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Boomer’s Blueprint: Branding is important for CAS

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Client accounting services — or is it client accounting & advisory services? — has been a buzzword across the accounting profession for years. Yet, despite its prevalence and the potential it holds to redefine professional services, a consensus on its definition seems elusive.

Different firms, as well as different authoritative bodies like the American Institute of CPAs and CPA.com, offer varied interpretations of what CAS encompasses. This diversity in understanding reflects the evolving nature of accounting and the need to align these services with client expectations and the rapidly changing business landscape. In other words, the profession needs to view these services from the client’s perspective, rather than from the inside out.

The challenges

At its core, CAS/CAAS aims to transcend traditional transactional and compliance services, venturing into the realms of advisory and consulting. However, the transition is fraught with challenges, primarily due to the heterogeneous nature of the definitions provided by service providers.

Each firm tailors its CAS/CAAS offerings based on its strength, market position and client needs. This diversity leads to a spectrum of services that, while beneficial, complicate the task of setting industrywide standards and create confusion in the market.

The AICPA and CPA.com have been at the forefront of efforts to bring uniformity to what CAS entails. Their definitions often emphasize the integration of technology, strategic planning, and business process improvement into accounting services. Nonetheless, these efforts are juxtaposed against individual firms’ and non-CPA competitors’ definitions, which might prioritize specific service aspects, such as financial planning, risk management or digital transformation consulting.

From transactional to transformative

To navigate the complexity of CAS/CAAS, it’s helpful to consider the services under four broad categories: transactional, compliance, advisory and consulting. Capacity is a challenge at the transactional and compliance level, while capability becomes a challenge at the advisory and consulting levels. The following definitions will hopefully provide some clarity.

Transactional services include day-to-day bookkeeping and accounting tasks. While essential, they are increasingly becoming automated through software solutions and artificial intelligence, pushing firms to consider higher-value offerings. AI is everywhere in the business capability model.

Compliance services ensure that clients meet regulatory requirements and reporting standards. Although critical, these are often seen as baseline services that many clients expect as a given, while many providers view them as highly technical and advisory.

Advisory services represent a step up, focusing on providing strategic advice to help clients better manage their finances, optimize operations, and plan for growth.

Consulting services delve into more specialized areas such as financial modeling, visioning/planning, mergers and acquisitions, and technology implementations. Here, the expertise is not just in accounting but in leveraging financial insights to drive business transformation.

Advisory and consulting services are more of a team sport, while the rugged individual can often meet the wants and needs of transactional and compliance services.

Aligning with market wants and needs

Amid these challenges and rapid change, there is a growing recognition of the need to brand and package service offerings in a way that resonates with clients. This means moving beyond jargon and profession-specific language to articulate the tangible benefits these services can deliver.

For clients, the value of these services is not in the technicalities of what the firm offers but in how these services help them achieve their business objectives. Too many firms get caught in their silos, restricting data flow and communications. They are also caught in the existing business model, believing time is money, rather than money is time.

Whether improving financial visibility, strategic growth planning or operational effectiveness, firms must package and price these services as part of the client’s success story. In other words, how does the firm make the client the hero?

This client-centric approach requires a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities within specific industries and the ability to tailor services accordingly.

Competing strategies

Most firms have elected to add corresponding services to tax and accounting (transactional and compliance), but is it more compelling to start with a blank slate, determine target clients, and then package services around those clients while including tax and accounting in the package, rather than leading with tax and accounting? From the market’s perspective, clients want advisory and consulting services and require transactional and compliance services. Value is determined by the client, not by the provider. Most firms have too many clients and are underserving their ideal clients.

The future of CAS/CAAS

The future is promising but demands a concerted effort from firms to redefine and align their services with the evolving market. This includes a continuous investment in technology and talent, fostering a culture of innovation, and developing a nuanced understanding of the industries served.

Moreover, as the profession navigates the impacts of outsourcing and AI, it is crucial to embrace these changes as opportunities rather than dangers. Branding is a marketing function. The accounting profession should rethink its approach to marketing and sales. Order-taking is no longer enough. Professional marketing and sales are needed to sustain and grow the profession’s relevance.

Action plan for alignment and innovation

Here are your next steps as you move your firm forward in CAS/CAAS:

1. Begin with a blank slate. Challenge the status quo by reimagining your service offerings from the ground up. What is your vision for the next three years? Do you have a strategic plan to support that vision? This process involves identifying ideal client profiles and understanding their evolving needs, which extends beyond traditional accounting services.
2. Embrace ideation and experimentation. Innovation is the result of creativity and experimentation. Foster a culture that encourages creative thinking and experimentation, allowing for developing new services and delivery models that respond to the changing business environment.
3. Leverage technology and AI. Strategically applying outsourcing and AI technologies can enhance efficiencies and enable team members to focus on high-value advisory and consulting services. This transition requires investment in technology and training to increase capacity and capabilities. AI is everywhere (or should be) in your firm.
4. Focus on client-centric service design. Design your service offerings with the client at the center, ensuring you address their specific business challenges and opportunities. This approach enhances client satisfaction and positions the firm as a stakeholder in client success. It can also allow team members to operate according to their unique abilities.
5. Navigate the impact of private equity. Consider the strategic implications of private equity in the accounting profession. This may involve evaluating opportunities for investment in technology, talent and market expansion to drive growth and innovation.
6. Adopt a continuous-learning mindset. The shift toward advisory and consulting services demands a commitment to continuous learning and professional development. Engage in a peer community.

