MACPA Statement // Winter 2022

STATEMENT MACPA’S

WINTER 2022

DESTINATION:

ANNAPOLIS CPAs set their sites on Maryland’s capital as 2022 legislative session begins

ALSO INSIDE Why change management is critical for your firm’s future Page 7 Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants, Inc.

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CONTENTS Winter 2022 | Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants, Inc.

CHAIR’S COLUMN.............................................................................. 2 FEATURES

Destination Annapolis............................................................................................ 4

DEPARTMENTS

Public Practice........................................................................................................ 7 Business & Industry.............................................................................................. 17 High-Tech Solutions............................................................................................. 23 From Our Partners............................................................................................... 26

MEMBER NOTES................................................................................ 34 CLASSIFIEDS........................................................................................... 34

MEMBER SERVICES Lauren Baker Sydney Glen PEER REVIEW

2021–2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lexy Kessler, CPA Chair

Cora Edwards

Herbert J. Geary III, CPA, CGMA Vice Chair

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Christine Aspell, CPA Secretary/Treasurer

Natalie Antonakas Kelly Brown Chris Dougherty Emily Trott SPONSORSHIP / ADVERTISING SALES Amy Puente Krislyn Suljak

Avonette Blanding, CPA Immediate Past Chair Maxene M. Bardwell, CPA, CIGA, CIA, CFE, CISA, CITP, CRMA Elise Brouillette, CPA Leon Katsnelson Kimberly Mustard, CPA, CGMA Dave Ryan, Esq., CPA (retired) Tim Samuel, CPA Thomas White, CPA, CGMA Jeff Wilson II, CPA, PFS, CFE, CGMA, CDFA

SENIOR STAFF Jackie Brown CEO Skip Falatko, CPA CFO Bill Sheridan, CAE CCO Rebekah Brown, CPA Director of Development Mary Beth Halpern Director Technical Services/ Regulatory Affairs Dee Sullivan Director of Learning

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! See below to submit content

Bill Sheridan | MACPA Dulaney Center II 901 Dulaney Valley Road Suite 800 Towson, MD 21204 FOR CONTENT SUBMISSION: bill@macpa.org feedback@macpa.org TO ADVERTISE IN THE STATEMENT: krislyn@macpa.org P: 410.296.6250 F: 410.296.8713 Toll free: 800.782.2036 The MACPA reserves the right to edit all submissions for grammatical style and / or length.

Statement of fact and opinion are made by the authors alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of the officers or members of MACPA. The Statement is published four times a year by the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants, Inc. Bill Sheridan, Editor Krislyn Suljak, Advertising Sales

WINTER 2022

1

CHAIR’S COLUMN It’s a great time to be a CPA — now we need more of them

BY LEXY KESSLER, CPA / PARTNER, ARONSON LLC It was hard to not be optimistic about the future of the profession on Nov. 18, when nearly 100 of Maryland’s newest CPAs were sworn into the profession as part of the MACPA’s annual newly licensed CPA Swearing-In Ceremony.

Held at the Maryland Live! Hotel in Hanover, Md., the event gave our state’s new CPAs the opportunity to take an oath to “support the laws and regulations and perform my professional duties to the best of my ability in an ethical, professional, and objective manner,” and to “uphold the honor and dignity of the accounting profession and abide by the rules of professional conduct.”

The oath is strictly ceremonial. New CPAs don’t have to take the oath before launching their careers.

Even so, I believe the inspiring annual event plays an important role in a CPA’s early career, for a couple of key reasons: • Not only does the ceremony give new CPAs and their families an opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments, but it forces those attending to actually verbalize their commitment to serving the public. Passing the exam and earning your license is one thing.

Standing in front of state and federal regulators, raising your right hand and promising to do the right thing is a much more powerful step, and one the new CPAs will remember when faced with professionally and morally difficult decisions.

• When you talk to the new CPAs, you quickly realize how much the event means to them. Previous “SwearingIn” participants have called the event “the exclamation point” on their years of studying and exam preparation, and “the most important experience” of their lives.

This year’s event drew VIPs from throughout the profession, including: • Dave McGlone, Deputy Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Labor.

• Maryland Board of Public Accountancy Chair James Marshall.

• Anoop Mehta, Vice Chair of the American Institute of CPAs and a former chair of the MACPA’s Board of Directors.

• Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, a former AICPA and MACPA Chair who currently chairs

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the AICPA’s National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion and the MACPA Foundation.

• MACPA CEO Jackie Brown.

“I would not be where I am today without the support of the people around me.”

— Anoop Mehta

“I want to welcome you to a great profession,” Mehta told the new CPAs. “The people in this room are your support system. I would go so far as to say they are your life support system. I would not be where I am today without the support of the people around me.”

That support comes with a responsibility to extend similar support to the future CPAs still to come, said Ellison-Taylor. “If you are here today and took that oath, you have an obligation to pay it forward,” she said.

I, too, was privileged to have addressed the new CPAs at the event. My thoughts for them, and for all new CPAs, are these: You are entering a great profession at an extremely critical time. Your companies, your firms and clients, and your families need your expertise more now than ever.

It’s a great time to be a CPA.

Seeing all of those new CPAs gathered in one place, raising their hands, and pledging to protect the public interest with ethics and integrity made all of that clear.

Even with that wonderful evening, our profession has some pipeline obstacles to overcome.

You don’t need me to tell you that, of course. You’re probably feeling the impact that the dearth of new CPAs is having at your own organization.

For me, though, a couple of numbers I saw recently have reinforced the extent of the problem.

The AICPA’s 2019 Accounting Graduates Supply and Demand Report found that the number of accounting graduates dropped 4 percent from 2017 to 2018, the third annual decrease in a row. And according to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, the number of CPA exam sections taken fell from 310,000 in 2016 to 248,000 in 2019. Fewer accounting graduates and fewer CPA exams taken mean fewer CPAs. In fact, NASBA now suggests that only one out of every three accounting graduates is becoming a CPA. Combine all of that with The Great Resignation and we have some daunting staffing barriers to overcome.

But it’s true — this is a great time to be a CPA, maybe the most exciting time in recent memory. Our world is on the cusp of some truly amazing transformations, and the speed of that evolution is exponential.

CPAs will play important roles in all of it.

Now we need more CPAs to play those roles.

As Kimberly Ellison-Taylor said, our job is to pay it forward and clear the path for more young professionals to join our ranks.

I hope you’ll join us in that effort. Learn how you can get involved by contacting the MACPA at (800) 782-2036.

STATEMENT

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DESTINATION:

ANNAPOLIS

CPAs set their sites on Maryland’s capital as 2022 legislative session begins B Y B I L L S H E R IDA N , CA E The Maryland Association of CPAs’ 2022 legislative season is off and running, and it’s already one for the books.

The largest CPA Day in MACPA history kicked things off on Jan. 20, with more than 500+ CPAs brushing up on the issues the profession will be watching during the Maryland General Assembly’s 2022 session. The annual event was held virtually for a second consecutive year, allowing hundreds more members to participate than a live gathering in Annapolis could typically accommodate.

The record CPA Day attendance is one of the very few positives to emerge in a virtual legislative environment.

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This year’s General Assembly session once again looks different.

Unlike last year’s completely virtual format, the 2022 session is a bit of a hybrid — virtual committee hearings in the House, in-person hearings in the Senate, all of which adds even more complexity to the MACPA’s advocacy efforts.

