If I had to select a single buzz phrase that defined 2019, it would be “advisory services.” Ironically, it was not until 2020 that many of us truly learned what it meant to be a trusted advisor to our clients. 2020 will be one for the history books, and we are barely over the half-way mark. COVID-19 left businesses of all sizes paralyzed as each state began to order shelter at home orders and forced closures across numerous industries. Such an unprecedented event demanded the government to inject funds to help stabilize our fragile economy quickly. In less than two months from the official start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, the House, Congress, and the President enacted The CARES ACT and the Paycheck Protection Program.
Faced with a daunting task to absorb the near 300+ pdf paged bill, small business owners looked to their bankers, accountants, and tax professionals for assistance navigating the confusing bill. Each day brought new legislation for accountants to decipher, and it quickly became apparent that we would need to work hand in hand with our payroll providers if we were planning to advise our clients.
Join Matthew Fulton & Heather Satterley for a complimentary CPE webinar, “Be Your Clients’ Go-to Guru with ADP Accountant Connect” on Thursday, August 6 @ 12PM ET as they demo their favorite features in Accountant Connect. You can register here.
Since the Paycheck Protection Program launch, it has been a race to submit new applications, evaluate spending scenarios, and find different calculators to make all of this as easy as possible. With more than 50% of our clients applying for PPP funds, our team at Parkway Business Solutions interacted with nearly every large payroll platform while collecting the necessary documentation to complete the initial loan submission form.
Among all the large payroll companies we interacted with, the ADP® Accountant ConnectSM portal was the most helpful while advising our clients on applying for and tracking PPP funds. Their commitment to sharing legislative changes and providing resources for our small business clients helped us shine during a challenging time. Below is a list of the resources within Accountant Connect that have helped us as we navigate the Coronavirus pandemic with our clients.
Specialized Reporting:
With the treasury department and the SBA releasing new suggested guidelines almost daily, the entire accounting industry has struggled to keep up with the changes. Fortunately, each time new guidance was released that impacted the way loan forgiveness would be calculated, the team of developers at ADP were able to create the unique payroll reports we needed to run spending scenarios with our clients.
Available PPP Reporting:
- PPP: Monthly Payroll Cost
- PPP: Employee Detail
- 8week | 24 week Loan Forgiveness Payroll Cost
- 8week | 24 week Loan Forgiveness Payroll Details
- 8week | 24 week Loan Forgiveness Employee Wage Comparison
- 8week | 24 week Forgiveness FTEE Comparison
Additionally, for clients processing payroll with RUN Powered by ADP®, you can now pre-fill the SBA Form 3508EZ PPP Loan Forgiveness Application with your clients’ information that has been entered through payroll. Access to this new feature is available directly through Accountant Connect.
While most of our clients were able to obtain funds from the Paycheck Protection Program successfully, a couple of our clients elected to refrain from participating in hope those in need would receive the funds instead. Thanks to the constant updates within the Accountant Connect portal, we were able to inform those clients about the Employee Retention Credits they could take advantage of.
Compensation Benchmarking:
As revenues shrink for businesses everywhere this year, cash flow analysis has become one of our clients' most requested services. The cost of labor is always one of the largest variable expenses for a company making it an immediate target for any analysis. This is where we introduce the Compensation Benchmarking feature to our clients. This powerful tool available in Accountant Connect allows accountants to advise business owners by comparing the wages they pay employees against regional and national averages.
Due to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, we have also been able to share this information with employees trying to decide whether they should return to work or continue to collect the additional $600.00 per week. Once we illustrated the premium at which they were already being paid compared to the local competition, almost immediately agreed to return as requested.
Business Valuations:
History has taught us that during times of financial crisis, fortunes will be made, and fortunes will be lost. Since the introduction of the Paycheck Protection Program, our team has been very fortunate to put our knowledge about the PPP to work assisting businesses across the United States. With each business, a new scenario was presented, some that appeared bleak while others demonstrated strength during these difficult times. As difficult as it was to introduce the idea of selling their business on some of our calls, we felt fortunate that we could rely on ADP’s relationship with BizEquity to provide on-demand business valuations. BizEquity delivers much more than just business valuations. They also provide succession planning, shareholder changes, and help secure business loans based on their assessments.
In less than half a year, bookkeepers, accountants, and tax professionals have learned first-hand what it means to be a trusted advisor to their clients. Dedicated to our clients' survival, our team decided to dedicate the resources necessary to completely understand how the CARES ACT and the Paycheck Protection Program would impact the future of small businesses everywhere. Thanks to the tools provided by ADP and our proactive approach toward advising our clients, not only have we been able to retain our clients, we have been able to grow month after month consistently.
Join Matthew Fulton & Heather Satterley for a complimentary CPE webinar, “Be Your Clients’ Go-to Guru with ADP Accountant Connect” on Thursday, August 6 @ 12PM ET as they demo their favorite features in Accountant Connect.
Click here to register.
ADP is a registered trademark, and Accountant ConnectSM is a service mark, of ADP, Inc.