The Virtual CFO

PodCamp Nashville 2009

Last year, I was encouraged by Bill Seaver at MicroExplosion to attend BarCamp. BarCamp ended up being one of the best marketing, technological, networking events that I have ever attended. I walked away from BarCamp with numerous social media and technological ideas that I am currently using to market CPA for Small Business.

On March 7th, PodCamp Nashville (PCN) will be held at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

PCN is for anyone interested in podcasting, blogging, digital music, and new media communities. This event is for everyone from novices to experts, content creators, listeners, sponsors, educators, and businesses interested in Web 2.0 should attend.

PCN is a free, all-day event brought to you by many volunteers from the Nashville new media, marketing and technology communities. Many of the same great people who brought you BarCamp Nashville are working to make sure PCN is the podcasting event for 2009.

I highly encourage you to attend PodCamp. You will be surprised at the practical knowledge you will walk away from this event with.

Shout Out to Maryland and South Carolina Associations of CPAs

Last week, Tom Hood, the executive director and CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs, referred to a blog series I wrote last year about tax preparation services in a CPA Success Blog post entitled, “Can somebody making $7 an hour really beat a CPA?”

A little later in the week, the South Carolina Association of CPAs reprinted Tom’s article on their website.

So for a week I’ve had a lot of visitors reading this blog from Maryland and South Carolina.

I would like to welcome visitors from both associations’ sites to the Virtual CFO blog. Thank you for visiting and I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts.

Virtual CFO Social Media Interview with MicroExplosion

Last week, I was interviewed by Bill Seaver of MicroExplosion Media concerning CPA for Small Business’s use of social media (Blogging and Twitter Send CPA 75% of His Business). 

Bill has had a tremendous influence on the way I market my public accounting firm. Before I opened my doors for business, Bill recommended that I have a blog as opposed to the traditional CPA firm newsletter (most of which are written by outside firms who specialize in professional services firms newsletters). This blog has allowed me to show prospects my expertise in small business financial matters as well as my personality.

As I stated in the interview, fifty-percent of the prospects who contact me mention this blog and how the topics I’ve written about directly relate the financial management and accounting help their business needs.

I hope you enjoy watching the interview.

I Don’t Have a Cookie Cutter Approach to Helping Clients

I recently overheard a competitor (a Nashville CPA who offers CFO services) make a sales pitch to a small business owner over lunch. It was evident that the CPA was having trouble persuading the owner that the canned solution he was offering would be beneficial to the business. At the end of the conversation, the business owner explained to the CPA how he would have to change his firms operating procedures in order to implement the solution. The conversation ended with the small business owner telling the CPA that he was unwilling to change procedures that have worked well for his company for years.

If you spend any time looking at the accounting and financial management services that are available in Nashville, you’ll see that many companies offer packaged solutions to small businesses. These solutions include standard flat rates for bookkeeping, controller services, and CFO services.CPA for Small Business doesn’t offer packaged solutions because we understand that there is no “standard type” of small business.

Every small business is unique. This is why I feel that we have a responsibility to first understand our clients business before offering an accounting or financial management solution to the client.

Every business owner looks at his business in a unique way. For example, some e-commerce clients look at average margin per sale when analyzing their performance while other clients look at the average margins for each product line. A cookie cutter analysis that uses average margin for all products would not be very useful to a small business owner who wants to see an analysis that includes average margin for different product lines.

This is why I don’t have a cookie cutter approach to helping clients. I strive to be a Nashville accountant who provides small business owners with information in a manner that reflects the way the owner looks at their business.

Back to Regular Blogging

I should be blogging more regularly now that the year-end rush is over.

I feel very grateful to have had a very busy January where I’ve helped clients close out 2008 and start planning for 2009.