منصات رقمية - شبكة المحاسبين العرب

الخميس, 23 سبتمبر 2021 11:37

ثلاث أدوات إنتاجية لا يمكن لشركتك الاستغناء عنها

هناك عدد لا يحصى من الأدوات التي تجذب انتباهك

معلومات إضافية

المحتوى بالإنجليزية productivity tools your firm cannot go without

After a busy season like we just had, I’m sure you’ll be in the market for anything that can make your life easier and more efficient. There are myriad tools out there tugging for your attention. Many are pretty good, but I’m not going to talk to you today about software for tax prep, bookkeeping or reconciliation, etc. I want to discuss four powerful, surprisingly affordable tools you can use to create better relationships with your clients. Good news, there is almost no learning curve required to start putting these tools to work for you today.

Reminder: Each of the four tools has a free version, but I strongly recommend paying a few bucks per month for the premium version. (Disclosure: The author has no commercial or promotional interests in any of the companies, products or services mentioned herein.) The premium features such as unlimited meeting time, personal branding, on-screen drawing features and more will make you look much more professional. Your client relationships are the most important things you have in your practice. Shouldn’t you be investing in them?

Zoom (video conferencing)
Zoom videoNo need to spend much time here. Virtually everyone has used Zoom. Many use the free version, but for just $15 per month, you get custom branding, unlimited meeting times, and plenty of other bells and whistles. To get more out of Zoom, see my article Work-from-home tools to master: Zoom for video conferencing.

Loom (video messaging)
Your clients and team members have complex questions all the time. Sometimes, tapping out an email response, text message or voicemail is not the best way to get your point across. There are times when you want to walk a client through a screen and show them something important on that screen while also allowing them to see your reassuring face. Loom is a handy screen-recording tool that allows you to do just that. It’s almost like having your client in the office with you.

Here’s a test: Next time a client has a question about their tax return, instead of calling them and talking them through it, send them a Loom video recording of you walking through their tax return. See what kind of response you get. I’ll bet they love it.

Video-messaging tools can save you a ton of time. And clients seem to pay closer attention to messages in video form than they do in voicemail or email form. My recent article has more about creating a video recap of your clients’ tax returns.

For more about incorporating Loom into your practice see my article Work-from-home tools to master: Video messaging.

The premium version of Loom is about $8 per month for custom branding, a video drawing tool and calls to action.

Calendly (automated scheduling)
Your clients don’t want to play phone tag or email tag with you and your team anymore. Instead of having everyone chasing their tails during busy season, send them a link to your online calendar. Calendly and other online scheduling apps let you control exactly when you want to make yourself available for client meetings, and when you don’t.

Clients simply click on the custom link you share with them and automatically book a meeting time without having to go through you or an administrative assistant. If a client must reschedule at the last minute, no problem. They just go to your Calendly link, find an open time slot, and rebook. No need to check with you or staff to see if the new time is convenient. For about $100 a year ($8 per month), Calendly essentially removes the need for a full-time staff person, and clients love using it because it’s so convenient.

For more about using Calendly to your advantage, see my recent article Take control of your calendar this busy season.

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الأحد, 12 سبتمبر 2021 12:58

عزز التسويق عبر الإنترنت لشركتك

بينما تبنى تجار التجزئة والشركات التجارية الموجهة للمستهلكين التسويق عبر الإنترنت منذ سنوات، كانت الممارسات المحاسبية بطيئة في تبني استراتيجيات التسويق الرقمي

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المحتوى بالإنجليزية Power up your firm’s online marketing
By Lee Frederiksen
April 02, 2021, 11:07 a.m. EDT
5 Min Read
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While retailers and consumer-oriented commercial businesses embraced online marketing years ago, accounting practices have been slow to adopt digital marketing strategies. The pandemic has hastened adoption, but for most firms the move to digital marketing remains more reactive than proactive. Many of the digital tools and techniques remain unfamiliar to senior firm management.

This issue has been compounded by decades of accounting marketing tradition rooted in the belief that new business is best developed through referrals. However, while referrals still happen, they are happening less frequently. Accounting services buyers are increasingly likely to research and conduct business online. If you want to gain their attention, you’re going to have to do it through a screen.

Fortunately, there are a number of online solutions, channels and approaches that are proven to help firms like yours effectively reach and engage target buyers. To develop your own online marketing strategy, you’ll need to focus on two fundamental lead-generating drivers: the online tools and the digital content that attract your target audience.