“It’s a huge challenge,” said Tom Hood, chair of the MACPA’s Legislative Executive Committee. “Advocacy is about relationships — the relationships we have with legislators, the ability to talk with them both formally and informally. (A virtual session) moves you into a more formal, controlled way of communicating with legisla-

STATEMENT

Support our PAC and strengthen your VOICE in Annapolis

P OLITICAL A CTION C OMMITTEE Maryland’s General Assembly meets in Annapolis each year and votes on critical issues that impact your profession, your livelihood, and the businesses you serve.

That’s why we urge you to support the CPA Committee on Political Action. The CPA/CPA is the only political action committee in Maryland dedicated solely to fighting for CPAs in the legislative arena.

Good relationships with legislators are the core of the MACPA’s legislative advocacy efforts. Your contribution to the CPA/CPA is one of the easiest and most effective ways for CPAs to get involved in the political process and have an impact on the profession.

“Advocacy is about relationships — the relationships we have with legislators, the ability to talk with them both formally and informally.”

— Tom Hood

tors. It’s even more challenging when you consider the level of reorganization that we’re facing in the General Assembly.”

Contributions to our PAC lag far behind other professional groups. This puts us at a severe disadvantage, especially when certain groups have interests opposed to ours and have far greater PAC participation from their members.

Through contributions from members like you, the PAC works toward favorable outcomes on legislative issues, educates legislators about matters that are important to the CPA profession, and keeps MACPA members informed. But we can’t do it alone. Your involvement makes a difference and ensures that, together, we make the greatest impact.

Please support the MACPA’s CPA/ CPA today by donating online at MACPA.org/advocacy. Or scan the QR code here.

Your contribution to the CPA/ CPA will allow us to support legislators from both parties, and help the CPA profession maintain an influential presence in Annapolis.

Thanks so much for your support!

That reorganization has had a significant impact on CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

WINTER 2022

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

many of the key House and Senate committees whose activity the MACPA closely monitors.

• In the House Ways and Means Committee, which considers matters related to state and local taxation, Del. Anne Kaiser has stepped down as chair, a role she held since 2017.

Replacing her is Del. Vanessa Atterbeary from Howard County.

• Atterbeary previously served as vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, which considers matters related to civil and criminal law. Del. David Moon from Montgomery County has succeeded her.

• Nancy Kopp, who served as Maryland treasurer for nearly 20 years, has retired. Del. Dereck Davis from Prince George’s County has been elected by the General Assembly as the state’s new treasurer.

• In becoming treasurer, Davis relinquished his seat as chair of the House Economic Matters Committee, which considers matters related to business occupations and professional / business regulation. Replacing him is Del. C.T. Wilson from Charles County.

• Del. Kathleen Dumais vacated her position as vice chair of the House Economic Matters Committee when she was appointed

by Gov. Larry Hogan as a Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge. Replacing her is the committee’s new vice chair, Del. Brian Crosby from St. Mary’s County.

• Three committee chairs — Del. Maggie McIntosh from House Appropriations, Del. Shane Pendergrass from House Health and Government Operations, and Sen. Delores Kelley from Senate Finance — will retire at the end of this session.

• Maryland’s deputy comptroller, Sharonne Bonardi, has been named executive director of the Federation of Tax Administrators. She is succeeded by Andrew Schaufele.

We’re starting fresh with new leadership in these areas. That takes time, effort, and CPAs who know these new leaders and can rebuild those relationships from the ground up.

unteers. The association put a lot of time and effort into building fruitful relationships with these departing leaders. We’re starting fresh with new leadership in these areas. That takes time, effort, and CPAs who know these new leaders and can rebuild those relationships from the ground up.

That work will be ongoing. More urgent, though, is the MACPA’s 2022 legislative agenda.

It includes four key issues: • Opposing sales taxes on professional services, including those provided by CPAs. • Opposing efforts to replace Maryland’s contributory negligence standard with a comparative fault rule. Comparative fault is a legal maneuver that would result in increased costs of doing business and decreased productivity.

• Supporting proposed amendments to the sales tax on digital download and streaming services, as recommended by a Maryland Chamber of Commerce working group that includes members of the MACPA’s State Tax Committee. The Maryland Chamber “supports legislation that increases clarity and helps with compliance while reducing unintended taxation and maintaining legislative intent.” So does the MACPA. • Supporting proper funding for the Maryland Comptroller’s Office, in an effort to help tax professionals better do their jobs and serve their clients.

WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT? A few things.

• First of all, it’s an election year, so don’t expect to see any major tax legislation out of the General Assembly. Next year, however, might be a different story.

• Secondly, the 2022 elections mean we’ll likely see plenty of political posturing and the introduction of a number of bills that will attract the attention of voters but likely won’t go anywhere.

• Finally, expect to see more political division in Maryland. When you add redistricting with legislators retiring or moving to new positions, you’ll likely see a net loss — fewer “middle of the road” legislators who are willing to work on both sides of the aisle.

It should be an interesting legislative session, to say the least.

Bill Sheridan, CAE, is editor of The Statement and chief communications officer of the Maryland Association of CPAs.

• With 2022 as an election year, Maryland’s powerful Board of Public Works will receive an entire makeover. Maryland’s governor, comptroller, and treasurer will all change hands this year, the first time all three seats have changed in the same year in more than a century.

WHAT DOES ALL OF THAT MEAN? Simply put, it means a lot of work for the MACPA’s advocacy vol-

6

STATEMENT

PUBLIC PRACTICE Why change management is critical for your firm’s future Editor’s note: The following article is reprinted with permission from the Indiana CPA Society.

As the world continues to power forward with complex tech innovation, change is speeding up at unparalleled rates.

making money and your peers don’t seem to be embracing change, so things are okay, right?

Large companies might have teams of people invested in managing widespread internal change and tech innovation. For small and medium sized businesses without significant human capital, this can be a lofty aspiration. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need change management.

But it’s easier to get off the rig if jumping isn’t your only choice. It’s even easier if the fire never starts at all. Being forced to jump as your only option makes it easy to resent change. You’re scrambling to survive instead of developing and enacting a thoughtful plan that makes change easier on everyone.

WHAT IS CHANGE MANAGEMENT? Change management is exactly as it sounds: a process that helps your organization effectively enact a change. Change management is especially crucial for an organizational IT change. It not only minimizes risks and disruptions, but it makes sure everyone is on the same page and feels comfortable with transitions.

When it comes to smaller firms, those in leadership are often the most important change management leaders. Unfortunately, they also tend to be the most resistant to change.

THE ‘BURNING PLATFORM’ Small to medium sized accounting firms often get stuck in “burning platform” mode. According to Inc. magazine, the “burning platform” idea refers to an oil rig; when it’s on fire and there’s nowhere to go, your only move is to jump.

For firms lagging behind on tech innovation, it’s easy to get complacent and not realize the fire slowly breaking out. You’re

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even more risks.

It wasn’t long ago that tools like Quickbooks were disrupting the industry and replacing ledger books and hand calculations. If your firm was around in the 1980s when accounting software was just starting out, chances are someone (or multiple someones) clung to their ways of doing things and thought it was a just fad that would fade with time. Can you imagine an accounting firm now that didn’t adapt to the existence of Quickbooks, Xero, and other solutions?

