downsizing, organizations can use this as an opportunity to add staff - perhaps even hiring candidates who have already been downsized. This article covers the advantages and disadvantages of increasing employee numbers during a downsizing period, as well as tips to consider when hiring under these circumstances. Pros - Your company might be able to hire someone with excellent, relevant experience at a reasonable salary/compensation plan. In the words of Warren Buffett, you should "be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful". When the outlook is at its bleakest, this may be an opportunity to profit.
- If your organization is striving to grow, it can still happen during an economic downturn if you have a good plan and execute it wisely.
- The economy will eventually turn positive, so your company may be in a better position to acquire market share when the turnaround materializes.
- It sends a positive message to employees that your organization is serious about investing in its people both now and in the future.
Cons - Realizing that companies tend to keep their best and most vital employees when downsizing, you need to ensure that people you hire will meet your expectations.
- Candidates who have been downsized might accept a position with you that is not exactly what they're looking for and then defect for a more lucrative opportunity when the job market improves.
Tips for hiring during a downturn Pay competitively It's important to pay market compensation and not take advantage of someone who's been downsized. Under compensating won't help the employees' engagement or loyalty toward the company and will probably result in them leaving for a better position at their first opportunity. Click Here for the Full Article |
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| The Time of Your Life
Dr. John Maxwell, Leadership Impact
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Which significant event or season would you describe as "the time of your life"? Perhaps your wedding day and honeymoon, an adventurous vacation, or the birth of a child. These memorable moments stick in our minds and remembering them brings back feelings of joy. Yet while our lives may be marked by notable occasions, they're not defined as much by any single event as by the unremarkable days which shape our character and values. The hours, minutes, and seconds in a day literally are the time of our lives. How we use them shapes who we are. To make the most of the precious resource of time, consider the following three steps.
1) Gain Clarity
Clarity is the most important concept in personal productivity. Leaders cannot make the best use of time until they have a clear-cut notion of their purpose in life. Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University, after more than fifty years of research, concluded that "long-term perspective" is the most accurate single predictor of upward social and economic mobility in America. Long-term perspective turns out to be more important than family background, education, race, intelligence, connections, or virtually any other single factor in determining your success in life and at work.
Successful people have a clear future orientation. They think five, ten, and twenty years out into the future. Take a moment to ponder your purpose. What do you hope to accomplish in life? Where would you like to be in 10 years?
More concretely, ask yourself, "Why am I on the payroll?" Pose this question to yourself over and over again throughout your career. In truth, most people are not sure exactly why they are on the payroll. Yet, if you are not crystal clear about the results you have been hired to accomplish, it is very hard to perform at your best, raise your value as an employee, and earn promotions.
Click here for entire article
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