Amy Vetter - Integrative Advisory Services: Expanding Your Accounting Services Beyond the Cloud

1. Chapter 2
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 5

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 6

Amy Vetter, CPA, CITP, CGMA

Copyright 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119415978 (Hardcover)

ISBN 9781119422006 (ePDF)

ISBN 9781119422020 (ePub)

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Integrative Advisory Services is the CPA, accounting professional, and bookkeeper's guide to the future. As technology paves the way for increased self-reliance and do-it-yourself financial services, much of the traditional data entry tasks of accounting professionals and bookkeepers will be reduced. It is time for the accounting industry to change how it does business.

Nothing can replace the human side of the clientadvisor experience and the desire to improve clients' businesses with financial information. Technology will continue to march forward, so accounting professionals must adapt to the changing marketplace to thrive in this new paradigm.

This book shows how to provide the kind of value that technology cannot offer: human connection. Rather than simply reporting data, today's accounting professionals have an opportunity to take a more active role in their clients' business by analyzing the story behind the numbers, understanding both operations and finance, and guiding their clients toward the outcomes they need.

Learn how to take on more of an advisory role and become a critical component of your clients' success by:

• Spending less time crunching numbers and more time advising clients
• Becoming an integral part of your clients' decision-making process
• Providing real value by communicating financial data analysis
• Becoming the strategic partner your client cannot do withouta cherished advisor

I want to thank my husband, Rob, and my children, Jagger and Austin, who have supported me through the ups and downs of my career and encouraged me to always strive for what my heart desires.

My grandfather has been a mere memory since I was 3 years old at the time of his passing, but he had a huge impact on my career. His legacy inspired me to pursue a life's mission of helping small businesses survive and grow.

My mother provided the example of being a business owner herself and involved me at a young age. She provided me with the experience that created the foundation and vision of what I wanted to do with my life.

A heartfelt thanks to my clients over the years, who taught me so much about the right and wrong ways to advise them. The experience I gained from seeing the impact of my advice on their businesses was so satisfying and rewarding that I have made a career since of training others on how to do it as well.

Much gratitude to Xero Accounting Software, who provided the support and encouragement for me to put this book together.

For their time and expertise, I want to thank Kathryn Duggan, Alex Mercer, Himanshu Singh, Matthew Solan, and Corina Standiford. Your contributions to this process of writing of this book have made a great impact.

I also want to thank the accounting practices from around the world that contributed real-world examples from their firms that supplement the topics described in this book: Amanda Aguillard, Aaron Berson, Paul Bulpitt, David Emmerman, Will Farnell, Jay Kimelman, Kenji Kuramoto, Shelly Lingor, Michael Lopez, Ryan Miller, Neil Sinclair, James Solomons, and Ryan Watson. Their contributions show not only the universal struggles of accountants, but also how we can overcome them by being innovative (and smart) about the need to create long-lasting and prosperous relationships with our clients. Their expert insight is much appreciated.

Additional thanks to Sheck Cho, Michael Henton, Judy Howarth, and Alex Vegbey at Wiley for their support and answers throughout the process.

Since I was 12 years old, I knew I was going to be a certified public accountant (CPA). I grew up with stories about my Grandfather's CPA practice, which he began in the 1930s with the purpose of positively impacting the business owners in his immigrant neighborhood in St Paul, Minnesota. He was what I call the cherished advisor of his dayproviding guidance to small business owners on financial decisions that were strategic for their businesses. Their relationships went way beyond figures and numbers.

My mother, as she grew up, decided not to become an accountant and instead was drawn toward the arts. However, her natural business acumen ended up coming out later when she opened her own maid service operation when I was young. I was involved right from the beginning. After school, I often worked the front desk and did various administrative tasks. I learned early on about the importance of knowing your numbers as a business owner because, unfortunately, my mom was not an accountant, and she found herself making decisions that ended up being detrimental to her business in the long run.