Risk Of Loss of Client Records

A short time ago, I received a call from a past student who, since completing the course, has successfully been operating an accounting service for years and enjoying the fruits of his labor as a freelance accountant. The night before his call, he explained, his office had been broken into and his new state-of-the-art computers had been stolen. And, adding insult to injury, his backup diskettes had been taken as well. He was distraught, to say the least — not so much about the computers (they’re insurable), but all the information they included that would take months, if ever, to recreate.

Unfortunately there are many ways data can be lost: Theft, fire, natural disasters, disk crashes, oversight, just to name some of the more common ones. I hope that none of these will ever be your problem, but all of us are susceptible.

What Can You Do To Reduce Your Risk?

There are some data security precautions that every freelancing accountant should take:

Back up your hard drive on a regular basis

If possible, you should back up your hard drive on a weekly basis. This is particularly important for client files. One of the best ways to do this is to copy files to CD-R, or recordable CD-ROM media. If you have a CD recorder (and most computers that are purchased now have them), you can copy files to a CD-R quickly and easily. Newer versions of Windows operating system even have much of the software needed to burn files to CD-R built in now. CD-R disks are cheap and portable. If you have smaller amounts of data, you could use floppy disks, as older systems are sure to thave them, but you won’t get much information on a floppy disk.

Store your backup diskettes/CD’s off-site, or subscribe to an Internet storage provider

As with the example at the beginning of this article, if you make backups and they are stolen or destroyed by such things as fire, flood, or other natural disasters, they do you no good. You can take your backup media home with you if you do your work in an office (where appropriate), thus insuring that if something happens at the office, you have your backups in a seperate physical location. If you work out of your home, you can send backups by mail to someone that you trust that lives close enough to get the data in a crunch, but far away enough that if there is a natural disaster, they are unlikely to be affected if you are. In a corporate setting, where feasible, you could send your records to another office located out of state.

Be warned that especially in the case of floppy disks, they may not be 100% reliable, especially if stored for long periods of time or in storage conditions where temperatures vary drastically from hot to cold extreme. Heat can melt floppy disks, making them in most cases unusable. Also note that floppy disks are succeptible to magnetic fields, since data is stored on them as magnetic dots, so keep floppy disks away from things like electric motors, stereo speakers, and even some unshielded monitors or televisions. Because floppy disks are more volatile than CD-R or DVD writable media, use them for backup only if there is not another option and if you must use them, you must take extra precaution when storing and handling them.

An Internet storage provider is a service provided on the Internet where you can store data on a server located elsewhere. The upside to these services is that they are typically backed up in such a way that the risk of you losing data is very small. If you are going to use one of these services, however, if you have large amounts of data to backup, you must realize that the speed of your Internet connection will limit the speed with which you can do your backups. If you have a high-speed broadband connection or if you have relatively small amounts of data to back up, this may be an ideal solution. These providers will typically charge a monthly fee to store your data, so always balance this among the pros and cons of this type of backup solution.

“Hard Copy” Backups

While much to-do has been said about the “paperless office”, the reality is that many companies that produce printer consumables such as paper and ink/toner have seen steady increase in sales, despite so many records being stored on a computer. One reason why this is that when you print out reports and such, there is some confidence in having something tangible that you can look at without the assistance of a computer. I doubt that you have ever heard of a book “crashing”. While paper records cost money in ink and other printer consumables and can take a lot of space to store, it may still be one of the more dependable backup methods out there.

Print out a hard copy of Financial Statements each month, and a complete General Ledger every six months and store them in a binder. This will become particularly valuable in future years if your accounting program changes.

How Long Should I Store Client Data?

You must store client data for at least 7 years (the statute of limitations for business materials). After that, your client data is actually a liability to them to have it stored. Why? If records older than that exists, it could actually work to a client’s disadvantage if they are ever subpoenaed for a court case. Those records could be used against them. If destroyed, they could be admissible in court or as part of an investigation. Before destroying client documents, you will want to sit down with them and weigh the pros and cons of storing them beyond the 7 year limit. Some business owners may want to keep the records for archival purposes (and some of us just can’t bear to throw things away). It is the business owner’s decision whether to keep records beyond the 7 year limit. Just make sure that they understand what their risk is if they do.

Privacy Concerns

Whatever method of backing up your client data that you choose, you must be sure that not only is it available in case you lose data, but you must be sure that it is kept private. Most business owners take privacy very seriously, from their business plans, to their contact database, to their financial records. Their competitors would likely love to have access to their financials and other records. One of your chief responsibilities that you have to your clients is to keep this kind of information out of the hands of unauthorized people. If a client’s data makes its way into the hands of those that could use that data to do the company harm, at very least, you will have lost a client.

