Efficiency and Effectiveness Are Not Mutually Exclusive Efficiency Effective Leasership 2016.pdfThanks for Your Time! Alan Anderson, CPA [email protected] m 952-240-2459

ACCOUNT-ability Plus, LLC Driving Accounting Firm Excellence © Copyright 2016 Alan W. Anderson

Presented by

Alan W. Anderson, CPA

Efficiency and Effectiveness

Are Not Mutually Exclusive:

It Takes A&A Leadership

1


Session Outline

The Audit Dilemma

Audits Past, Present and Future

Audit Leadership

Quality

Relevance

Innovation

Business Mindedness

Empowerment

Conclusion

Questions


The Audit Dilemma


What is Getting in the Way of Success:

Discuss

Do you feel your audit approach may

be over-implemented in certain

areas?

How well do you add value to the

client based upon the audit?

What is the goal of the audit?

The True Audit Dilemma

Do your audits have enough checklists??


Standard Approach For Audit

All areas are equal risk

– Cannot assume any level of risk except for high

– Cannot assume any level of client complexity

Auditor skill sets all equal

– Cannot assume any level of team proficiency

Errs on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion

– Auditor modifies for risk, complexity, skills

This results in “over-auditing” many clients


At YOUR Firm

Have you developed an industry specific approach?

– Do you leverage those with industry & client knowledge?

Do you streamline to eliminate redundancy?

Is training focused on improving processes, not just new

rules or standards?

Are you constantly striving to improve processes?

Audits-Past

The Age of Simplicity

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Pre-modern:

Technology: Pencil and paper

Planning: Gather only the info needed

Mindful: Thought about the business and the bottom line

Efficiency: Time didn’t matter but clients did

9

Audit - Past


Coming of age:

Technology: Copy machines proliferate

Planning: Why not copy that memo from last year?

Mindless: Fill in the blanks

Efficiency: Chargeable hours, less and less contact with

client

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Audit - Past

Current State of Audit

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Age of Technology


The “For Dummies” Era

Tech: A computer in every cubicle

Planning: As forms become the norm, checklists take

over thinking ahead

Mindset: Dull, robotic, brain-free

Efficiency: Texting replaces talking, client relationships

take too much time

12


The “For Dummies” Era

RESULT:

Replicated the paper world

Wonder about return on technology investment

No one even knows the bottom line on their last audit

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Audits-Future State

The Age of audit

rebirth

Or not……………

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Audit Trek: The Next Generation

Tech: We’re In the cloud!

Planning: But we’re back to paper and pencil

o Research shows the act of writing improves memory and

achieving goals

Mindful: Auditing smarts yields fewer forms, smarter

decisions, better results

Efficiency: Delivering the goods in a way that adds

value to the numbers

15


Audit Trek: The Next Generation

RESULT: Happier client, increased business, looking

forward to hitting the books on Monday morning!

An audit rebirth where client sees value

It will take strong and effective audit leadership

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Five Crucial Attributes;

1. Quality

2. Relevance

3. Innovation

4. Business mindedness

5. Empowerment

Audit

Leadership

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Play the Blame Game?

Accuse the staff of lack of motivation?

Trained to fill out forms not empowered to think

What’s our value when you can audit around the

computer?

Leadership needs to create change

o Empower staff to think

o Teach staff how to plan their audit

o Fight the form/make thinking the norm

o Create a culture of connection – in the office and with clients

18


Take Charge of Your Future

Embrace technology by leveraging what it can help us

do, not what it lets us do

Rule out rule-driven leadership

Replace the forms police with educators who can teach

the art and science of the audit

Connect with clients by understanding their industry,

talking about business, and understanding their goals

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Take Charge of Your Future

RESULT:

An audit with added value!

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Quality

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Qualifications for Quality Control

Relying on your QC expert means the auditors abdicates

responsibility for quality assurance

Staff needs to know the standards not by “form” but by

understanding what they are intended to do

What’s their impact? Free-for-all discussions to stimulate

thinking

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Active learning sessions:

o Role play

o Plain paper exercise

o Meet a client with a staff member

o Make leadership into mentorship

o Question of the week contest (with prizes)

o Get them to think whatever way you can

o Challenge yourself to think!

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RESULT:

A staff that asks questions

Interacts with each other and with clients

Abandons SALY by thinking and planning

Leverages the audit information to help clients plan effectively for their financial future

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Relevance

4


Regenerate Relevance

Make yourself indispensable by offering sound business

advice

Do your homework about your client’s industry

Make schmooze time off the clock – and it will create a

client who needs you

Get out of the back office and into the trenches – talk to

the sales manager, the production manager, the

warehouse worker, the admin staff – and verify

information from multiple sources

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Help your clients make the right decisions by reflecting on the business effect of financial decisions

Understand the standards such that you can explain why they matter to your clients

Don’t be afraid to live in the gray; black and white is overrated

Deliver what you claim on your website: this is a checklist of items that matter

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RESULT: The more relevant your advice, the more likely

you’ll retain clients, and the more YOU’LL feel relevant in a

profession that is creating its own irrelevance

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Innovation

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Change Takes ore than talk

Technology: You control it; don’t let it control you

Planning: Lose the FIFO and SALY mentality. Start with

a blank piece of paper to plan how you’re going to audit

THIS company THIS year

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Change Takes More Than Talk

Mindset: Flexible, quick on your feet, out of the box

thinking, maintaining a vision of your ultimate goals

Efficiency: It’s built into the right planning process, the

best use of technology, and a successful delivery of the

audit – on time, and with the nuances that make it

invaluable

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Change Takes More Than Talk

RESULT: A well-thought through plan will yield an efficient

use of time to get the information you need, from the

people who have it, without lowering fees or compromising

quality

32


Business Mindedness

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The Bottom Line

Bring back the thinking auditor: Use business expertise

to advise clients to improve profitability

Net collected rate versus fee realization

Remember: Decisions are not always black and white.

Get comfortable in the gray.

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The Bottom Line

Function over form: The quality of an audit is not

measured by the number of rules you follow

Don’t compromise our professional standards, but don’t

lose sight of the forest for the trees

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Empowerment

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Powering Forward

Empower your staff:

Provide education and experience-based

learning

Empower your clients:

Interpret their business practices and advise them

how to improve

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Powering Forward

Empower leadership:

Find a vision that uses next generation tools

TODAY

Empower your firm:

Provide the value you guarantee on your website

and you’ll not only retain clients, but get new ones

38


How Will We Leave Our Profession to the

Next Generation?

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Conclusion

• Its time for Efficiency and Effectiveness

to work together

• It will take leadership

• Are you willing to do what it takes?

40

Thanks for

Your Time!

Alan Anderson, CPA

[email protected]

m

952-240-2459

41


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Questions?


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Alan Anderson, CPA ACCOUNT-ability Plus, LLC [email protected] 952-240-2459

Documents

Efficiency and Effectiveness Are Not Mutually Exclusive Efficiency Effective Leasership 2016.pdfThanks for Your Time! Alan Anderson, CPA [email protected] m 952-240-2459