Intuit has just announced the five finalists for this year’s Global Firm of the Future Contest. The Firm of the Future contest, now in its fourth year, invited bookkeeping, full-service accounting and tax firms in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and, for the first time, India, to showcase how they see the value of the cloud, serve as a trusted advisor to their clients, and grow their practice with modern marketing techniques.
New this year, firms were also asked to include a story of how they helped a small business client overcome a challenge and achieve success. Participating firms and the small business clients named in their submissions were entered for a chance at over $135,000 USD in prizes.
“We are thrilled to announce this inspiring group of firms as this year’s finalists in the Firm of the Future contest,” said Ariege Misherghi, global leader of Intuit’s Accountant Segment, Small Business and Self-Employed Group. “Each firm’s submission clearly highlighted both how they embrace new technologies and ideas, and just as important, that they recognize that this is what will drive their firm and clients forward to greater success. We’re eager to celebrate these firms and the ways they break the mold to help their clients grow and thrive.”
Misherghi and a panel of qualified judges from Intuit’s global sites selected the top five finalists who best embody the attributes of Firms of the Future. The top five finalists provided written submissions highlighting their firm’s work, culture and vision to demonstrate why they deserve to be named a Firm of the Future, along with their story about how they helped a specific client to succeed. The five finalists (in alphabetical order) are:
- Cloud Bookkeeping Services of Canada
Cloud Bookkeeping Services offers bookkeeping, income tax and consulting services. They work with their clients to provide financial workflow management plans that are designed to fit each client’s needs. For those clients wanting to take on a more ‘hands on’ approach, they offer customized one-on-one training to allow clients to ‘do it yourself’.
- PJCO of the United Kingdom
PJCO is an ACCA qualified Chartered Certified Accounting firm offering practical business, tax planning and accountancy advise to companies and individuals. Their enthusiastic and approachable team is keen to help their clients succeed in business. Their firm knows that ‘one size does not fit all’ when it comes to accounting and business advisor services that’s why they offer a variety of ‘cloud accounting’ centered packages designed to suit the needs of every client.
- Reconciled of the United States
Reconciled is an online bookkeeping and accounting firm that strives every day to provide the best services possible for their clients. Their goal is to handle the day-to-day accounting for their clients so that they can focus on what they do best, running their small businesses. They are continually innovating their service offerings to meet the requirements of entrepreneurs and small business owners they serve.
- Regional Business Services Pty Ltd of Australia
Regional Business Services is a cloud-focused business consultancy aiming to reduce the amount of time and efforts their clients spend on bookkeeping, so they can spend more time on their small businesses. Their goal is to help add value to each business they work with so that business can develop and grow to meet the expectations of the owners.
Wealth Café is India’s only financial advisory group of companies that caters to personal finances of individuals and finances of businesses. They strive to help small business owners realize their dreams of being successful entrepreneurs by helping them make the right financial decisions at the right time through a bouquet of service offerings including accounting, tax, payroll, MIS reporting and compliance.
These five finalists and the small businesses identified by each firm will each receive a $5,000 USD cash prize and one free ticket and all-expense paid trip to Intuit’s annual conference, QuickBooks Connect, November 5-7, in San Jose, California. The grand prize winner and the small business they support will be revealed on the main stage on November 5 and receive additional cash prizes of $25,000 USD and $15,000 USD, respectively.
In the next phase of the contest, each of the five finalists will develop a creative video that demonstrates what makes their firm a Firm of the Future. Intuit will provide a videographer and producer for filming and work directly with each finalist to develop a high-quality video entry. Once complete, the videos will be available for public voting in an online gallery on the Firm of the Future website. The voting period is open October 16-31, 2018. For every vote and social share that takes place during the voting period, a donation from Intuit will be made to Kiva.org (up to $25,000 USD).
In addition to these five finalists, the ten semi-finalists from across the globe were also announced. The ten runners-up will each receive a cash prize of $2,500 USD and the small businesses identified by each runner-up will be awarded a cash prize of $1,000 USD. The ten runners-up (in alphabetical order) are:
- Accountancy Online, Australia
- Balakrishna Consulting LLP, India
- BluePrint Accounting, Inc., Canada
- Jayabt S Ajinkya, India
- Linza Advisors, United States
- Nova Bookkeeping, Australia
- Pearl Accountants, United Kingdom
- TaxAssist Accountants Lincoln, United Kingdom
- TD Accounting Services, Canada
- The Girl Up Front, LLC, United States
If you haven’t registered to attend this year’s QuickBooks Connect, you can do so at this official website.
Insightful Accountant would like to congratulate the five finalists and ten semi-finalists in this year's Global Firm of the Future contest.