As the speed of technology continues to increase, the more you need to embrace change.

A 2018 Accounting Today article notes that many in the field incorrectly expect industry changes — mostly fueled by technologies like Big Data, A.I., and blockchain — to happen over the course of the decade.

Experts assert the change is not going to be that slow, and those unprepared will be caught off guard, a detrimental situation for their firm. This means:

As we continue to move deeper into the 2020s and sit at the cusp of 5G innovation, it’s no longer hyperbole to say technology adaptation will be the make or break for the industry.

• Services could lack relevance to clients and firms may be unable to pivot to those services clients seek.

Traditional services like tax preparation, compliance, and audits are going to fade as technology makes it easier than ever for these services to be handled either internally by the client or at a lower cost by firms. Consulting and advisory services that make a firm a “one stop shop” for all things financial are the number one way firms are going to move forward.

• There could be an inability to compete.

There’s no way around it: The small and medium sized firms who embrace technology and innovate services will dominate the market. Those who stick to the traditional will lose clients and stop attracting new ones.

• A declining business valuation. Your firm often isn’t worth what you think it is. If retirement is on your radar in the next 5–10 years and you’re seeking to sell, not keeping up with industry changes means you’ve lost significant value.

• You need a culture that prioritizes urgency and action over big vision ideas that are applauded but then forgotten. Too often an organization embraces the romance of change but isn’t invested in the hard work. In order to survive and thrive, leadership needs to make sure action is taken. It’s not just about what you should do, but about what you have to do to remain relevant and successful.

• You need a culture that doesn’t focus on the negatives of change. There’s no way around it: Change can feel hard and disruptive. Firm leaders often find themselves stuck on how change can be problematic instead of looking at the big picture benefits. An effective change management structure aims to minimize problems and disruptions and make change work for your organization.

• When these cultural attitudes are in place, change is less about being reactive and more about embracing possibility. Leadership attitude is critical in not only making these cultures possible but in gaining employee buy-

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A NEW CHANGE MANAGEMENT CULTURE Driving true change in your firm requires a cultural approach on two fronts:

in for the change. It’s easier to overhaul an outdated system when everyone is enthusiastic about the results.

BUILDING A CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN A change management plan will guide your tech transformation and help make it as approachable as possible. Not sure where to start? These guiding strategies will help.

• Develop your vision. What are the key reasons behind the change? What goals will they achieve? How will they impact your firm for the good?

• Assign roles. Who will lead the change?

What other leader roles are needed and who will fill them? What is everyone’s role in the change process?

• Build a calendar. When will the change process start? What are the key steps along the way, and how will various team members play a role? When will training take place, and who will provide it? Who needs the training?

What communication check points are needed along the way to keep all stakeholders involved in the process?

• Create a communications process. How will you collect feedback and problems?

How will requests be handled? How will you track all changes made, including updates and fixes? Will there be a log of tracked progress, and where will it live? How will you share key milestones, including successes and goal achievements after change has been enacted?

STATEMENT

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

WINTER 2021

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PUBLIC PRACTICE Shifting the CPA firm structure

BY JIM BOOMER

Two major forces impact firms today. First is the need to shift toward more advisory and consulting services. Second is the intensified war for talent, which threatens a firm’s ability to build its consulting and advisory teams. Both challenges have a common solution: changing the structure of your firm.

The idea of changing your firm structure may sound overwhelming, but chances are you’re already taking steps in that direction by outsourcing and automating certain tasks.

CHANGING THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR FIRM Your firm today resembles a pyramid, with many doers or preparers at the bottom of the pyramid and a small number of strategists/partners at the top. Your goal is to shift that structure to a diamond by outsourcing and automating many of the tasks of your doers / preparers.

The next logical question is how to fill in the bottom corners of the firm of tomorrow.

OUTSOURCING Outsourcing is not a new strategy, but we see more interest in offshore talent than we’ve seen since the early 2000s. At that time, offshoring fell out of favor because firms wanted to keep their outsourcing U.S.based. The problem is, we just don’t have enough skilled workers in the U.S. to meet the demand.

Today, your firm can leverage several outsourcing companies, and we anticipate several more to enter the market in the coming year.

This past tax season, prices ranged from a low of $75 to $125 per client for federal and state individual income tax returns. The firms that committed to over 200 returns this past season reported fixed prices well under $100 per client.

AUTOMATION I want to change the term robotic process automation (RPA) to just “process automation” because the robotic piece tends to scare people.

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For now, someone still needs to oversee those automations and verify that they are doing what they’re intended to do.

• Process. A series of actions or operations conducing to an end, a continuous operation or treatment.

• Automation. The technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.

When you take away the robotic piece, it all starts with process. At times we use the words workflow and process interchangeably. Workflow is how work flows through a process, but looking at workflow can help us identify opportunities for automation in our processes.

When you hear the word automation, you may think of replacing humans doing the work with computers. But for now, someone still needs to oversee those automations and verify that they are doing what they’re intended to do.

Processes are suitable candidates for automation if they are: • time-consuming, • impacted by changes in transactional demand, and • highly dependent on employee attention and involvement Members of our Boomer Technology Circles and Boomer Business Transformation Circle have shared how they’re using automation in their firm. A few ideas include: • Automate e-filing. One member of our Boomer Business Transformation Circle used RPA combined with CCH APIs

to automate e-filing once the signed Form 8879 was received from the client.

Another worked with a Bot as a Service provider. When the client sent a signed Form 8879 to a central email address, the signed 8879 would be saved to a folder, then moved to the client’s folder.

CCH Workstream would be updated.

This simple automation allowed them to free up the capacity of one full-time equivalent in the first year. They’re now looking into automating engagement letters.

• Job creation. Using Microsoft Power Apps, the firm allowed employees to create jobs in Practice Engine for themselves. The employee fills out a form, and Power App creates the job.

As a result, admin time was reduced, and the staff didn’t have to wait for job creation to get started on a project.

• Creating Microsoft Teams. The firm leveraged the MS Teams API to automatically create a team that becomes their virtual portal with the audit client. Next up, they’re working on automating moving documents uploaded from the team into the firm’s document management system.

To lead your team through business transformation toward more advisory and consulting services, you’ll need to create capacity for your team through process and technology. The processes and systems that got you to where you are today likely won’t get you where you want to be in the future.

As you start exploring outsourcing and automation, don’t be surprised if some members of your firm are less than enthusiastic. Accountants are trained to be critical rather than creative thinkers. Critical thinkers will quickly come up with obstacles. But I encourage you to give creativity some space before deciding that outsourcing and automation aren’t for your firm.

Jim Boomer, CEO of Boomer Consulting, Inc., is an expert on managing technology within an accounting firm. He serves as the director of the Boomer Technology Circles, The Advisor Circle and the CIO Circle.

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STATEMENT

PUBLIC PRACTICE Tips for working with first-time single audit clients FROM THE AICPA The U.S. has seen historic levels of federal funding in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Various laws, including the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 have provided billions of dollars to American businesses, state and local governments and not-for-profits.

While this funding has provided relief, especially for nonprofits, it may cause complications for many recipients.

DOES YOUR CLIENT NEED A SINGLE AUDIT? Much of the new pandemic funding is subject to single audit rules. Not all recipients of this funding will need a single audit.

