Video review: Best Practices for Running Your Accounting Practice

Steve McIntyre-Smith, the president and CEO of MFA Group, a consultancy that helps CPA firms grow their practices, has produced a video presentation designed to help accountants run an accounting practice successfully and productively. "Best practices for Running Your Accounting Practice" delves into more than a dozen areas in which accountants can improve their business and make their firm more valuable as they consider plans for eventual succession.

The video is a taped broadcast of McIntyre-Smith making a live presentation to an audience of about 100 accountants. In addition to watching McIntyre-Smith speak, you see all of the slides he uses in his presentation. The two-hour video includes a stop/start function and rewind and fast-forward features so you can stop to take notes, take a break, or repeat something you want to hear again. During the course of the presentation he addresses such topics as:

• Rules for growing your practice




• What do clients really want?




• Client meetings as a sales opportunity




• The true role of a partner




• Things you should STOP doing




• Finding and keeping good people for your firm




• Advantages of hiring a Chief Operating Officer for your firm




• Improving staff productivity




• Marketing ideas




• The new economy and what it means to you




• Networking ideas that get results




• Taking your firm from good to great




• Why the most profitable practitioners work fewer hours and make more money




• Getting rid of bad clients




• Tips for improving your Web site to differentiate your firm




• New services that you can create and bundle for value billing rates




• The Joy of Sox - How to generate a new line of income




• Why clients change accountants

McIntyre-Smith's no-nonsense approach to presenting beneficial information is interspersed with real-life examples, and his story-telling skills and ability to provide down-to-earth advice combine to provide commentary that is both useful and easy to absorb.

Not only does the listener/viewer learn tips for building a practice by attracting new clients, weeding out unwanted clients, and expanding relationships with existing clients, there is a wealth of material about building the practice from the inside, reorganizing tasks, restructuring workflow, so that even without changing the client base, the firm can become more successful and more profitable.

McIntyre-Smith presents clever and innovative ideas that don't cost money. he teaches the listener that, by learning how to take advantage of the talents you have within your firm, your professional contacts, and your client base, you can build a better business experience for all involved.

In addition to providing many tips for improving your practice today, he addresses succession planning and describes ways in which you can make your practice more valuable.

You can purchase your own copy of "Best Practices for Running Your Accounting Practice."

See all of the videos in the MFA Group's video series.