Lynda Artesani is one of those people who does not believe that the "one-size-fits-all- approach" fits anyone for very long. As founder and President of Artesani Accounting, she has fashioned a firm that believes its services should be just as unique as the needs of its clients.
So, whether you run a one person law practice or a 30-plus person firm, the Artesani Accounting team tailors services that match your needs. Accounting expertise. Data migrations. Workflow enhancements. If you have a need, the Artesani team is there.
In addition, Lynda runs The Proper Trust with her business partner, Sarah Prevost. The firm has become a valuable resource for law firms seeking to update their accounting systems. The "power duo," as they like to refer to themselves, work between the two coasts, servicing everything in between.
We sat down with Lynda to get her views on the power of being a ProAdvisor, the best piece of advice she has received over the past 23 years and what the future holds.
How does your award fit into your overall business mission statement?
It was indeed an honor to be selected as the “Top QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.” QuickBooks Online Advanced is an essential component of my workflow. It is the crown jewel for which all other integrations sit.
Being the Top ProAdvisor lets my attorney-clients know I have invested my time learning the product and that my peers respect me.
How do you leverage it in your ongoing success?
It is prominently displayed in my signature line for my emails, and on my website.
What are some of your strategies/initiatives for 2022?
On the business side, our strategy is to continue to grow the firm. We have been hiring some fantastic people this year. We are targeting helping the mid-market law firms become more cloud-based and future-ready, and create incredible automated attorney compensation reports and amazing financial packages.
We also want to continue to grow our Accountant's Law Lab group. My business partner, Sarah Prevost, and I created a group to help other bookkeepers and accountants learn how to work with attorneys. The Accountant's Law Lab has led to more speaking engagements. I would like to do more of that as a strategy for the new year. I enjoy sharing what I know.
Personally, I want to travel more with my husband. Last year, we made a hiking trip to the Grand Canyon and had so much fun. I also want to complete my advanced yoga teaching certification of 500 hours this year.
What are your expectations for 2022?
We expect to continue with controlled firm growth and hire more people to work, learn and grow with us. We also have added a couple of new software to our workflow processes that we are incredibly excited about, Keeper and Practice Protect. I am also looking at Notion, thanks to Seth David.
Being the Top ProAdvisor lets my attorney-clients know I have invested my time learning the product and that my peers respect me.
What is the best piece of advice you can offer your clients for 2022?
The Great Resignation is a real thing. All of our legal clients are hiring and growing. It is an exciting time to assist them in making the right decisions on adding staff and deciding what benefits they can offer to the job package to retain their current team.
Is there a story/anecdote you can share that really sums up the work you do for your clients (a recent success story?
We have so many success stories. A large part of what we do is data migration and helping law firm clients update their systems and processes. These firms still have some clunky, redundant desktop software and segregated and not integrated systems.
We recently did a historical rebuild for a firm that went back two years. They had hired two other accounting firms to do this work, and nothing tied out. One just entered journal entries as their rebuild and did not move the data. We were hired, and not only did we do the complete historical accounting rebuild, but we also cleaned up some old entries and implemented a new workflow. We rebalanced the trust accounting and created some financial tracking and reports they did not know existed.
They loved our work so much that we are now the accounting team and are their financial partner in their firm’s growth.