However, when a non-federal entity spends $750,000 or more of federal awards in a fiscal year, a single audit is required.

Many recipients of pandemic funding have never had a single audit before and may not know what is required. Your existing clients may need a single audit for the first time or you may begin working with new clients who have never even had a financial statement audit before. Here are some tips for you to help your clients through the evolving single audit process.

ASK CLIENTS WHAT FUNDING THEY HAVE RECEIVED. Talk to your clients about what type of funding they have received from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 to the present.

In some cases, you may consider helping them review their grant agreements to identify what is needed on their end, and then on your end as the auditor. Additionally, you could email clients with news related to the funding they’ve received or update your website with the most current information. The sooner your clients know about important and relevant information, the better prepared they are and the better audit you can perform — so it is a win-win.

Encourage your clients to be proactive and ask questions about funding they have received. For example, one controller contacted her CPA as soon as she knew her WINTER 2022

organization would receive funding. She knew this funding had stipulations but didn’t know yet that a single audit would be required. Finding out early in the process was a huge benefit. But many organizations may be unaware of all the requirements in the funding they have received.

be concerned with audit costs because they are required to undergo an additional audit. While cost is always one consideration, in this situation, it is also important to focus on the experience of the firm to make sure they are getting the highestquality audit possible.

COMMUNICATE OPENLY WITH YOUR CLIENTS. This is a time when having open lines of communication with your clients is especially important. Learning whether your clients have reviewed and truly understand the guidelines for the type of funding they received is key, as well as that they have procedures in place to comply.

Also, as auditors, you have a duty to the public to perform high-quality audits.

Single audits have a significant public interest component as they involve taxpayer dollars and federal agencies rely on them as part of their administrative responsibilities for determining compliance with the requirements of federal awards. Because of this, audit quality should always be at the forefront of every auditor’s mind.

Also, clients need to know — even if they are under the $750,000 threshold — that administrative and other requirements of federal funding apply even if a single audit is not needed. For example, the funds may only be spent for certain purposes. This is an important concept for clients to understand.

BE AWARE OF AUDIT QUALITY CONCERNS. Some first-time single audit clients may

Because of the complexity of single audits and the necessity of specialized knowledge of their rules and compliance requirements, you should consider whether you should accept a single audit engagement if you do not have experience performing them. Perhaps you could consider performing the financial statement audit, but other options for the single audit might be to refer your clients to someone else in your CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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PUBLIC PRACTICE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

organization with the appropriate experience or to another firm that specializes in single audits. Alternatively, if you have some experience but not much, you could consider engaging another firm to perform a pre-issuance review or other types of consultative assistance to help ensure a highquality audit.

MAKE TIME FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION AND PAY ATTENTION TO DEVELOPMENTS. Firms should ensure auditors receive the required training for all specialization areas.

For example, generally accepted government auditing standards (referred to as the Yellow Book) require auditors who perform single audits to maintain their competency through CPE hours and topics listed in the 2018 Yellow Book.

If you take on a single audit, there is

single audit learning available through the MACPA and the AICPA, among other sources, to help you gain the fundamental knowledge you need. Regarding the new COVID-19 funding, you may want to pay close attention to any training provided by federal agencies.

Additionally, you can access the AICPA’s GAQC website, in particular its COVID19 Resource page, which outlines many resources. You may also want to contact other firms on their single audit and pandemic-related resources. It’s useful to speak to your peers about what they’re doing and learn from their experiences. Keeping on top of things is important.

LOOKING AHEAD The pandemic has drastically changed work in many industries, and the accounting profession is no different. The next

few years will see many more single audits being performed by more public accounting firms across the country.

Keeping up with all these changes while continuously striving to be that trusted adviser for your clients is tough. In these times, in addition to all the other tips above, it is especially important to be mindful of staff well-being. Organizations need to provide support to staff so they can remain engaged and avoid burnout. Focusing on well-being can enable staff to do their jobs better, which allows them to better serve their clients and, ultimately, contributes to enhancing audit quality.

These are challenging times in the single audit arena for sure. But the tips above should help provide a pathway to success.

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BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY What you can learn from businesses that do agile right Case studies show that agile strategies can be applied to running a business and innovating at the same time.

BY SABINE VOLLMER

Technological advances, globalization, climate change, and, not least, the coronavirus pandemic make for a world of rapid changes and uncertainties.

One way for businesses to keep up is to become agile.

Steve Berez is a partner at global consulting firm Bain & Company and a senior leader in the consultancy’s agile practice. He and his colleagues Darrell Rigby and Sarah Elk co-authored Doing Agile Right: Transformation Without Chaos to dispel myths and misconceptions about agile business methods.

The book is based on hundreds of case studies from around the world and across industries and dozens of third-party research reports.

In an interview with Financial Management, Berez outlined the commonalities he and his co-authors found among companies that successfully used agile methods.

THE BOOK IS BASED ON EXPERIENCES AT LOTS OF COMPANIES. CAN YOU SUMMARIZE THOSE EXPERIENCES? Berez: Companies we’ve seen be most successful with agile have agile leadership teams. Those leadership teams understood their job is to build an agile business system.

That agile business system does three things: It runs the business reliably and efficiently, making sure operations that need to be consistent are consistent. It changes the business or innovates rapidly and effectively. Then it harmonizes those two objectives.

So, the agile leadership team is thinking about doing all of those things.

WHAT’S AN AGILE SYSTEM? WHAT’S PART OF THAT SYSTEM? Berez: Every business has what we think of as an operating system, the way that it functions. That includes things like the strategy that it follows, the leadership and culture, the talent engine, and the business processes.

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For each of those dimensions, this system can be static. Static strategy is very detailed and planned far in advance. Or it could be at the other end of the spectrum — chaotic. That means plans are uncoordinated and undisciplined.

In the middle is an agile strategy with adaptive road maps. The idea is that you don’t need a detailed map for your entire journey, but it is important to develop a map to your nearest milestone, something that’s more clearly in your sights.

Once you get there, you can select your next milestone and map your route to it.

This way your map is constantly evolving as you are learning the best routes along the way.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE FINANCE FUNCTION? HOW IS AN AGILE CFO DIFFERENT FROM A TRADITIONAL CFO? Berez: What we find is that in many traditional large businesses, there’s an emphasis by the CFO on running the business — the control and reliability — but not as much on effectively changing the busi-

What we find is that in many traditional large businesses, there’s an emphasis by the CFO on running the business — the control and reliability — but not as much on effectively changing the business.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

ness. For example, the core processes of generating financial reports, paying invoices, controlling the spending of the company — those things are all high on the minds of many CFOs, and they do them very effectively. In the process of doing those things effectively, they sometimes slow down innovation. For example, they fund projects for long periods, and they require detailed specifics on what a project is going to do and the features and functions of the way it’s going to work.

They get a lot of control out of doing that, and it might feel like that’s a better use of the shareholders’ money. The problem is that a lot of projects end up not really generating the value that was promised, because they’re not flexible enough to take into account what’s learned along the way.

A CFO in an agile business or a CFO practicing agile principles will work more like a venture capitalist, funding projects for short periods, understanding how those projects are producing results, and then doubling down on the bets that are giving better results and cutting back on those that aren’t.