These privacy concerns extend to your own business’ data as well. Just make sure that you take as good of care of your own business data as you do your clients’. Nobody ought to know better than an Accountant or Bookkeeper just how important that a company’s financial data is to their very survival as a business.

Where possible, computers containing client information should be password-protected. This helps casual users from having access to these records, but they should not be relied upon exclusively. Computer passwords can be broken by those with the knowledge to do so.

Computers should be be in a locked room up when not in use where possible. If you have taken precautions to make backups, but someone steals the computer itself, they now have your data. Where you may not have insurance to cover these kinds of losses, you may also lose you way of earning a living if computer equipment is stolen.

Conclusion

Your client data is entrusted to you to keep it safe, accurate, and private. While it is a liability that you bear, it is one that is managable if you take proper precautions. If you provide proper backups and have taken care of both passwords and physical security, you will eliminate much of the potential problems that could result from loss of your client data. You may want to point out to clients measures that you have taken to keep their data secure, once you have your information strategy in place. Showing your clients that their data is as important to you as it is to them will help build confidence in them. You will be seen as knowledgeable and proactive in your approach to keeping them protected.

Get More Tips On Running Your Accounting Service

3 Tips on Standing Out in a Competitive Market

Some business owners are happy to run with the pack, staying neck-in-neck with the competition. Unfortunately, winning businesses do more than keep up; they stand out, they lead, they become the premier accounting firms in their area.

If you would like to stand out in a competitive market, you must take steps to distinguish your services from other accounting firms. As you market your services you must emphasize what makes you different, unique, unusual. How do you do that? These three steps will help.

1. Study the Competition

Whether or not you like it, you are competing with other accountants for clients. You offer similar services to a shared target market which means you are one of many options from which that target market can choose.

In order to be a good competitor you must know your competition. How does the competition market their services? What benefits do they offer? To which demographic are they marketing? Are their marketing approaches affective? You must answer all these questions and more by performing simple research.

First, determine which of the accountants in the area are prominent. Then study their marketing strategies. Talk with colleagues and other professionals to see which of these competitors are getting rave reviews and determine why their services are most popular.

2. Determine Your Competitive Advantage

Once you’ve studied the competition, you can see how you measure up. In order to stand out, you must first determine what sets you apart. Reflect on the services you offer and what makes them valuable.

Ask yourself the following questions: Do you have a specialty or focus that would add value to your services? Have you received professional certification or recognition for your work? Can you offer financial consultations that would appeal to potential clients? Do you offer complementary services that would benefit your target market?

It’s important that you note these things that distinguish you from the competition. This is no time to be humble or modest-you offer valuable services and determining what makes them unique and noteworthy will enable you to achieve true success.

3. Market Your Strengths

Now that you know what sets you apart you must accentuate these characteristics in your marketing materials. You don’t want your promotions to sound cliché and familiar. They must be unique. Most of this will be easily accomplished with your new and improved marketing message.

In order to test this new approach, run a trial campaign so you can analyze its effectiveness. If it doesn’t grow your clientele, tweak your message until it does. Once you see success you can incorporate this new approach in all your marketing materials.

Marketing doesn’t have to be difficult. When you know a handful of effective marketing techniques like this one you can easily get your practice to stand out and lead the competition.

For this and more marketing strategies designed to help you get and keep clients, watch our video “The Art and Science of Getting Clients.” For less than $10 you can add this valuable DVD to your professional library, or you can watch it online for free! In less than 20 minutes you could be on the path to improved marketing success. Do it now, and watch your accounting practice grow!

Powering Up Your Client Database and Getting Personal

It’s fundamental that your database should include details of your bookkeeping clients’ names, addresses, telephone numbers and facsimile numbers.

Adding details of the names of other family members also makes good sense as does any significant dates that you can get your hands on – birthdays and anniversaries for example.

Armed with a loaded database, it’s time to derive some substantial benefits for your business.

It’s time to get personal with your clients!

Getting personal is really a matter of making sure that you’re aware of what’s happening in your clients’ lives and letting them know that you’re thinking of them either by way of a telephone call or a card.

The hackneyed birthday card has become passe but most people will appreciate either a humorous card or a computer card complete with a personal message from you.

You can expect a similar good reaction to your wedding anniversary or congratulations card in relation to a business or personal success or an addition to the family.

When things are not going so well for a client, it’s amazing how you can buck them up with a brief telephone conversation when you simply indicate that you are thinking about your client.

