It’s A New Business Model – I Think It’s Going To Revolutionise the Sector Globally!
Accountant's Minute 324
This was the enthusiastic response by Andrew Geddes, an “Australian Accounting Industry Guru” on the product revelations made by USA accountant, Adam Hale, Partner, Summit CPA in the ESS BIZTOOLS podcast recorded two hours after the completion of the webinar organised by the Academy of CPAs (Certified Predictive Accountants) last week.
The new business model is set around three key components:
- FINANCIAL FORECASTING (Business Advisory) – Budgets, Cash Flow Forecast, Projected Balance Sheets, KPI Analysis, regular meetings (weekly, bimonthly or monthly) – this component is non-negotiable – it has to be accepted as the key component of the product offering otherwise Summit CPA decline the client.
The client then has a choice of:
- Back-Office Accounting – a “better internal management information system” and/or
- Compliance Work
However, the client can decline the offer of Back-Office Accounting and Compliance Work if they wish.
The product offering is available as:
- Light (monthly meetings)
- Medium (bimonthly meetings)
- Heavy (weekly meetings)
When a SME contacts Summit CPA a Zoom meeting is organised and an outline of the services that are available are discussed with the main focus being on “FINANCIAL FORECASTING” which Adam Hale indicated was “THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK THAT ACCOUNTANTS CAN PERFORM FOR SME CLIENTS”.
The meeting lasts about two hours and if the client is interested a proposal is then submitted to the client later that day outlining what the annual costs for the service will be together with an indication of the weekly payment that the client has to agree to pay.
In addition there is an “on-boarding” fee calculated at twice the weekly payment that is paid weekly over eight weeks.
When the client signs the appointment documentation they are not committing themselves for twelve months but on a week by week basis with a request that if they wish to terminate the arrangement that they give Summit CPA four weeks’ notice.
Adam Hale indicated that Summit have had very few terminations.
Hale said that “a lot of the clients are saying “WELL I’M GOING TO PAY 2- 3 TIMES WHAT I USED TO – BUT I’M NOT GETTING VALUE SERVICES FROM MY PRESENT ACCOUNTANTS SO I WILL SIGN UP WITH SUMMIT”
Each Monday the one only administration person at Summit CPA processes payments from each client utilising the “Automated Clearing House” system (ACH) to process the weekly payment which is calculated at 1/52 of the quoted annual fee.
This means that Summit CPA have a very low “lock-up” as compared to traditional accounting firms in the USA and as compared to Australian accounting firms where the lock-up is 77 – 85 days. (Benchmarking.com.au)
Summit’s annual fees range from US$40,000 – US$200,000 with an average payment of approximately US$80,000 for the 150 clients.
The services are delivered on a “vCFO service” basis.
Adam Hale indicated that Summit has been using the PlanGuru Budget, Cash Flow Forecast, Projected Balance Sheet software package for the last ten years and it is the key technology that they are using to enable them to offer the “FINANCIAL FORECASTING” service to their clients.
Hale indicated that he had reviewed other software packages but settled on PlanGuru as being the best for all aspects of the financial forecasting tasks especially the preparation of Cash Flow Forecast and Projected Balance Sheets which are essential for this type of service.
During the webinar the Managing Director of PlanGuru USA, Christian Wielage, described Adam Hale as a “ROCK STAR ACCOUNTANT” because of the innovations in accounting services that Summit have delivered to USA small/medium enterprises and to accountants who have been closely monitoring the development activities being undertaken by Summit CPA many of which are committed to implementing similar systems many of them utilising PlanGuru software.
Adam Hale indicated that a very important benefit from offering these types of services was the valuation multiplier that was recently applied to Summit CPA valuation. He indicated that Summit CPA recently merged with the 90th largest accounting firm in the USA (there are 45,000 accounting firms in the USA). In the determination of the value of Summit CPA the figure utilised was 4 times higher than that which traditionally applies to a “normal accounting firm” in the USA. This would mean that a multiplier of around 10 of the future maintainable profit was utilised to determine the value of Summit CPA when it was merged with a much larger firm.
We have a great opportunity for you this week. You can view the recording of the webinar “Become a Successful vCFO” by clicking here.
The Academy of CPAs (Certified Predictive Accountants) is presenting a follow-up webinar on the implementation of “PREDICTIVE ACCOUNTING SERVICES” on Thursday. 4 August 2022 at 11:30am AEST – to register click here.
ESS BIZTOOLS PODCAST
As indicated above Andrew Geddes was the keynote presenter in the weekly ESS BIZTOOLS Podcast with Peter Towers, Managing Director, ESS BIZTOOLS to review the overview of the Summit CPA innovative accounting services for SMEs.
At the end of the webinar Andrew Geddes described the presentation as “EXCELLENT”.
In the podcast Andrew endorsed the concept developed by Summit CPA to build their entire business model around the concept that “FINANCIAL FORECASTING” was a vital service that accountants should be delivering to SME clients.
You can listen to the podcast by clicking here
Or
You can view the recording of the podcast by clicking here.
RECENT ESS BIZTOOLS SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
- Happy Client / Happy Team/ vCFO Services Delivers – click here.
- Does Your Firm Have A “Cultural Advantage”? – click here.
- “Rock Star” Accountant – click here.
- “It’s A New Business Model – I Think It’s Going To Revolutionise Accounting” – click here.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
ESS BIZTOOLS website (www.essbiztools.com.au) is available for you to visit and browse and you can also visit our separate website to assist in the identification of government grants suitable for your clients – ESS BIZGRANTS (www.essbizgrants.com.au)
If you would like to have a conversation with Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS on how your Professional Advisory Firm could offer a diversified range of services to your SME clients please telephone Peter on 1800 232 088 (or send an email – ) and we will then organise a 45 minute complimentary Zoom meeting to discuss your firm’s vision and to outline the services that ESS BIZTOOLS could supply to assist your firm.