On the mindset side, this is something we want all leaders to be exhibiting. It would be things like trusting people and empowering people at the frontline to do the right thing. That is, to believe

changing the way it did funding of its technology projects. Historically, it funded large projects for multiple years. Even when those projects weren’t generating the value promised, they would just continue going.

They moved to a model where teams would be funded around different themes — for example, improving the check-in process or improving the efficiency of turning around airplanes at the gate.

There would be specific business outcomes that each of those teams were looking to achieve. The CFO was able to monitor those outcomes on a quarterly basis and adjust funding accordingly.

That provided the flexibility of being able to make those changes, but at the same time, there still were budgets, controls, and processes for hiring people and so forth that allowed the control side to work. That’s the balance I’m talking about.

WHICH PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OR GOALS MEASURE AGILE LEADERSHIP? Berez: An important part of measuring agile teams is thinking about specific business metrics that are going to achieve the value the company wants.

For example, we worked with a healthcare company that was trying to improve the number of people going to high-quality, cost-

A CFO in an agile business or a CFO practicing agile principles will work more like a venture capitalist, funding projects for short periods, understanding how those projects are producing results, and then doubling down on the bets that are giving better results and cutting back on those that aren’t. the people closest to the customer, the information, or the data are going to be able to make better decisions than much more senior people further removed from those things. Or the idea that it’s OK to take smart risks in the service of learning as opposed to ensuring that a product or an idea is perfect before it’s rolled out.

But a CFO also has a role in assuring that the parts of the business system or the operating system they control are able to support agile teams and the funding model — the way the budgeting is done.

I SUSPECT IT’S IMPORTANT TO KEEP A BALANCE BETWEEN THE AGILE AND THE TRADITIONAL IF YOU WANT THE FINANCE FUNCTION TO FUNCTION. HOW DO YOU DO THAT AS A CFO? Berez: Balance is really one of the core principles that’s required.

For example, I was working with a large airline last year that was

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effective doctors. There wasn’t a single team that could really fully achieve that objective, but there was a team that was responsible for creating a directory and rating physicians. There was another team responsible for the app which a consumer would use to find a physician. Then there was another team responsible for setting up the incentives of the way that healthcare plans were designed.

As each team made progress toward its team objective, the enterprise objective would be realized.

The way they set up the metrics for each of the teams was to optimize the things they were able to control. For example, the team that helped a patient pick a doctor using an app would be measured by the percentage of the time the consumer made a decision to see a high-quality, low-cost physician.

In a more traditional model, you might just be measuring things CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

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like the average medical cost or average administrative cost, which isn’t of much help in guiding the activity of individual teams.

HOW DO YOU MONITOR WHETHER YOU HAVE THAT BALANCE RIGHT ON AN ONGOING BASIS, THAT YOU’RE GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? Berez: An agile system is set up very well to monitor and adapt.

You’re constantly looking at the way you’re doing things and improving them. CFOs look at the results that they’re getting from the different teams and see if they’re achieving those results. If they’re not, they look at the underlying reasons. Are we perhaps not funding the right projects? Are we not taking enough risks?

Are we not giving the teams the resources they need to succeed?

In addition to measuring business outcomes, they might be surveying teams to understand whether they’re getting what they need.

They might be doing external surveys of the market to understand why customers are behaving the way they are. All those things together will provide the information to decide whether the system is in balance or whether there is some part that isn’t working the way it ought to and needs to be refined.

WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE, AN AGILE CFO WORKING WITHIN AN AGILE C-SUITE, AND HOW DOES THAT DIFFER FROM A TRADITIONAL SETUP? Berez: Individual leaders can still make progress toward agile goals, but they’ll definitely work most effectively as part of an overall agile leadership team.

Agile leadership itself functions as an agile team, though not as much as a conventional agile team, because the agile leadership team in the C-suite is responsible for a number of different things.

Each C-suite member, of course, is responsible for his/her own function. The CFO is responsible directly for the financial organization.

As a leadership team, they are also responsible for building the agile business system that I was describing before. As they work together as a team, they’re able to help each other. The CFO can help the other members with the financial metrics, to let them know whether their functions are operating well. The CIO can provide some of the data and some of the technology capability for the tools to track the value. The chief marketing officer can help the other leadership team members understand the external customers better and ensure that their functions are supporting those external customers in the best way possible.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A BIG COMPANY TO DO THIS? Berez: Any size company can do this. The size of the company just impacts the scope of what the leadership team works on.

DID YOU SEE ANYTHING SURPRISING, ANYTHING YOU DIDN’T EXPECT TO RESULT FROM AN AGILE SYSTEM, FROM AGILE LEADERSHIP? Berez: The agile leaders enjoy their jobs far more than they used to. Previously, they were spending all sorts of time in meetings that felt very unproductive, where decisions might be made one day and questioned another day, where they found themselves spending a lot of time in reviews and they weren’t necessarily creating a lot of value for the business.

When they moved to this agile model, they could spend much more time on the things that only they could do, most importantly around business strategy, around building this agile operating system that helped improve the business. They spent less time micromanaging and directing their teams. They were doing higher-value work and finding it more fulfilling.

They were doing things that were having greater impact on a daily basis than they used to when their job involved much more mundane and routine work.

CAN YOU DO AGILE WRONG? Berez: There are a number of companies that, when they take on this agile journey, opt for an approach that could best be summarized as, “Let’s have you folks do agile.” The senior team comes up with a grand plan to make the company agile, and they go through all sorts of detailed project plans. They set up a project office to administer all of this, and they dictate that all of these teams be set up and that people start working in agile ways.

This is exactly the opposite of agile behavior. The leadership team is not listening to customers. They’re not testing things on a small basis, improving them, and only then scaling them up and rolling them out.

As CFOs and other executives embark on this journey, we would want them to start with smaller pilots, demonstrate value, get energy in the organization around that value, and then scale up as the demand grows.

An important aspect of what each leadership team needs to do is create a list of the priority opportunities for the business. Those are the initiatives that the team will undertake to make improvements in the business. Initiatives should be prioritized based on the business value and how quickly they can be achieved.

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HIGH-TECH SOLUTIONS A.I. dominates annual list of top technology trends to watch

BY DANIEL BURRUS

“Each trend is growing at an increasingly exponential rate and will impact our lives, both personally and professionally, in the coming year and beyond,” Burrus said.

“These trends highlight enormous, gamechanging opportunities in a broad array of applications and industries. As you read through the list, look for opportunities to leverage them and become a positive disruptor.”

powerful subcategories, such as machine learning, deep learning, and cognitive computing applications, and they are increasingly being offered as a service, dramatically lowering the cost and increasing the application to every industry. In addition, A.I. hardware is rapidly shrinking in physical size, soon to the chip level, allowing A.I. functionality to become increasingly embedded in products, applications and processes. Thanks to the as-a-service model — coupled with better sensors, increased machine intelligence and Alexalike voice communications — advanced automation and intelligent networked robotics will increasingly work with humans in new and productive ways. From demand forecasting to real-time audits to the use of semiautonomous and fully autonomous vehicles, humans will increasingly rely on A.I.

Below is a sample of eight trends from Burrus’s list of the 25 technology trends shaping 2022 and beyond. The complete list is available at Burrus.com/SeeTheFuture.

2 Rapid advances in A.I. will drive augmented thinking and augmented movement using exoskeleton technologies to new levels of application.

