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Service Offering Strategies to Grow and Expand Your Business

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Introduction

Accounting, tax and audit have long been the bread-and-butter of CPA and tax firms but focusing only on those traditional–and increasingly commoditized–services can stall revenue growth. Forward-looking accounting and tax firms are looking for additional services that can transform their business, grow revenue streams and deepen and expand their relationships with clients. One exciting opportunity for these professionals is leveraging cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) to become a trusted advisor to their clients.

To better understand the service offerings and strategies accounting firms are using to grow their business, Oracle NetSuite commissioned SourceMedia Research/Accounting Today to conduct an online survey of accounting professionals. During a web seminar, a panel of experts discussed the research findings and offered insights into how accountants can use ERP-related services to increase revenues, grow their business and move from a commodity-based to a value-based business.

Accounting Firms Look to Diversification for Growth

While 98% of accounting firms are exploring ways to diversify and expand their business by offering services in addition to accounting and auditing, they may be missing out on the services that are the most profitable.

The most popular additional services that accountants offer are business services (92%), financial services (82%) and IT services (26%).

But, the services with the highest growth potential aren’t traditional financial services. More than half (57%) of survey respondents report that business services provide moderate to high growth, 52% say IT services provide moderate to high growth and only 38% say financial services provide moderate to high growth. (see Figure 1).

Dan Hood Editor-in-chief Accounting Today

Linda CheungResearch Director SourceMedia

Mike Kean Partner Technology Group Sikich

Tom Kelly Senior Director of Product Marketing and Development Oracle NetSuite

Craig West Vice President of Alliances and Channels Oracle NetSuite

SPEAKING PANEL

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Source: SourceMedia Research/Accounting Today, October 2018

ERP-related services that help accountants solve clients’ complex business issues, improve decision-making, increase productivity and lower costs combine both high-growth potential and business and IT services.

With a cloud-based ERP solution, accounting professionals can interact with clients and access and monitor key financial processes. For example, this visibility allows them to support clients’ accelerating expansion into new markets, implementing new billing models, or develop new sales and distribution channels. Rather than interpreting historical financial reports, the accountant becomes a proactive, trusted advisor to clients.

ERP Supports the Changing Role of the CFO

Leveraging cloud-based ERP allows accountants to essentially function as a chief financial officer for their clients—an attractive proposition these clients. “Businesses are looking for a strategic partner that cares about their business and adds value instead of a commodity like accounting or auditing,” notes Tom Kelly, Senior Director of Product Marketing and Development for Oracle NetSuite.

Mike Kean, a Partner at Sikich’s Technology Group, agrees that businesses are relying more on their CPA and tax partners to not only serve as controllers and bookkeepers but as CFOs and technology experts. “CFOs are increasingly driving the business and relationships from a sales side,” explains Kean. “Clients are looking at their accounting and tax partners to give them the information—not just spreadsheets—that they need to make decisions. CPAs are no longer compilers of information but advisors.”

The Cloud Facilitates New Service Offerings

But to embrace this changing relationship, clients may still need education on the benefits of the cloud, notes Kean. For example, clients may not understand how the cloud radically simplifies technology upgrades. “With on-premise solutions, it’s challenging for clients to keep up with technology enhancements. With the cloud, upgrades happen automatically so clients never get behind,” notes Kean.

“Clients are looking at their accounting and tax partners to give them the information—not just spreadsheets—that they need to make decisions. CPAs are no longer compilers of information but advisors.”

– Mike Kean, Sikich Technology

Group

10%

15%

14%

28%

37%

43%

23%

29%

33%

18%

12%

7%

13% 9%

6%

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High growth Moderate growth Some growth Little growth No growth Don't know

Business Services/Consulting

IT Services

Financial Services

Figure 1: Accounting Firm Business Growth from Service Lines

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The cloud is a dramatic enabler across the entire spectrum of firms and across the entire spectrum of potential service levels, says Craig West, Vice President of Alliances and Channels at Oracle NetSuite. “Making applications like ERP readily available on any device in a very consumer-friendly way has been a huge intermediator to bring accounting and tax firms closer to their clients. They can verify journal entries, trial balances and check financials efficiently,” says West.

The cloud also provides the ability to add scalable, value-based services. Accountants can become a trusted advisor by not just recommending an application but playing a role in the implementation and ongoing consulting.

Scalability Is Key

One misconception is that clients don’t need a cloud-based ERP because their current solution is adequate. West puts that myth to rest. “We see pre-revenue startups to the smallest businesses being fundamentally challenged by the limitations of inexpensive off-the-shelf systems,” he says. “The notion of these applications as a long-term solution is rapidly diminishing.”

A cloud-based ERP is scalable from the smallest firm to the largest multinational corporation. “The beauty of the cloud is that it can deliver a single application to a business that can grow and evolve and change with them, whether it’s because of a disruption in their business by a competitor, the move to become multinational or because they want to diversify,” explains West.

Another advantage of the cloud is that its point-and-click functionality doesn’t require deep technology expertise. Accounting firms can focus on their clients’ business and expanding those relationships rather than coding or upgrades. In fact, it’s important to not just focus on becoming an ERP technology expert, but to instead to become embedded into the client organization, adds Kelly.

The Value of Partnership

Oracle NetSuite enables these deeper relationships with its partner programs. With client permission, an accounting firm can access the client’s ERP applications to gain visibility into financial statements and journal entries, explains West.

Accounting professionals need help leveraging ERP, with only 5% of survey respondents saying they are knowledgeable about ERP and only 4% currently incorporating ERP into their practice. Oracle provides education so accountants can learn more about ERP, optimize their use of NetSuite and become a valued consultant to clients. Accountants also participate in the revenue streams associated with the client subscription.

Offering ERP-related services in partnership with Oracle NetSuite also helps clients do more with less, explains Kean. “If you can use technology to make your clients more efficient, they become more profitable, which in turn will make them more profitable clients to you.”

“The beauty of the cloud is that it can deliver a single application to a business that can grow and evolve and change with them, whether it’s because of a disruption in their business by a competitor, the move to become multinational or because they want to diversify.”

– Craig West, Oracle NetSuite

ABOUT ORACLE NETSUITEFor more than 20 years, Oracle NetSuite has helped organizations grow, scale and adapt to change. NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based applications, which includes financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), HR, professional services automation and omnichannel commerce, used by more than 15,000 customers in 203 countries and dependent territories.

To learn more about partnering with Oracle NetSuite, please email cpapartnerships@netsuite.com.

METHODOLOGYOnline study conducted by SourceMedia Research/Accounting Today in September and October 2018 of 298 CPA and tax professionals. Respondents were director level or higher and employed at regional and national accounting firms.

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ABOUT SOURCEMEDIA RESEARCH SourceMedia Research provides full custom B2B research solutions for marketers, agencies and other targeting business sectors, such as accounting, banking, payments, mortgage, insurance, HR/employee benefits and wealth management. SourceMedia Research is a unit of SourceMedia Inc., whose B2B media brands include Accounting Today, Financial Planning, American Banker, The Bond Buyer and Employee Benefit News. www.sourcemedia.com.