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Everyone in this industry talks about "moving to advisory" like it requires a new service line and a rebrand. The experts we spoke to this month would say you're closer than you think. This past month, our writer Lauren Ward spoke with Colleen Sullivan, a CPA and director of accounting services at Third Road Management, about the advisory opportunity most firms already deliver but never position. She also spoke with Brian Kush, an executive leadership coach and CPA, about why being your firm's chief problem-solver is the thing keeping it small.
- Bianca Prieto, editor
Your month-end close is an advisory service in disguise
Expert: Colleen Sullivan, CPA, director of accounting services, Third Road Management
Sullivan's most valuable advisory offering isn't flashy. It's a structured month-end close that gets clients reliable numbers on time. When financials are late or shaky, business owners decide on gut instinct, and when they're timely, they spot issues earlier, manage cash better and start trusting you with bigger questions. Her tool for clients stuck on "this is how we've always done it" is two questions: What are we trying to accomplish, and is this really the best way to get there? Most old processes survive only because nobody ever asked. That's how a process improvement quietly becomes a retainer.
Stop being the answer key and your staff will stop needing one
Expert: Brian Kush, PCC, CPA, executive leadership coach and co-founder, Intend2Lead
Kush says most owners confuse delegating tasks with developing people. If you solve every problem that reaches your desk, you're training staff to be dependent on you, and dependence doesn't scale. The alternative costs nothing but discipline: When someone brings you a problem, ask "What would you recommend if I weren't available?" instead of answering. He also lays out a four-stage handoff for transferring client relationships (observe, assist, lead with support, own) that builds trust with the client at every step. The goal isn't transferring work. It's transferring ownership.
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Don’t Miss This
Matt Twiford watched the same phishing email hit two clients in two industries whose only common trait was an accounting@ email address, and his fix takes about a minute. → Your firm's email is a cybercriminal target
Stephanie Machia pulled her multi-generational Vermont firm off paper folders sorted with paint sticks, and says the technology was never the hard part. → The hardest part of modernizing your firm isn't the tech
You’re all caught up!
We hope you enjoyed this month's roundup. And hey, if you've been reading the Net Gains for a while and think your story is worth telling, we'd love to hear from you. Lauren is always looking for firm owners who are doing things a little differently.
Hit reply and introduce yourself.