The continued expansion and adoption of artificial intelligence, autonomous technologies, and virtual and augmented reality highlight world-renowned futurist Daniel Burrus’s list of the 25 technology trends that will shape 2022.

Burrus, best-selling author of Flash Foresight and The Anticipatory Organization, has been publishing his annual list for 39 years now.

1 Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and cognitive computing will increasingly be integrated into all business processes.

Artificial intelligence is a broad category of machine intelligence that includes WINTER 2022

Augmented technologies are designed to increase humans’ physical and cognitive capabilities. Augmented thinking technologies will increasingly provide realtime actionable insights and knowledge drawn from A.I.-enabled data analytics of

large data sets to enhance human thinking and problem-solving. Humans and A.I. will increasingly have a symbiotic relationship in which one needs the other for peak performance. Augmented movement technologies enhance physical human functionality. A hearing aid is an example of sensory augmentation, an artificial leg is an appendage augmentation, and a 95-pound nurse in Japan wearing a powered exoskeleton so that she can lift a 200pound patient into a bed is a functional augmentation. GM workers wear powered exoskeletons to lessen arm, hand and joint problems while assembling cars. All of our physical parts and systems, including our genes, can be augmented.

5 The increasing datafication of everything, creating even bigger Big Data, will increasingly drive the use of A.I.enabled high-speed data analytics.

Big data is a term that describes the technologies and techniques used to capture and utilize exponentially increasing streams of data. Edge computing, IoT adding networked intelligence to an increasing number of “things” will exponentially increase the amount of data created. The goal is to bring enterprise-wide visibility and insights to users that enable making CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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HIGH-TECH SOLUTIONS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

rapid, critical decisions at the speed of need. Using advanced cloud services, A.I.-enabled high-speed data analytics will increasingly be employed as a musthave complement to existing information management systems and programs to identify actionable insights from a mass of Big Data. Real-time data audit services that separate good data from bad data and irrelevant data will also become a rapidly growing service.

6 Rapid adoption of advanced distributed cloud computing platforms and services will provide the backbone for digital transformations.

Businesses of all sizes will increasingly embrace new variations in public, private, hybrid and personal mobile clouds.

In addition, distributing cloud services to different locations with centralized cloud governance will provide many new applications. The shift in how organizations obtain and maintain software, hardware and computing capacity to cut costs in IT has been dramatically accelerated and will continue to transform all processes from

Not all clouds are created equal. human resources to sales management.

Beyond cost cutting, new cloud computing platforms and services will increasingly be used to create new products, services and markets. Not all clouds are created equal.

Some are optimized for IoT and edge applications, while others are designed for different levels of security and speed.

7 The use of virtualization of hardware and software, including storage, applications and networking, will increase.

The virtualization of software and hardware has been increasingly used by both large and small businesses as virtualization security improved. Hardware as a service

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has increasingly joined software as a service, creating what some have called “IT as a service.” In addition to the rapid growth of virtual storage, virtualization of processing power will continue to grow rapidly, allowing mobile devices to access supercomputer capabilities and apply them to processes such as purchasing and logistics.

These services will help companies cut costs and accelerate innovation, as they provide access to powerful software programs and the latest technology without the expense of a large IT staff and timeconsuming, expensive upgrades.

11 Increasing use of virtualization for processes and services enabling Everything as a Service (XaaS).

Advances in cloud platforms, A.I., 5G and others listed in this report, will dramatically accelerate the virtualization of processes and services by organizations of all sizes needing to update and streamline existing services and to rapidly deploy new and often disruptive services. This will lead to a more distributed enterprise model accelerating innovation, digital transformation and driving growth far beyond national borders. Anything can become a virtual service offering and this trend is just now starting to explode. For example, the rapid growth of videoconferencing as a service, A.I. as a service, blockchain as a service, quantum as a service, collaboration as a service, security as a service, networking as a service, and HR as a service are a few quick examples. Traditional products such as cars, trucks, RVs, boats, motorcycles — you name it — will increasingly use a subscription service model.

16 The application of new blockchains will dramatically accelerate in a wide variety of industries, and at the same time, cryptocurrency, digital currency and NFTs will continue their growth.

Introduced as a means of transferring bitcoins, blockchains and related distributed ledger technologies are increasingly being used in any number of key areas. A system that enables secure, digital direct transfers, blockchains decentralize transactions by eliminating the middleman, thereby

allowing for direct connection among all involved parties. Blockchain technology goes far beyond cryptocurrency applications to processes such as the transfer of contracts, insurance policies, real estate titles, bonds, votes and other items of value. Blockchains provide increased transparency and, as a result, distributed trust.

They will increasingly be applied to lowtransparency, high-cost industries, such as the U.S. healthcare market. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are continuing to grow as a hedge as well as an investment even though they remain volatile. Digital currency is being tested and, in a few cases, implemented by an ever-increasing number of countries. Blockchain also enables non-fungible tokens (NFT) with applications growing in art and music to name a few.

20 Rapid growth of fintech, insurtech and other A.I.-enabled industry disruptions will accelerate and increasingly disrupt traditional banking, insurance, financial advising, accounting and other industries.

A.I. and automation used by fintech companies to increasingly disrupt traditional banking, and insurtech companies to increasingly disrupt traditional insurance companies, will increasingly be used to disrupt other industry segments such as financial advisory services, accounting and auditing to name a few. A number of the exponentially growing technology hard trends in this report, including A.I., augmented thinking, AR, hybrid cloud and virtualized services, to name a few, will force many traditional players to learn and adopt new technology-enabled business models by combining an enhanced virtual customer experience with an enhanced local presence providing a redefined in-person and virtual customer experience that leverages high-touch, high-value human relationships that digital only services cannot provide. Traditional players who fail to do so will increasingly struggle, losing relevance and market share.

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FROM OUR PARTNERS Lessons from CAS Leaders Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on AccountingToday.com

B Y E R I K A SG E IRSSON Client advisory services as a service offering is an increasingly key part of a successful firm’s growth strategy. In the latest survey of this area by CPA.com and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), growth rates exceeded comparative benchmarks for tax and audit practices and the category showed robust profitability and demand for services.

As part of our survey, we broke out top-performing firms to get a sense of what makes them successful.

Beyond outperformance in revenue, top performers are more profitable than their peers – their median margin is 47% versus 34% for all firms in our survey (although the latter figure still compares well with that of traditional practice areas, as measured in other surveys within the profession).

What are the key differentiating factors for top-performing firms?

They fall into four broad areas: 1. SKILLS CPAs know better than anyone that expertise counts. Top-performing firms are more likely to have staff dedicated specifically to CAS than other firms (a median 52% versus 32%, according to our survey). This deeper focus allows top performers to have better continuity, engagement efficiency and increased quality in service delivery.

Top-performing firms are also more likely to invest in training – they average 44 hours per full-time equivalent position compared to 37 hours for all firms. The good news is that CAS training has gone up across the board for firms since our 2018 survey, yet top performers are more likely to have staff attend vendor training or certification programs, sit in third-party workshops or conferences, and otherwise invest in outside learning. However, firms are finding out that the CAS practice also requires advanced skills in financial planning and analysis, which means greater creativity in upskilling existing staff or sourcing this talent from industry.