Getting personal not only makes both you and your clients feel good about yourselves but from a purely commercial perspective, it can lead to a dramatic increase in the volume of referrals that you receive and this is just from being a caring person.

It’s never too late to implement a getting personal strategy!

Module 4 of our Professional Bookkeeper program, entitled “Building a Successful Accounting Service” describes other marketing methods to make your Accounting or Bookkeeping service grow!
To see an overview of marketing concepts that the Professional Bookkeeper course will teach you Click HERE.

Other sections from this week’s newsletter:

• Articles to Help You In Starting Your Own Business
• Start a Bookkeeping Service? Great Idea!
• Seven Steps to Strengthen Your ‘Client Sales Pitch’

How to Achieve a Win-Win Situation

As a self-employed accountant/bookkeeper you’ll encounter many situations where you must negotiate a favorable outcome for your small business. These may be large or small deals and could occur with suppliers, vendors, clients, and other businesses. In order to be a successful negotiator you must know how to gain a resolution that both parties can benefit from. Achieving a win-win situation. Selling yourself short or taking too much from the negotiating party can be damaging long-term. Here are a few things to remember the next time you find yourself planning a negotiation.

Know what you want
First you must know what you want. The majority of contract disputes and falling out of business relationships is because of one party not clearly defining what they want from the situation. Many negotiations fail in the first place because one or both parties did not determine beforehand what their objectives where. It’s difficult to hit the mark when you’re not even sure what your own target is. Don’t be too vague (“a favorable outcome”) and don’t be too rigid (“X amount or nothing”). Negotiation is all about modifying terms so that both parties can feel satisfied with the deal.

Come to the negotiation with different options
Negotiation requires flexibility. Come to the negotiation with different options in order to illustrate your willingness to achieve a favorable outcome for both of you. Perhaps you’ll be asked to lower your fee in order to get a larger company as a client. Don’t lock yourself into a situation where you’re not getting paid what you’re worth, but recognize that you can agree to a lower fee in the beginning which will increase at a predetermined time. Remember, build within your monthly fees a way you can give a “discount” without you having to work for free.

Leave room to bargain
Be sure that you’ve determined a bottom line, or what you must see happen in order to accomplish your purposes, and then aim high. Seasoned negotiators recognize that they must aim high in order to get what they want. Determine your bottom line and pad it. If your initial offer is your bottom line you’ve left no bargaining room. Ask for more than what you expect to get and realize that the party you’re negotiating with is doing the same thing. But there’s a fine line between insulting the party by asking too much and low-balling yourself by asking too little.

Pick a good time to negotiate
Often timing is everything. Be sure you’ve scheduled your meeting at a favorable time. If the party you’re negotiating with has a crucial meeting just one hour after yours, ask if you can reschedule a time where you won’t be pressured to end the meeting too quickly. Avoid times that are stressful or emotionally-charged. For example, you don’t want to negotiate a deal if you know the company is experiencing crunch-time and will be unable to truly focus on what you’re proposing.

Get to know the party you’re negotiating with
It’s important to not only know what you want but why you want it. You’ll probably be asked to express your objectives and why they are important to you. It’s equally important that you get the same information from the negotiating party. You should know them and understand their motives and objectives. When you know these things, you’ll be able to work a deal that’s favorable for them while being profitable for you. Don’t be afraid of getting into the details of the deal and numbering for the other party all that they would receive in contracting with you for their accounting services.

Don’t be intimidated
Small business owners are often intimidated when they first begin negotiating, especially if it’s with a larger business. You must recognize what you bring to the table. If you can’t articulate how you can benefit the party you’re negotiating with, you won’t be able to stand a firm negotiating ground, and chances are you’ll give in too soon. Stand firm and be willing to walk away if the deal promises to impair your business in the end.

Keep emotions in check
Negotiations are by nature emotionally charged. Often there’s a lot to gain or loose in a negotiation, and meetings can become heated. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, you must keep emotions in check so you don’t loose control. You also don’t want your emotions to hinder your ability to secure a favorable outcome. Keep in mind to take nothing personal. By asking for a lower monthly fee, the company is not saying you aren’t worth it, but perhaps that is what they hope you will do.

Be patient
Good negotiations can require a series of meetings, phone calls, and email exchanges, so don’t feel pressured to reach an agreement after just one appointment. And sometimes it’s necessary to take a break and evaluate what has already been presented. Don’t feel pressured to end a negotiation too soon; often that means you’re getting the short end of the stick. Holding firm and allowing the negotiation to carry out a bit will demonstrate just how serious you are.

Don’t give away the house to get the welcoming rug. You came into the negotiation process with no deal… the worst that can happen is that you come out of it with no deal. Keep the perspective that is needed to build your business long term and don’t shortchange yourself if what is currently on the table is unacceptable to your profitability.

