What are you getting wrong about your CPA?

We recently participated in a workshop about critical conversations with Jeremy P. where he asked us to answer the question “What do people get wrong about you?”?That really got me thinking about what customers and prospective customers get wrong about us as CPA’s and how important it is for us to make sure that we at The MB Group, LLC are effectively communicating who we are, what we do and the value we offer.

They think we’re just transactional. ?As a service provider to a business or individual, sometimes customers view the work we do as a transaction much like buying milk in the grocery store or purchasing a latte at Starbucks.?We view our interactions much differently and really want a deeper, more meaningful relationship with our customers as our experience has proven that clients who take the time to share information with us and who are willing to compensate us for the use of our resources/expertise, receive a much more significant return by way of tax savings, business growth and overall peace of mind. ?Our overarching goal is transformation – that our knowledge will be so useful to you that your financial future will be changed.

They think they know what we do.?It’s super easy to put us CPA’s in a box.?Frankly, our profession hasn’t done a great job of speaking effectively about why you look to your CPA for more than just tax return preparation and monthly bank reconciliations.?We are really great business strategists and we have a unique perspective about how the finance function threads a business together.?We work with lots of businesses and their owners so we have many insights as to best practices.?We network with professionals of all kinds so we have unique resources for the trickiest and complex of business issues.?We leverage all sort of tools and techniques to save tax dollars, impact profits, and grow enterprise value.?Most of all we know that accountability, leadership and people are the keys to growth and success.?We want to be of use to our clients so leverage our business acumen…lean on us not just for accounting and tax advice, but to help you to run a world-class enterprise.

They think we aren’t trying.?Accountants are what I like to call “super people pleasers.”?We love to delight our customers and dread disappointing anyone.?When you really hang out with a CPA, accountant or tax professional, one thing you’ll quickly learn is that they are dedicated to their profession and their customers…almost to a fault.?We are frequently at the mercy of others to send information so we can do our job and are then required to complete the work according to government rules and deadlines.?It can be really stressful but this is a calling so we put in the effort to help.?????Here at MBG, each year we have a big meeting to talk about how each tax season went and how we can improve communications, customer service, turnaround times, etc. all in the hopes of making a better experience for our customers.?It’s a tough business and it really helps when our clients give us a pat on the back and recognize how hard we try.

They think we are old-school.?Accountants get a bad reputation for being boring bean counters who use an abacus and green bar general ledger paper.?You might be surprised how technologically savvy we are…..so savvy that we are often called on to give tech support to our customers.?Here at MBG, our progressive way of thinking doesn’t stop with technology. ?We have unique ideas when it comes to accounting process architecture, tax reduction strategy, entity structuring and so much more.?You might even say that our firm is more progressive than most since we’ve ditched the billable hour and the time sheet in favor of upfront project-based or subscription billing.?Excellent CPA’s know how to use BOTH sides of their brains.