2. STACK (AS IN TECH) A modern CAS practice must run in the cloud. That’s table stakes.

It’s what you build on that platform that matters. Top-performing firms are more likely to use workflow tools (87% vs 77% for all CAS firms), dashboards and alerts (78% vs 66%) and are also more likely to begin employing artificial intelligence and robotic process automation. When we asked about the impact of moving to all-remote work during the pandemic, three-quarters of top-performing firms said the move went surprisingly well, compared to 59% for all CAS firms – that’s due in large part to tech readiness and flexibility.

As part of our survey, we broke out top-performing firms – defined as those in the highest 25% cohort for net client fees per professional – to get a sense of what makes them successful. Lessons from these firms provide great context for CPA firms looking to start or expand a CAS practice, which we define as one where firms advise clients across a spectrum of financial and accounting related decisions, with the goal to deliver higher value and deepen the trusted advisor relationship.

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3. STANDARDIZATION The most successful firms concentrate on key industry verticals.

Within the firm itself, they doggedly standardize repeatable processes to improve efficiency and free up trusted advisors to provide higher value services.

On the tech side, for example, top-performing firms are more likely to limit their general ledger accounting software programs to three or less compared to all CAS firms (72% vs. 66%). This simplifies staff training and client onboarding and makes it easier to create custom automations. It does require some finesse with cliCONTINUED ON PAGE 28

STATEMENT

FROM OUR PARTNERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

ents who may be partial to a specific solution you may not support, but this underscores the need to package your service in terms of the business insights and value your firm provides versus anchoring your value simply in the tools you use.

As part of their standardized approach, firms should be setting up regular touchpoints with clients to deliver forecasts, operating plans and other business intelligence that demonstrate their value.

4. STRATEGY Launching a successful CAS practice is no different than launching any other successful business. It starts with the tone at the top.

Leadership must be fully engaged in the strategy for CAS practice development and demonstrate that buy-in to internal stakeholders

better demonstrate your value.

On the latter point, our survey showed a big shift to fixed-fee pricing since 2018. This indicates CAS practices are leading the profession with well-defined pricing and packaging that permits more control over revenue and cash flow. Firms should be continuously evaluating their mix of services, positioning and client outreach.

GET READY FOR CAS 2.0 The profession as a whole still hasn’t come close to cracking the code on CAS. The opportunity is significant. CAS is a highly strategic subscription service that should be integrated across all facets of the firm.

The market is ready for CAS 2.0 and, as our survey shows, firms

The key to true success in CAS, however, is to continue moving up the ladder of services. and, ultimately, clients.

Tactically, some top-performing firms are performing well by being extremely efficient with service delivery. The key to true success in CAS, however, is to continue moving up the ladder of services.

In general, top-performing firms are ahead of their peers in this journey to higher-value advisory services (see chart below for some examples). This may mean reducing your client base to better serve the top of that ladder or altering your business model to

are increasingly marching in this direction. If you don’t have a CAS practice today, you should strongly consider it — and your peers can help show you the way.

Erik Asgeirsson is president and CEO of CPA.com, the technology arm of the American Institute of CPAs.

AHEAD OF THE PACK Percent of firms offering specific advisory services SERVICE

TOP CAS PERFORMERS

ALL CAS FIRMS

Forecasting and Budgeting

96%

89%

Financial Planning Consulting

88%

79%

Business Process Design

84%

73%

Internal Control Consulting

76%

63%

Temporary Accountant Staffing

68%

58%

Accounting Staff Recruiting

36%

19%

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STATEMENT

FROM OUR PARTNERS Creating efficiency and scale through an AR and AP automation solution B Y M E G A N O ’ BRIE N Despite the integral nature of accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP), many businesses fail to have an efficient system for its management. Instead, they default to costly, timeconsuming manual processes.

The short answer to AR and AP management woes is automation. However, the more comprehensive answer is a little more involved. Businesses need to implement a cohesive solution that brings all needed capabilities to the table – instead of a patchwork of systems and manual processes.

The short answer to AR and AP management woes is automation. However, the more comprehensive answer is a little more involved.

THE HIDDEN COST OF MANUAL PROCESSES Some things are worth doing the old-fashioned way. AR and AP management is not one of them. Manual processes are inefficient, inconsistent and inaccurate. These traits end up hindering cash flow, increasing risk around compliance and fraud, and driving up costs.

When conducting AR and AP manually, numerous components in the process become subject to delay. On the AR side, inefficiency results in extended billing cycles, while a slow AP department can mean vendor payment delays. Inefficiency can have reverberating consequences, with AP issues including credit rating impact, vendor dissatisfaction and increased costs due to late payment penalties or missed savings opportunities. In turn, AR errors and bottlenecks can mean cash flow issues arising from customer billing disputes, causing both delayed payments and dissatisfied customers.

Increased expenses can also proliferate due to costs associated with overhead and higher risk. The severity of the increased costs were quantitatively displayed in research conducted by the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC). Low-performing companies with mainly manual processes in their AR and AP

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departments reported nearly 5x the cost per invoice as their highperforming peers who had taken advantage of automation opportunities.

AR/AP AUTOMATION OPPORTUNITIES AR and AP have multiple areas well-suited for automation. In both departments, general processes, like data entry and approval workflows, can be automated to save both time and effort.

In AR, sales orders can automatically be converted to electronic invoices as orders are fulfilled. Billing schedules, including subscription billing, can be automated to ensure timely delivery of these digital invoices to customers. Automated payment management allows companies to automatically match customer payments to open invoices. In the collections process, reminders for customers as well as account managers can be automated to ensure prompt payment with less legwork from employees.

Prime opportunities for automation aren’t lacking in the AP department either. The labor-intensive process of three-way matching can be automated to save time and improve accuracy. Vendor bills can be created from a purchase order and recurring bills are drafted using memorized transactions to reduce data entry.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN AUTOMATION SOLUTION Not all automation solutions are created equal. Some companies lose the benefits of automation when their multiple, disparate systems in the business fail to connect and provide needed capabilities. Welcome to the software hairball.

In addition to recording transactions and producing financial statements, accounting departments also need to pay bills, send out invoices and collect payments from customers. These processes often involve multiple technologies, system interfaces and applications that may or may not be integrated with the core accounting system.

This lack of cohesive integration around systems means that customer service, revenue growth, visibility and productivity are hindered. Time is wasted entering data from one system into another and fixing any ensuing errors. Furthermore, there is a lack of realtime, cross-departmental visibility when technology works in silos.

Instead, when looking for an automation solution, there are capabilities that are key in creating a seamless AR/AP automation experience.

• Integrated processes: Allows every aspect of the business to be controlled from a single application, so data flows seamlessly through the company.

• Centralized data: Gives leaders cross-departmental visibility that empowers them to analyze various scenarios, discover CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

STATEMENT

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FROM OUR PARTNERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30

process improvements and generate major efficiency gains.

• Compliance and controls: Mitigates risk by allowing companies to establish the right controls to prevent fraud, lessen errors, reduce improper payments, and ensure regulatory compliance.

• Cloud architecture: Grants needed flexibility, mobility and collaboration capabilities through access to needed resources and insights from anywhere.

The opportunity to further simplify the AR and AP process is available with solutions like SuiteBanking from Oracle NetSuite. In addition to automating AR and AP processes, many of the manual, error-prone and time-consuming tasks around bank reconciliation are eliminated. Journal entries and bank transactions are automatically compared and reconciled, increasing the productivity of accounting staff, improving the accuracy of financial data, and ensuring a better understanding of current cash position.

