Accountant-Centric solutions finally put CPAs back in the driver's seat.

Sponsored by Accountants World

Whether CPAs choose to accept it or not, they have lost control of their client engagements.

Payroll service bureaus have taken away the payroll business. Off-the-shelf tax software has chipped away at tax prep revenues. In addition, CPAs have surrendered control of the client accounting process to developers of general ledger (G/L) programs that ignore the crucial role of CPAs.

While barely any functionality is built into G/L programs to help CPAs with the functions they perform--write-up, trial balance, advanced financial analysis and reporting--small business users on the other hand have full access to all the features of the accounting software that was designed for them. The existing accounting systems have proven hazardous to the CPA's financial health and client relationships.

Clients now have the perception they are performing most of the work previously done by CPAs, resulting in fee resistance and erosion. Unsuspectingly, with little or no accounting knowledge, most clients end up making serious blunders. More often than not, CPAs have to spend more time correcting client errors, working around the limitations of client G/L systems, importing data from many different incompatible systems and even re-keying trial balance data, than they spend performing their professional work. It is a "lose-lose" situation for both clients and CPAs.

A new breed of Accountant-Centric solutions puts an end to the CPA's dilemma by harnessing the Internet to:

1. Re-establish the CPA's control over client engagements

2. Create significant new revenue opportunities for the CPA.

Hallmarks of Accountant-Centric solutions

* Accountant-Centric solutions are offered only to accountants, who in turn decide how to use and offer them to clients to best meet the needs of individual clients.

* Hosted on secure Web-servers, Accountant-Centric solutions enable CPAs and their clients to work together collaboratively. Both share the same data and use the same "core" application. However, CPAs have the ability to configure Accountant-Centric applications selectively for each client as needed.

* Accountant-Centric applications empower CPAs with supervision and monitoring capabilities and give them full control of the workflow process, including the functions performed by clients. This enables CPAs to minimize client errors.

Accountant-Centric applications are changing the way accountants perform client engagements forever, creating an unprecedented productivity boost for both clients and accountants.

For example, by tailoring Accountant-Centric applications to match the resources and technical sophistication of each client to achieve optimal performance, the CPA is able to assign more routine work to clients working under CPA supervision. This empowers the CPA to perform only those activities that are more valuable to the client and more profitable to the accountant. This "Accountant-Centric" world saves client's time and money, while helping CPAs boost the bottom line.

Accountant-Centric solutions will help CPAs regain the business they have lost to competing forces, such as payroll services bureaus. Accountant-Centric solutions put CPAs back in the driver's seat. Today, CPA firms can profit from the breakthrough innovations of Accountant-Centric solutions that will have a profoundly positive impact on their practices for years to come.

Dr. Chandra Bhansali, Co-Founder and President, AccountantsWorld, LLC.