Negotiations are sometimes a frightening but necessary part of business. Don’t let the fear paralyze you. As long as you take these steps and follow your instincts, you’ll find yourself securing more and more favorable negotiations. Practice makes perfect and you have to start somewhere. Happy Negotiating!

Ready to take the next step in the process you’ve started in the Accounting Profession? Take this opportunity to learn more about the accounting training that will make the difference in your and your loved ones lives. You can make what you have pictured yourself achieving in accounting a reality with the proper training. Take a moment and familiarize how Universal Accounting can help you to achieve your goals!

Why Would My Clients Want Me to Charge Them More?

Business Owners Want to Reduce their Expenses… That’s Why

Save your clients money. They’ll gladly pay you for doing so. When most successful business owners look at their income statement every month, they are searching for ways to reduce their expenses and increase their profitability. As a tax preparer you are in a unique position to not only help your clients with decisions that reduce their tax burden every year, but you provide services that will be of value to them all year long.

Traditionally, a company’s bookkeeper was responsible for providing all of the accounting functions in a small business. Unfortunately for the small business owner, the monthly bookkeeping, tax filing and even payroll accounting services have one-by-one been handed over to specialists.

Why Do You Say Unfortunate… It Sounds Like a Good Idea to Me?

In the past, a small business bookkeeper provided a complete picture of a businesses financial health. Because he/she worked on the books each month, did the payroll and filed all the taxes, the advice he gave the business owner was based upon the day-to-day financial picture and the yearly tax consequences. It was a complete picture.

Small business is not corporate America. Specialists providing services like payroll accounting, bookkeeping and tax services make sense for large corporations. In fact, the bookkeeping services in larger corporations are often specialized. The Accounts Payable clerk doesn’t know what the Accounts Receivable clerk is doing and the Payroll clerk or service has nothing to do with the other accounting functions.

Is Small Business Accounting Really that Different?

In many ways… yes. Picture a large battleship. Once you get going, it’s not stopping or turning without a lot of effort. It might take a mile or more for it to turn around. On the other hand, a small speedboat can stop and start on a dime. It can turn around in a few feet and can accelerate quickly and react to hazards by going around them rather than plowing through them.

Large corporations are a lot like the battleship and the speedboat is like the small business. Small businesses can react to changes in the market quicker but aren’t big enough to plow through the bumps (or hazards) of the market. A qualified tax professional/bookkeeper is one of the most important people in every small business. His or her experience allows the small business owner to safely navigate the complicated waters that his little speedboat is in.

Okay… I Understand, But You Said it Would Make My Tax Practice More Profitable

Tax preparation is the first part of your complete business service. During tax season, you are the person they trust with one of the biggest concerns every small business owner faces every year. Their taxes.

Why Do You Want to Provide a Year-Round Service to Your Clients? That’s Easy…

As you might expect, for most tax professionals, the busiest time of the year is during tax season. They spend the entire year either building up to, or winding down from the tax filing deadline. By adding bookkeeping services to your business you can make your monthly income statement much more predictable and consistent.

Tax Accounting and Bookkeeping… the Perfect Combination

Bookkeeping and accounting provide one of the most predictable and consistent income sources there is. Every business must account for income, expenses and losses for tax purposes. This is mandated by law.

As you consider what we’re discussing, consider how working with the financial records every month will make year-end tax preparation even easier for you.

By combining bookkeeping serves with your tax preparation business, you’ll become a “one-stop-shop” for financial services. By becoming a “one-stop-shop” you just increased your earning potential while offering a greater level of service to your clients.

While your income as a tax preparer may be cyclical in nature, the earnings potential for an accountant/bookkeeper is very different. As you add clients to your tax preparation business, with a profitable bookkeeping service, you can expect your income to grow similar to the graph below.

You will bill a typical small business accounting client around $300 per month. As you can see, it doesn’t take many clients before your bookkeeping clients have added a substantial boost to your year-end income statement.

There is beauty to this windfall. By providing a better and more complete financial service to your clients, you are saving them money and making them more profitable too.

Besides, they don’t want to give a detailed explaination of their business each year to their tax preparer. You, on the other hand, know their books inside-and-out, because you prepared them yourself.

Additional Education Will Put More Money Into Your Bank Account

Universal Accounting has taught Accounting and Bookkeeping since 1979. With the most complete program for small business accounting found anywhere, you purchase with confidence, knowing you will get the very same quality education in bookkeeping and accounting that you have come to appreciate in tax preparation.