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Reaching new-business prospects: Online tools that work

Effective online marketing is underpinned by several web-based tools that attract prospects to the top of the sales funnel. Each of these can successfully drive lead generation if utilized correctly:

Lead-generating website: Let’s face it. Most accounting websites are not dynamic, compelling marketing tools. They’re often jargon-filled, self-serving promotional vehicles focused on telling site visitors how great the firm is. To become a lead-generating machine, your website must clearly convey that your firm understands your prospects’ problems and needs and can provide solutions to address them. By offering potential clients valuable, objective information, you’re demonstrating what it would be like to work with you.
Search engine optimization (SEO): The vast majority of business professionals use the web to research the services they need. However, they will not find you unless the web knows you’re there. To do that, you need to optimize the content on your website so search engines — and, consequently, prospects — can find you. This is referred to as organic search and is primarily driven by having useful, authoritative content available on your website. It helps if that content is original.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: While organic search is one of the most valuable and effective tools for attracting prospects, PPC can help you buy your way onto search engine results pages. It’s typically less expensive than traditional space advertising because you only pay when someone clicks your link and you can track and analyze your results to help make your campaign even more effective.
Online networking: This is the activity that takes place on social media. So while specific social media platforms (such as LinkedIn or Twitter) may be the actual tool, it’s the networking that happens on it that really engages with prospects. While the style of interaction may vary greatly from Twitter to LinkedIn to Facebook, it’s still about making the right connections with the right people. Just as with traditional networking, your level of success will be directly proportional to the amount of time and attention you invest in it.
Digital content: The fuel that drives your marketing engines

None of the above tools will work without relevant content to attract your target audience. Your content can take many forms, but several are particularly effective at attracting leads to your website and other online platforms:

Industry research reports: These are excellent lead generators. They attract prospects with highly valuable information while building your visibility, credibility and brand value. It’s critical, though, to choose research topics that are of exceptional interest to your target audience. As an added bonus, research reports provide an outstanding opportunity to partner with an industry trade association or a noncompeting firm. This can help reduce your marketing cost and increase your credibility through the implied endorsement by the industry group.
Webinars: Just like traditional seminars, webinars should be educational in nature — individuals will want to attend because they think they will learn something new and valuable about their issues or priorities. Webinars are typically offered free of charge. The value they provide to you is the registration information you gather from attendees, as well as market intelligence based on their questions and feedback, all of which can help you focus your marketing efforts and develop future topics.
Marketing videos: Well-produced, educational videos are excellent marketing tools for accounting firms. They can attract and nurture leads by providing valuable information about subjects of interest and helpful explanations about complex accounting and financial topics. Videos are also ideal for showcasing the expertise and experience of various members of your team.
White papers and e-books: Both of these are long-form, in-depth informational tools that make attractive pay-per-click offers and website giveaways in return for filling out a registration form. A little target audience research can quickly generate a list of appropriate topics of value that will attract your best prospects and encourage them to engage with your firm. A resource section on your website filled with e-books and white papers covering a wide range of valuable topics will go a long way in building your firm’s reputation as an industry expert and leader.
Blogging and guest blogging: Blog posts are an excellent driver of leads to your website. Blog posts are a cornerstone of almost any SEO campaign, providing opportunities to publish and distribute keyword-focused content that will boost your search engine rankings and attract prospects to your website.
Guest blogging is a great way to broaden your reach. If you have great content, it’s worth pitching it to publications or blogs that feature guest posts. This type of “earned media” can give your search engine ranking a lift and funnel readers to your site when you target high-authority online publications.

If you don’t already have an online marketing strategy, now is definitely the time to develop one. Combining online and traditional marketing to create an effective, comprehensive marketing program is an outstanding way to build your firm’s visibility and generate significant growth.

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الإثنين, 03 أكتوبر 2022 13:13

إرشادات حول مخاطر التدقيق للعملات المشفرة

أصدر المعهد الأمريكي للمحاسبين القانونيين AICPA والمعهد القانوني للمحاسبين الإداريين CIMA إرشادات مشتركة يوم الثلاثاء للتدقيق والمحاسبة لمخاطر الأصول الرقمية مثل العملة المشفرة.

معلومات إضافية

المحتوى بالإنجليزية AICPA, CIMA offer audit risk guidance for crypto
By Michael Cohn
May 25, 2021, 1:15 p.m. EDT
2 Min Read
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The American Institute of CPAs and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants jointly released guidance Tuesday for auditing and accounting for the risks of digital assets such as cryptocurrency.

The AICPA and CIMA updated their practice aid, “Accounting for and auditing of digital assets,” with new nonauthoritative guidance on audit risk assessment, along with processes and controls, laws, and regulations and related parties. The practice aid was originally released in 2019, but was updated last year and now with the new information on audit risk assessment.

Cryptocurrency investing has caught on increasingly in recent years, particularly in the past year, when digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin have seen remarkable growth in prices. However, a recent downturn in the market has led to worries among crypto investors, who are also concerned about increasing regulation from the Securities and Exchange Commission and efforts by the Internal Revenue Service to require improved reporting of crypto transactions to discourage tax evasion and money laundering.

Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg
The guidance was developed by members of the AICPA & CIMA Digital Assets Working Group (DAWG) and their staff and is specific to the U.S. generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS). “There are challenges and unique considerations when auditing an entity that holds or transacts with digital assets,” said Diana Krupica, lead manager of emerging assurance technologies at the AICPA and CIMA, in a statement. “From performing risk assessment procedures and understanding new processes and controls to identify related parties, it is important for auditors to look through the lens of digital assets and understand exactly what audit procedures need to be performed. We hope this latest guidance will help auditors consider the potential risks unique to the digital assets environment.”

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The practice aid now includes material explaining how to understand and evaluate an entity’s risk assessment processes and controls. It discusses the specific considerations that could be important when performing risk assessment procedures, such as the kinds of procedures that auditors can perform, or are required to perform, to identify and determine the risks of a material misstatement in audits of entities that participate in the digital asset or crypto environment.

Another section discusses laws and regulations, along with related-party transactions. It describes the particular challenges and potential procedures that auditors should consider to comply with laws and regulations, along with the identification, accounting and disclosure of related parties in an audit of an entity that holds or transacts with digital assets.

A new appendix,Blockchain Universal Glossary, has been added to the practice aid that was developed as a reference for all AICPA and CIMA blockchain and digital assets-related content. It defines digital assets as going beyond cryptocurrency, defining them broadly as digital records, made using cryptography for verification and security purposes, on a distributed ledger such as a blockchain. “Although all industries encounter change, the digital assets ecosystem is evolving rapidly,” the AICPA and CIMA warned. “As firms seek to provide audits to entities within the ecosystem, caution and consideration must be given to unique risks and challenges.”

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الإثنين, 03 أكتوبر 2022 12:51

إعلان مؤسسة المعايير الدولية لإعداد التقارير المالية عن الخطوة الأولى لتجربتها الرقمية المستقبلية

تعلن مؤسسة المعايير الدولية لإعداد التقارير المالية (IFRS) عن الخطوة الأولى في إصلاح التجربة الرقمية المستقبلية

معلومات إضافية

المحتوى بالإنجليزية 25 January 2021
IFRS Foundation announces first step in overhaul of future digital experience
The IFRS Foundation today announced plans to move the Foundation’s three existing websites into a single, unified platform. The new platform will launch in April 2021 and represents the first step in the Foundation’s multi-year programme to enhance the digital experience it offers its stakeholders.

In 2019, the Foundation began to transition its technology infrastructure to modern, cloud-based systems that facilitate more efficient internal working practices while also permitting the Foundation to deliver over time an enhanced digital experience to its stakeholders around the world. As part of that programme, the Foundation is nearing completion of its work to consolidate three of its existing websites (public website, eIFRS and archive) into a single, unified online presence.

The new website will look familiar, but we have responded to feedback from website users by introducing new innovations, such as a new Standards navigator, enhanced personalisation options and an improved search facility. There are also further updates planned. These innovations have required a move to a new content management system, which will result in some actions for existing users. Therefore, the Foundation is providing advance notification to users of its websites of the following changes from April 2021:

Existing public website (www.ifrs.org): Most users of the public website will be able to access content as before. The web addresses for the main website sections, including the work plan and active projects, will remain as is, but links to other content may require updating. Those users that login to the public website using a username and password (to submit comment letters and manage ‘follows’) will be required to update their information and preferences on initial login.
eIFRS (eifrs.ifrs.org): The content of eIFRS, which includes IFRS Standards and related information, will be incorporated into the new public website, accessible via a new Standards navigator. If you are an existing subscriber to either eIFRS Basic (the free-of-charge subscription offering access to core IFRS Standards) or eIFRS Professional (the paid-for service to access all current and historic content related to IFRS Standards), you will get automatic access to the equivalent new service. You will also be able to access the old eIFRS platform until it is decommissioned at the end of December 2021. Upon first logging in to the new system, you will be asked to update your registration details. If you currently access eIFRS Professional without having to sign in with a username and password, it means you have direct access through a third party that has a licence agreement with the Foundation. The Foundation is working with all licence holders to provide you with access to the new service. Please liaise directly with your licence holder. All eIFRS Professional users will continue to have access to the legacy eIFRS platform until the end of 2021.
Archive (archive.ifrs.org): A previous version of the Foundation’s website has been available since 2017, hosting content that was not migrated to the current platform. Guided by data on traffic to the archive, the Foundation has now completed migration of most of the content from the archive to its public website. As a result, the archive site will be decommissioned once the new public website is launched. Any remaining content will be preserved and accessible on request.
Commenting on the announcement, Lee White, Executive Director of the IFRS Foundation, said:

Our new online platform presents one of the first tangible opportunities our stakeholders will have to benefit from the work that has been ongoing to modernise the Foundation’s digital infrastructure. We have exciting plans for our digital future, but also recognise the need to help minimise the burden on stakeholders as we transition to these new platforms.

Further details can be found within our frequently asked questions section.