BOTTOM LINE Once AR and AP processes are automated through a comprehensive solution, businesses will be able to reap numerous benefits in the areas of accuracy, productivity, cash flow and more. Without manual processes and a software hairball hobbling AR and AP

Once AR and AP processes are automated through a comprehensive solution, businesses will be able to reap numerous benefits in the areas of accuracy, productivity, cash flow and more. management, companies will uncover both efficiency and scale as they continue to grow.

Megan O’Brien is NetSuite’s business and finance editor, covering the latest trends in strategy for CFOs.

EXCLUSIVELY FOR MEMBERS

Online Discussion Communities Get answers, ask questions, share knowledge with the entire MACPA community Have you tapped into the minds of 8,000 colleagues from around the state? If not, what are you waiting for? Your fellow members are getting their questions answered and benefiting from discussion threads on their most pressing issues right now in Connect. You can too — Access Connect today!

It’s called Connect for a reason!

Are you part of the conversation?

If not, join us today: MACPA.ORG/CONNECT #MarylandCPAproud

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STATEMENT

BACK AFTER 2 YEARS

2019

Time to lather on that CPE again.

June 21-24, 2022 • Ocean City, MD S A M E G R E AT L O C AT I O N

Princess Royale Oceanfront Resort

Stay in family-friendly oceanfront suite accommodations, including kitchenette and a spacious two-room setup.

Learn more at MACPA.ORG/BEACHRETREAT WINTER 2022

#BeachCPE |

#MarylandCPAproud

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MEMBER NOTES CLASSIFIEDS Hillary M. Grove, CPA, a manager at SEK, CPAs & Advisors, has been voted Best Accountant in the Tri-State for 2021 by Herald-Mail Media readers. In the newspaper’s annual “Best of the Best” awards, readers nominate and vote for their favorite businesses and business professionals. Hillary joins firm member William Fritts, CPA, CVA, in winning Best Accountant. Bill won the award in 2019 and 2020.

Bradley H. Kearns, CPA, a member with SEK, CPAs & Advisors, has been named 2021 Business Person of the Year by the Cumberland Valley Business Alliance. The award honors a local business professional in the Cumberland Valley area who has made significant contributions to the community and profession through their accomplishments, business, and volunteerism.

Timothy E. Peters, CPA, CFF, CGMA, a member with ​​SEK, CPAs & Advisors, has successfully completed the certification process with the American Institute of CPAs to earn the Certified in Financial Forensics credential.

CliftonLarsonAllen LLP has announced the career advancements for professionals across the firm, including 14 in Baltimore. Congratulations to the following individuals in Baltimore who have reached new stages in their chosen career paths: • Cheri Amoss, Principal, State and Local Government • Christina Chambers, Senior, Employee Benefit Plans • Valerie Conn, Senior, Proposal Writer • Brandon Glover, Senior, State and Local Government • Michael Hoesch, Senior, Tax • Steve Hyde, Senior, BizOps – Accounting and Finance • Joshua McClain, Senior, State and Local Government • Kathryn Opatick, Senior, Proposal Writer • Dhruv Patel, Senior, State and Local Government • Thomas Putman, Senior, State and Local Government • Matthew Rever, Manager, SAS — Business Risk Services • Andrew Schatz, Senior, Manufacturing and Distribution • Heidi Smith, Senior, State and Local Government • Brittany Stern Strate, Principal, Financial Institutions

FIRM NOTES Lanigan Ryan — formally Lanigan, Ryan, Malcolm & Doyle — has completed a major rebranding. After careful review of survey responses from a network of friends, family, clients, and internal team members, Lanigan Ryan leadership decided it was time to make some messaging changes to express more precisely what makes the firm unique, as well as to incorporate suggestions on firm enhancements and experience improvements. Survey responses revealed that the firm’s greatest strengths were its’ people – their expertise, personal commitment, and relationship-

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job openings HIGH QUALITY MID-SIZE TOWSON CPA FIRM seeks motivated professionals with experience in individual or business income tax preparation (or review). Flexible schedule, challenging work and excellent compensation.

Experience with ProSystem FX Tax is a plus.

Contact: Kenneally & Company 660 Kenilworth Drive, Suite 104 Towson, MD 21204 410-321-9558 E-mail: dmiller@jlkcpas.com

mergers & acquisitions MARYLAND PRACTICES FOR SALE:

gross revenues shown: $640K in Baltimore; N Baltimore Co. CPA $200K; Northwest of DC Metro Area CPA $200K. For additional information or to see nationwide listings and register for free email updates visit us at www.APS.net.

THINKING OF SELLING YOUR PRACTICE? Accounting Practice Sales is the leading marketer of tax and accounting practices in North America. We have a large pool of buyers, both individuals and firms, looking for practices to purchase. We also have the experience to help you find the right fit for your firm, negotiate the best price and terms and get the deal done. We welcome the opportunity to talk to you about our risk-free and confidential services. For more information please call Bradley Holmes with the APS Holmes Group at 1-800-397-0249 or email Bradley@apsholmesgroup.com.

TAX PRACTICE FOR SALE, by Rockville CPA. Gross 150K. DIRECT INQUIRIES IN STRICT CONFIDENCE TO Krislyn@ macpa.org and reference File No. XXX-O6

building. Survey feedback also reinvigorated the firm’s efforts to recruit a more diverse group of individuals and expand areas of expertise, to accelerate team member training, and to continue the ongoing search for the latest (and most secure) technology to improve user experience. The firm rebrand includes a new name, new logos, new website, updated social media accounts, and new messaging to better reflect the way Lanigan Ryan helps its clients succeed.

STATEMENT

MACPA COULDN’T DO EVERYTHING THAT WE DO FOR OUR MEMBERS WITHOUT OUR

PREFERRED PROVIDERS

L E AR N M O R E AT

www.macpa.org/preferred-provider-futureready-resources For information about sponsoring MACPA programs or to learn more about advertising with the MACPA please contact Amy Puente at 443.632.2323 or amyp@macpa.org.

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What’s on Line 37? …your opportunity to help save a life by making a taxdeductible donation to the Maryland Cancer Fund, which provides cancer prevention, screening, and treatment for low-income Maryland residents.

This tax year, please donate on Line 37.

https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/cancer/Pages/mcf_home.aspx Maryland Department of Health 201 W. Preston St., Baltimore, MD 21201 Phone: 410-767-6213

Larry Hogan, Governor | Boyd Rutherford, Lieutenant Governor | Dennis R. Schrader, Secretary

I know I’m making a

meaningful impact for my clients

with flexible tax software that

gives me more time back

Deliver the best for your clients with the #1 cloud-based professional tax software.*

Enjoy the full version at TryProConnectFree.com or call us at 833-239-4893 for more information.

WINTER 2022

* Based on Intuit internal data of the number of paid users of ProConnect Tax for Tax Year 2020 compared to publicly available statements from competitors.

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MARYLAND ASSOCIATION OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS 901 Dulaney Valley Road, Suite 800 Towson, MD 21204 410.296.6250 | www.macpa.org

IF YOU ARE READInG THIS...

So Is Your Buyer!

CONNECTING MORE SELLERS AND BUYERS

Delivering Results - One Practice At a time Bradley Holmes Bradley@APS.net

800-397-0249 www.APS.net