In order for you to effectively market your accounting services you must determine your competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is gained when you offer your target market something a competitor cannot.

When you market using that competitive advantage, you are able to edge out the competition. In order to become the premier freelance accountant in your area, you must determine your competitive advantage and incorporate it into your marketing strategy. Today we’ll talk about the competitive advantage you have through all your contacts. How does that work?

Create a List

First, we suggest you list the following, collecting approximately 250 names:

1. Friends
2. Family
3. Neighbors
4. Neighboring businesses
5. Businesses you frequent

This list represents the competitive advantage you offer simply because you know someone, either personally or through business. Your proximity and character speak for you here, and will determine how comfortable these individuals feel talking with you about their accounting needs. Now that you have your list, follow these steps:

Write a Letter

It’s time for you to spread the word about your business. Put that competitive advantage to good use and write a letter to these contacts, telling them about your accounting services so they can retain them and/or refer their own friends and family your way. Include 3-4 business cards with each letter.

It’s important that you not send these letters out to all 250 contacts at the same time. This will afford you no time to follow-up with each of them. We suggest sending 5-10 a week, taking the time to call or email these individuals later to see if you can answer any questions they may have.

Have a Chat

It will make more sense to talk with some of those contacts face-to-face. For example, your competitive advantage with neighboring businesses is the fact that your business is close to theirs. Making this competitive advantage known requires a personal introduction in which you can talk about what you do and build a relationship in which you could ask who does their accounting and whether or not they’re happy with those services.

This may require more than one discussion as you ease your way into a professional relationship with these businesses. The same applies with businesses you frequent. Take the time to get to know the owners to see if you might be able to help them with their accounting.

Offer a Free Consultation

In order to demonstrate the value of your services, offer a free consultation. This can be as casual as suggesting, “Could I take a look at your books to see how I might help?” When you do so you will notice key indicators that will let you know how their business is faring and what might be done to make it more successful. Offer some suggestions on what they can do to increase their profitability. Also let them know that you would be happy to manage their accounting on a regular basis for a reasonable retainer.

You’ll be surprised at how this free consult enables you to secure clients with ease. Not to mention, as soon as these individuals become satisfied with your services, they’ll begin referring them to friends and family of their own. In this, you will eventually take advantage of word-of-mouth marketing.

Learn All This and More with Universal Accounting Center

It really is that easy to build your client base. And you can learn all this and more by enrolling in Universal Accounting Center’s Professional Bookkeeper Program. Not only will we train you in the practical application of small business accounting, but we’ll help you market those new skills, acquiring the clients you need in order to make your business successful. And you can see by this article just how simple marketing can be.

Really, could it be any easier than making a list, sending out letters, and chatting with your neighbors? For over 25 years Universal Accounting Center has been training professionals just like you in small business accounting and marketing. We know what works. And we know what doesn’t.

Let us share all that information with you so avoid wasting time trying to figure it out yourself. Do you have 25 years to spare? We didn’t think so.

Combine Small Business Accounting Services with QuickBooks Expertise

In working with small business owners you’ll quickly realize just how popular QuickBooks is. And when you master QuickBooks you can offer QuickBooks setup, consultation, and help services as well.

Not only that but you can teach your clients how to use it properly and get you the information you need in the format you need it in. QuickBooks could make you a more efficient and profitable accountant! The combination of these two products is a professional investment that will provide you with a substantial return.

Don’t wait to improve the success of your practice while enhancing your lifestyle. Click HERE to pay in full or HERE to finance both programs.

It has often been said that “You only get one chance to make your first impression.” What kind of impression do you give when you meet a prospective client? We all try to put our best foot forward when meeting new people, but if that first impression is to continue, we have to follow up.

Whenever a prospective client gives you his or her business card, write the following information on the back of the card when the meeting is over and you are alone:

• The date you received the card
• Where you met this person and when
• Any other details, such as personal information, that may be helpful the next time you see that person. Remembering things like the contact’s spouse or something about their hobbies or interests tells a person that you care about them beyond simply what they can do for you.

You can also use speedwriting/shorthand to specify whether the individual was pleasant or not. If someone else sees the back of the card, they would not know what you wrote.

Writing down what kind of mood the client was in is helpful next time you meet them. You may have to go out of your way to be extra kind to those who were in an unpleasant mood when you first met them. But reminding them of what you talked about during the last visit demonstrates that you either have a very good memory or are very efficient, and they tend to respond more favorably.

Other sections from this week’s newsletter:

• Purchase the Professional Bookkeeper Program and get the Financing a Small Business Course at No Additional Charge
• Keep Your Bookkeeping Service Flying High
• Client Secrets are Your Secrets