Hal Rosen
Editor's Note: During this editorial series, we'll take an inside look at how some of today's accounting professionals are facing their Yetis. The series is a complement to Insightful Accountant's ongoing coverage of this year's "Scaling New Heights" conference, June 4-7, in Orlando, Fla.
Hal Rosen believes in small businesses. For the past 40 years, along with starting his career in one of the Big Eight international accounting firms, he co-founded more than 12 companies.
Today, as the leader of RFBM CPAs, he is a qualified business advisor who can relate to the "real-world," "hands on" experience challenges that small business owners often come up against in today's ever-changing business climate.
Hal is also an Advanced QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor who has taught classes on how to use QuickBooks to help make smart business decisions and a member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network.
Insightful Accountant sat down with the 2016 "Top 100 ProAdvisor" to get his thoughts on today's accounting landscape and what Yetis may lie in your future:
What are some of the biggest issues facing today's accounting professionals?
- Fast changing technology
- Real-time accounting versus redundant accounting
- Defining the firm’s “why” and then defining what type of clients are desired, and defining how the firm will work with them
- Firm culture, training and personnel issues
- A shortage of accountants in the United States
What was your "Face the Yeti" moment?
At the last breakout session at "Scaling New Heights 2016," when half the attendees had left the conference or were pool side enjoying the Bahamas, I had my “ah-hah” moment in a session taught by Rob Nixon of Panalitix.
It brought together everything I had been learning at the last five "Scaling New Heights" conferences and provided a practical approach to make it happen. Because the session was only half full, Rob gave each of us a copy of his book, "Remaining Relevant" – his latest book, "The Perfect Firm," provides more detail was just released last month.
How did it change you?
I spent the next two days pool side at the Atlantis reading the book and making plans on how to change our firm.
We defined three areas of concentration to work on as a firm:
Adopt Mark Wickersham’s philosophy of billing. We ultimately developed our own Excel based software that more closely met our needs, and began using it to price out monthly clients, giving them three options to choose from.
We now have over 40 clients on this system, and our goal is to triple our monthly up-front billing amount. We also gave our 1040 clients an up-front price, with a 20 percent increase from the prior year fee, and we did not begin to process the tax return until we had received payment.
I took the Woodard Institute Class taught by Dawn Fotopulos on increasing profits 50 percent in four weeks. Using her book, "Accounting for the Numberphobic," and her emphasis on Gross Margin Percentage has proved very valuable in consulting with clients and providing easy to understand methods in helping clients become more profitable.
We signed on with Panalitix, took their "Kickstart Course," defined our why, set goals and began investing in our future.
Some highlights include:
- Daily 10 minute stand up huddle meetings where we get quick reports of what team members are doing, success stories and where they need help. With technology that's available, we include team members working at home and also those working in the Philippines.
- Weekly team training every Thursday at noon, even during tax season. This has been a huge investment. We think it is paying for itself, as we just finished our most profitable tax season in our history.
What advice can you offer for those who need to face their Yetis head on?
- Attend "Scaling New Heights" each year
- Become a member of the Woodard Network, and join a local group
- Invest the time to stay ahead of your competition
- Read Rob Nixon’s latest book, "The Perfect Firm"
Why is continuing to enhance your skills and acumen critical to staying one step ahead of those Yeti moments?
When I graduated from college, personal computers did not exist. I have seen constant change in our industry, and it has taken constant commitment to stay abreast of the change.
Listening to things such as the "Scaling New Heights Podcast" while driving, instead of mindless radio, has been a big help to me.
I believe that we'll see more changes in the next five years than I’ve seen in the last 40 years. It will require incredible commitment to stay ahead of the technology curve.
What goals have you set for 2017?
We are now 11 months into a three-year plan. We’ve defined our processes, changed our team culture, rid ourselves of those who weren’t willing to make a change and implemented an offshore back office.
Our major focus this next year is client consulting, helping our clients to become financially able to retire.