Recently Released!!!
Date Published: October 17, 2013
Summary Power Point Deck: 62 Slides
Reference Power Point Deck: 883 Slides

The purpose of this research is to provide readers with an initial understanding of the specific business practices of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), Enrolled Agents (EAs), & other tax professionals, especially as they pertain to their strategies for entering the financial planning & investment management business. CPAs, EAs, & other tax professionals have been flirting with the financial planning & investment management business for nearly two decades. They have been pushed by the declining economics of the tax business and the unfavorable press of the audit business, and pulled by the economic possibilities of serving the investment needs of their existing client bases. There are approximately 40,000 CPA firms and 460,000 CPAs. A small minority of these CPAs work at the twenty largest firms. The vast majority work as sole practitioners and at other small firms. Information on this market has been scarce and vendors continue to struggle with how to offer value-added services. What products & services do tax pros use? What broker/dealers and technology do they use? How do they market to their clients? What are their profit margins? This research provides an in-depth look at how tax pros manage their businesses and identifies key opportunities for vendors seeking to serve this market. Parallel research published by Tiburon addresses this market in a top-down way, outlining the size of the tax pros market. This research goes a step further and specifically utilizes detailed survey data from Tiburon’s 42-question tax pro benchmarking tool at www.TaxProBestPractices.Com to identify the product usage, business models, & best practices of leading tax pros.

This research addresses six areas of tax professionals best practices, including:

• Business Background & Industry Position
  
• Clients & Marketing Strategies
  
• Tax & Accounting Business Practices
  
• Financial Planning & Investment Management Business Practices
  
• Business Economics
  
• Business Policies & Industry Views
  

This research includes key tips for CPAs & other tax professionals:

• The Opportunity for Building a Financial Planning Business

This research supports five best practices for CPAs & other tax professionals:

• Determine Client Conversion Expectations & Develop Systematic Conversion Processes
• Choose Product & Service Offers to Support the Conversion
• Continue Growing Core Tax Business
• Build the Necessary Support Infrastructure
• Define Business Goals & Develop Written Plans

And this research concludes with vendor feedback & tips for better serving CPAs & other tax professionals:

• Independent Broker/Dealer & Custodian Utilization Satisfaction Ratings
• Mutual Fund Company Utilization & Satisfaction Ratings
• Other Vendor Utilization & Satisfaction Ratings
• Strategic Value Added Opportunities