With the End in Mind: Choosing the Right Solutions

Samantha Mansfield, Director of Corporate Communications, CPA.com

Cathy Foley, CPA, MST Director of Technical Sales

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15+ years of experience in tax and accounting technology industry

Consultant on workflow and web implementations

Designed and built educational events for practice development

Samantha MansfieldDirector of Corporate Communications

American Institute of CPAs® #PSTech

25+ years public accounting experience with national and regional firms

Project Team Leader for Flowtivity workflow process improvement

Consulting with firms implementing web based workflow technology

Cathy Foley, MST, CPADirector of Technical Sales

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Agenda

• Beginning the Process• “I don’t know what I don’t know”• Systematize the Evaluation• Group Exercise• Final Thoughts

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Beginning the Process

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Items to Identify

Identify that you’ve outgrown with current processes

Identify what is causing pain

Identify budget, timeline and key decision makers

Identify your team

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“Innovation doesn’t happen in the comfort zone… The key thing is for your company to understand that innovation is uncomfortable because it’s new, not because it’s bad.”

- Daniel Burrus

What’s Your Innovation Readiness?

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Uncomfortable Topics

Committed to SALY

Discussing a change in processes when new technology is employed

Staff roles may change

“We have always done it this way”

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“I don’t know what I don’t know”

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Focus on Discovery

Understand the underlying problem Process improvement is only successful if the underlying

process is understood

Think outside the box

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Systematize the Evaluation

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Identify and assess process to improve

What specific process needs to be improved

Why does it need to be improve

Understand current process and pain points

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What Does Your Ideal Process Look Like?

Staff playing different roles

Eliminated steps Actions clients taking

(on time and correct)

Write it down

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Determine Measurement for Implementation Success

KPIs - look beyond traditional measurements• Real-time budget vs. actual• Cycle time • Just in time• Bottlenecks

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Gather Feedback

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Group Exercise

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Research/Evaluate Tools available

Develop evaluation process• Suite/ best of breed/ customized

application?

Apply consistently

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Do you need to adjust your process?

Did you think too big for now?

Did you not think big enough?

Revisit Your Ideal

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Map Out the New Process

So……

Do you pick a solution or design your process 1st?

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They Occur Simultaneously

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The StepsGather feedback

Explore the options

Map out the new process

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“Culture should be divided into values and behaviors. Values will remain constant…

Behaviors, however, can vary from year to year, person to person. It is important to evaluate these quarterly. I think of behaviors as attributes that you want to focus on for the organization. These can even be skills for the organization. The interesting thing about behaviors is that they are not static; they should change, especially as the company grows. I have found that they have an effect on the short and medium term results. Having both has become an important tool for me as I manage the growth of our company”

- Rene Lacerte, CEO, Bill.com

“4 Lessons I wished I learned in my 20’s”

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Final Thoughts

1. You will be uncomfortable

2. Keep a receptive frame of mind

3. Don’t give this entire project to 1 person to do in a silo

4. Seek outside input

5. Don’t put a new tool in an old process

Be the one in the profession asking the questions others aren’t.

– Luke Williams

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Questions?

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Copyright © 2013 American Institute of CPAs. All rights reserved.

THANK YOUCPE Word:

@SnMansfield

@CathyFoley20