The accounting and finance profession has a long history of adapting and leading through economic tumult. The past few years have challenged practitioners, and the business clients they serve, perhaps like no other time in modern history. Yet once again, firms have demonstrated a remarkable resiliency. For most firms the path has revealed itself. For most firms, the future is in focus—and while it is filled with its share of challenges, it is also filled with opportunity. Some would even say it is the Golden Era of the Trusted Advisor…

Join the foremost leading voices at the intersection of small business and the accounting profession as they share their insights for the road ahead:

• Erik Asgeirsson, President, and CEO, CPA.com 
• Barry Melancon, President, and CEO, AICPA
• Rene Lacerte, President and CEO, BILL

Innovation could be a tactical strategy in accounting firms of all sizes, from start-ups to mid-size and large firms. How do we use innovation as a tool and mindset to not only solve specific short-term problems but also to retain talent and create lasting impact in the long run? As leaders of the accounting and tax world, what are the specific actions to drive innovation?

Those who manage client relationships (CRMs) are all over the board in how they do their job. Some consider themselves as a Trusted Advisor or a Business General Contractor bringing necessary resources to the client to help him/her/them fulfill their company’s goals. Other CRMs simply control access to what services or products their clients will be introduced to, often only introducing those they are comfortable performing. The CRM role is a critical and essential role in the firm, and most partners do not embrace the role. Yet it is a coveted role because it is usually tied to money … and unfortunately, due to poor execution, entitlement without performance. This session will discuss what actions a firm can take to ensure their CRMs perform as CRMs.

The Dynamic Audit Solution (DAS) is a transformational audit methodology that modernizes and enhances the quality, efficiency and value of audits. The development of DAS is a partnership between the AICPA, CPA.com, and their technology partner, Caseware International. In this session, learn about the latest updates on its development, the roadmap for future versions, and what your firm can do to start thinking about how to implement and migrate to this dynamic tool.

Become the Financial Storyteller of the business by going Beyond the Numbers.

This session will teach you to leverage the power of engaging narrative and effective visuals so you can stand out from the crowd. You’ll learn methods for reliably and efficiently creating presentations that can move audiences to embrace your big ideas, increasing your influence and accelerating your strategic planning. No more boring month end close meetings!

Accountants are increasingly being expected to add more and more value to their clients. One of the fastest growing ways to do this is through the use of BI, Automation, and Data Analytics. Accountants can use these tools to help their clients uncover valuable insights in their financials, identify process improvements that can save money, and evaluate overall performance. But how do you get started?

In this session, you will learn how to get started with BI, Automation, and Data Analytics and ways to bring value to your clients.

Client Advisory Services (CAS) is the fastest growing practice area for many firms. Building on the foundation of cloud-based outsourced client accounting services over the past decade, CAS has quickly become a high demand, high value opportunity for firms to deepen client relationships and expand share of wallet with clients within vertical niches. Because CAS looks quite a bit different than traditional services such as tax and audit in terms of client service delivery and performance metrics, it has challenged the status quo of how CPA firms package, price, and position themselves with clients. In this session, we’ll explore trends, best practices, and change strategies for firms to optimize their delivery of CAS services, re-orient client relationship management philosophy, and evaluate practice area performance differently.

With crypto becoming more prominent, and global market caps now well over $2 trillion, accounting firms are grappling with how to support clients evolving needs as it relates to digital assets.  As they begin considering how best to introduce a digital asset practice area, CPA firms can categorize crypto support into tiers based on the company’s level of knowledge about blockchain and digital assets--from complete novice activities to more sophisticated instances.  They can then decide which tiers provide the best opportunities for the firm to add value.  In this session, crypto experts will review the new tiered approach to building a crypto practice, and practitioners operating in each of the tiers will discuss how they are delivering services as well as the steps their firm took to building out the new service line. 

Common questions will be answered:

• What are the types of crypto use cases that clients can be expected to present?
• From a service perspective, valuations and reporting of crypto have been known to be challenging in the past (data normalization, disparate data sources, etc).  How has valuation and reporting of crypto evolved?  What challenges remain?
• What are the tools necessary to perform crypto valuation and reporting services
• What is on the horizon for new uses cases (payments, CBDC, Stablecoins, DeFi, NFTs, etc.) and what can the profession do to prepare?
• How do firms evolve their practices, what existing service lines could meet crypto client needs, and how would they be offered?
• How do you vet a crypto client to determine whether they are a good fit for your practice?

The world is moving from products and services to subscriptions, favoring access and transformations over ownership and deliverables. The advantages of a subscription model are many, including: Predictable revenue; not selling services, but creating annuities with a lifetime value that far exceeds whatever you paid to acquire them; collective knowledge of your customers, which is a competitive advantage that cannot be duplicated; the customer relationship is at the center of the firm; not pricing a product or service, but rather a series of customer transformations; and it is easier to predict demand and plan capacity more effectively. It provides peace of mind, convenience, recurring value, and a frictionless experience for the customer.

Implementing a subscription business model for firms is hard work and not for everyone because it requires professionals to think differently than they have in the past about what it is, exactly, that customers value and what you are asking them to pay for. Join Ron Baker, founder of VeraSage Institute, for a thought-provoking session on why and how the subscription business model will be the firm of the future.

CAS is maturing and going to the next level with financial, non-financial and industry specific metrics. 

Are you prepared to deliver this higher value insight to your clients and differentiate your offerings? 

Learn how you can take traditional metrics one step further and tools you can utilize to help on the journey.