Next Year 10X Growth Strategies for CPA & Accounting Firms

Achieving 10X is a dream for many CPA & accounting firms and most of them struggle to find the right pathway to accomplish their dream growth.

Achieving 10x growth is not a tough grind, one just needs a proper strategy and a mind to execute that strategy. One must identify their achievable targets before setting the Next Year 10X growth strategies for CPA & accounting firms.

The targets for 10X growth should be on certain achievable and countable metrics. Prepare an objective view and keep an eye on the firm’s KPIs.

Another important point to add here is to communicate your growing accounting practice to your team.

Here we have enlisted a few points, which can be implemented in the CPA & accounting firms to achieve 10X growth next year.

1. Work on Your Pricing Strategy

Your firm’s profit margin is greatly influenced by the pricing strategy in place.

As such, to increase profits, it is crucial to form pricing strategies per value of the services offered rather than the time involved.

By this we mean, you can charge according to your expertise for solving your client’s complex financial problems or for specialized services that they are seeking from you instead of charging per hour. This can greatly enhance your revenue over time.

Not only this but you can even employ a subscription model. Here you can extend accounting services to them for a quarterly or monthly fee.

With the aid of this method, firms can efficiently deliver value-added services, have a regular stream of income and a lasting relationship with clients which eventually increases revenue over time.

2. Offer Specialized Services

Offering specialized services is one of the key factors that can accelerate your firm’s growth.

Specializing in a niche will not just give you an edge in the competitive marketplace but will also help you capitalize on the specific needs of your clients.

You can gain expertise in tax, accounting, finance, or any segment you wish to which you think will help you differentiate yourself from your contemporaries.

Identify the market segments you’re most comfortable in and delve deeper into the niche that suits you and your team.

This way you can set yourself apart and be the top choice of the prospective clients who need the specialized service, generating revenue in time and boosting growth.

3. Manage Workforce

Managing the current workforce and keeping them updated with the latest changes in the industry is expensive for organizations. In fact, according to a report, employee management responsibilities take up to 70% of a firm’s operational cost.

In other words, lack of an effective workforce management can affect firms negatively and make them face more operational cost and that can hinder their growth.

With next year’s 10X growth strategies for CPA & accounting firms, one needs to perform the employee management effectively, upskill the current workforce and upgrade them smartly.

Regular performance evaluation, etc can be constructive for the firms. Conducting workshops or staff training can help increase productivity.

Another aspect of this is hiring, a point often ignored as a growth strategy for accounting firms. While adding a new talent pool to firms, be selective.

Implement staffing alternatives for CPA & EA firms. Remote working, outsourcing partners, and freelancing portals are considered a growing accounting practice.

Remote working and freelancing, both have witnessed a boom after the pandemic. This is beneficial for CPA & Accounting companies, as it lessens the operational costs and are easily manageable.

Outsourcing partners is another cost-effective accounting outsourcing services. It means, employing an external party to perform certain tasks which was earlier performed in-house.

4. Make Use of Technology

One of the keyways to boost your accounting firm’s profits is by investing in technology.

As per survey by Intuit Quickbooks, 9 out of 10 have used technology to meet clients’ evolving needs.

With the aid of apt software and tools, you can finish tiresome tasks quickly, and hence, save your time and improve overall efficiency.

With the adoption of cloud-based software and other automation tools, manual errors can be reduced, and hence accuracy can be improved while allowing everyone to work on the same project in real-time.

According to Smartsheet.com, over 40% of workers surveyed spend at least a quarter of their work week on manual, repetitive tasks, with email, data collection, and data entry occupying the most time.

If technology is used, it will increase the productivity of the employees as they can contribute more to other tasks and not waste time on repetitive tasks.

5. Hire and Retain the Right Talent

Another way to increase profitability is by hiring the right CPAs and professionals in your team. The right talent always offers efficient work execution, which satisfies the clients and eventually brings in more revenue for the specialized services that they extend.

Also, with the right hiring, the company enhances the experience level of all individuals at work, which can be used to offer more tailored services to the clients. This way you can charge a premium amount from your clientele and scale your firm.

But, if you already have a right and talented team with you, keeping them satisfied and happy is more beneficial than hiring someone new.

In fact, according to a report, 9 in 10 accounting and audit firms struggle to find talent, so imagine how much more will it be challenging for you to find the right talent that aligns with your goals!

Therefore, retaining the right employees is a better option for accelerating your firm’s growth. This not only involves giving them competitive salaries but also creating opportunities whereby your team members can grow professionally.

You can do this by offering training programs, mentorships, or certifications and even by investing in your employee’s education which will pay off in the long run.

You can also conduct regular feedback sessions so that your employees feel heard.

When they know they are being listened to and their grievances are heard, they are likely to put in more effort and work harder to bring revenue to your firm.

This will also give you a chance to dive deeper into your employee’s grievances and find ways to overcome them in order to retain the right talent.

6. Outsource Non-Core Functions

Another way to scale your firm and accelerate growth is by outsourcing the non-core functions of your firm.

This will not just help you to focus on your core competencies, it will also aid you to save cost and improve the quality of your deliverables.

Outsourcing will also enhance your efficiency and can aid you in improving your strategic planning. All this will help you amplify success and accelerate the growth of your firm in the long run.

7. Invest in Digital Marketing

• This is a digital era, and accounting firms need to put themselves on the digital map. According to a report, 85% of end-users conduct online research before they purchase anything and for accounting firms and related services, this number is more than 60%.
• Digital marketing is thus the need of the hour and CPA, and accounting firms should not turn a blind eye to this.Create a website, or if there is already one, then revamp it. Engage in meaningful marketing activities which will add credibility to the firm.
• Invest in content marketing and Search Engine Optimization. The more often people will see your accounting firm in their search history the more they will know about you. Build authority by conducting free webinars to attract more clients.

8. Focus on Client Retention and Satisfaction

Building new clientele is good and shows your popularity in the market arena.

But to go ahead in the journey, not just bringing new clients under one roof is important but retaining the existing ones is crucial too.

Fostering a good and strong relationship with your already existing client base can help you get consistent revenue and referrals in the competitive landscape.

As such, the amount of money that you shed on marketing can be saved to a greater extent when you know how to sustain the already-made client base, which can only be built on trust, quality services, and prompt solutions from your end.

9. Feedback

While chalking out the growth strategy for accounting firms do not forget to consider the feedback of previous or existing clients.

Reach out to them to understand the scope of improvement. If a client gives an average rating, then contact them to learn the loopholes in the services and communicate the same to the team as well.

Here is how an accounting and CPA firm can deal with the feedback or ratings received by clients using three client feedback scenarios, as mentioned on AccountingToday.

• If a client rates the firm 6 or below, then reach out to them personally. Ask them what went wrong, and get the issue resolved as soon as possible. Make sure no other client face the similar issue. Do not forget to tell the client about the status of their issue and then ask to rate the firm again.
• If a client gives a midrange rating of 7-8, then ask them about the area of improvement. If this midrange feedback is coming from top-tier clients, then contact them to what more we can offer to get a 10.
• If the client gives a rating of 10, then simply thank them and ask for a google review.

Final Thoughts

Thriving in the complex business realm requires expertise and an immensely strong foothold in the industry. In such a competitive era, driving profit is a tough task that calls for certain strategies that if followed can help you gain an edge in the market. As such, with the aid of the mentioned approaches, you can successfully increase profits and drive growth in the long run.