15 Questions to ask your new Accounting Clients

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Start with questions to understanding their business landscape

Purpose: Demonstrate broad business acumen and interest in their current situation

1. Can you walk me through your current business model and revenue streams? Are there any areas you're looking to expand or optimize?
2. Can you walk me through your current bookkeeping process? How confident are you in the accuracy and timeliness of your financial data?
3. Who are your main competitors, and what do you believe sets your business apart in the market?
4. How do you see your industry evolving, and what challenges or opportunities do these changes present for your business?
5. How do you currently leverage financial data to gain competitive advantages or identify new opportunities?

Follow with questions about financial performance and financial strategy

Purpose: Showcase financial expertise and value-added insights

1. How do you currently measure success in your business, both financially and operationally?
2. What are your most pressing financial challenges right now, and how have you been addressing them?
3. How do you approach financial decision-making for major investments or strategic shifts in your business?
4. In what ways do you feel your current financial management is supporting or possibly limiting your business growth?
5. What does "Cash Flow" mean to you? And where do you see our role to help you with it?

End with forward-looking and creative questions

Purpose: Position yourself as a strategic financial partner and strategic thinking

1. If you had unlimited resources, what financial or operational changes would you implement to dramatically improve your business?
2. What role do you envision a financial advisor playing in helping you achieve your long-term business goals?
3. What's your vision for your business in the next 3-5 years, and what major milestones do you hope to achieve?
4. If we were to look back a year from now, what specific outcomes would make you feel our partnership has been exceptionally valuable?
5. What legacy do you want your business to leave behind after you're gone?

Why These Questions Matter: Elevating Accounting Services

This questionnaire intentionally avoids typical, task-oriented questions like "How many bank accounts do you have?", "Do you use QuickBooks Online?", "What apps are you integrating?", or "How often do you want to see your banks reconciled?". While these operational details are important and will be addressed in due course, they focus on past or current practices and don't set the stage for higher-level advisory services.

Instead, these questions are designed to:

1. Understand the client's vision and long-term goals
2. Uncover challenges and opportunities that require strategic thinking
3. Position the accountant as a valuable partner in achieving business objectives
4. Create a foundation for offering high-impact, advisory-type services

These questions demonstrate the kind of strategic, forward-thinking approach we'll be cultivating at REFRAME. They go beyond traditional accounting queries to position you as a true business partner and advisor.

Why These Questions Matter: Elevating Accounting Services

This approach helps de-commoditize accounting and bookkeeping services, which is crucial as AI and other technologies increasingly automate traditional tasks. As my fried and mentor: Ron Baker (author of "Time's Up" and "Implementing Value Pricing") wisely states: "We can be efficient with things, but must be effective with people."

This philosophy inspired one of the 12 REFRAMER's Manifesto statements: "We can automate workflows, but always humanize relationships." By focusing on the strategic aspects of the conversation rather than the minutiae of transactions, we shift the emphasis from effort to outcomes, countering the commoditization trend in our industry.

These high-impact questions set the stage for a relationship-focused, future-oriented partnership that goes beyond traditional accounting services. They allow us to demonstrate our value as strategic advisors, capable of contributing to the client's long-term success in ways that automation cannot replicate.

REFRAMING Accounting: From Number Crunchers to Strategic Advisors

Are you ready to elevate your accounting practice and transform the way you engage with clients? Join us this October for REFRAME: Influential Conversations for Accountants – a groundbreaking conference designed to reshape the future of our profession.

Why REFRAME?

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, accountants need to be more than just number crunchers. We need to be strategic advisors, effective communicators, and tech-savvy professionals who can guide our clients to success. REFRAME is your opportunity to develop these crucial skills and position yourself as a high-value consultant.

What to Expect

1. Asking Better Questions: Learn how to uncover your clients' true needs and aspirations, with "questionologists" like Ed Kless
2. Words are for People: Amazing communicator Carolyn Strauss, CSP, CRP will talk about "peopling" the people side of the business and why communication can add or subtract from your end goal.
3. Personal Branding: Chris Do from The Futur will guide you in building a reputation that attracts premium clients.
4. Assertive Communication: Phil M Jones International , author of "Exactly What to Say," Together with Carlos M. Garcia, will teach you how to have value-creating conversations.
5. Self-Elevation: Kevin Boyle, improv comedian, business consultant, and transformative communications strategist will discuss the impact of "Self-Talk" as a precursor for personal transformation
6. AI and Tech Integration: Hector Garcia CPA will demonstrate how to leverage AI and technology to enhance your communication skills.

Join Us in Reframing the Future of Accounting

REFRAME isn't just a conference – it's a movement to elevate our profession. Together, we'll explore how to ask better questions, understand our evolving role, build our personal brands, and have more impactful conversations with clients.

Are you ready to transform your practice and redefine what it means to be an accountant in the modern world? Join us at REFRAME this October and let's shape the future of accounting together.

https://www.reframe2024.com/

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