Overcoming the gravity of the past

Transforming to a more innovative and client-centric service model isn’t without its challenges. The accounting profession has historically been rooted in tradition, with a strong inclination toward maintaining the status quo. However, the gravity of the past should not outweigh the pull of the future, and the future is bright.

Firms willing to rethink their service models, embrace new technologies, and focus on delivering value-aligned services will be better positioned to thrive in the evolving landscape. Change leadership, process management, and project management are all required. We call this the Transformation Triangle!

Think — plan — grow!

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Accounting

House passes tax administration bills

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The House unanimously passed four bipartisan bills Tuesday concerning taxes and the Internal Revenue Service that were all endorsed this week by the American Institute of CPAs, and passed two others as well.

  • H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, Suzan Delbene, D-Washington, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania and Jimmy Panetta, D-California. The bill would apply the “mailbox rule” to electronically submitted tax returns and payments to allow the IRS to record payments and documents submitted to the IRS electronically on the day the payments or documents are submitted instead of when they are received or reviewed at a later date. The AICPA believes this would offer clarity and simplification to the payment and document submission process while protecting taxpayers from undue penalties.
  • H.R. 998, the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, which would require notices describing a mathematical or clerical error to be made in plain language, and require the Treasury to provide additional procedures for requesting an abatement of a math or clerical error adjustment, including by telephone or in person, among other provisions.
  • H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, and Judy Chu, D-California. The process of receiving tax relief from the IRS following a natural disaster typically must follow a federal disaster declaration, which can often come weeks after a state disaster declaration. The bill would provide the IRS with authority to grant tax relief once the governor of a state declares either a disaster or a state of emergency and expand the mandatory federal filing extension under Section 7508(d) of the Tax Code from 60 days to 120 days, providing taxpayers with more time to file tax returns after a disaster.
  • H.R. 1491, the Disaster related Extension of Deadlines Act, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-North Carolina, and Jimmy Panetta, D-California, would extend the amount of time disaster victims would have to file for a tax refund or credit (i.e., the lookback period) by the amount of time afforded pursuant to a disaster relief postponement period for taxpayers affected by major disasters. This legislative solution would place taxpayers on equal footing as taxpayers not impacted by major disasters and would afford greater clarity and certainty to taxpayers and tax practitioners regarding this lookback period.

“The AICPA has long supported these proposals and will continue to work to advance comprehensive legislation that enhances IRS operations and improves the taxpayer experience,” said Melanie Lauridsen, vice president of tax policy and advocacy for the AICPA, in a statement Tuesday. “We are pleased to work closely with each of these Representatives on common-sense reforms that will benefit taxpayers, tax practitioners and tax administration and we’re encouraged by their passage in the House. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to improve the taxpayer experience.”

The bills were also included in a recent Senate discussion draft aimed at improving tax administration at the IRS that are strongly supported by the AICPA.

The House also passed two other tax-related bills Tuesday that weren’t endorsed in the recent AICPA letter. 

  • H.R. 1155, Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, would require the IRS to create a process for taxpayers to request a replacement via direct deposit for a stolen paper check. If a check is determined to be stolen or lost, and not cashed, a taxpayer will receive a replacement check once the original check is cancelled, but many taxpayers are having their replacement checks stolen as well. Taxpayers who have a check stolen are then unable to request that the replacement check be sent via direct deposit. The bill would require the Treasury to establish processes and procedures under which taxpayers, who are otherwise eligible to receive an amount by paper check in replacement of a lost or stolen paper check, may elect to receive such amount by direct deposit.
  • H.R. 997, National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, would prevent IRS interference with National Taxpayer Advocate personnel by granting the NTA responsibility for its attorneys. In advocating for taxpayer rights, the National Taxpayer Advocate often requires independent legal advice. But currently, the staff members hired by the National Taxpayer Advocate are accountable to internal IRS counsel, not the Taxpayer Advocate, creating a potential conflict of interest to the detriment of taxpayers. The bill would authorize the National Taxpayer Advocate to hire attorneys who report directly to her, helping establish independence from the IRS. 

House  Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, applauded the bipartisan House passage of the various bills, which had been unanimously passed by the committee.

“President Trump was elected on the promise of finally making the government work better for working people,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “This bipartisan legislation helps fulfill that mandate and makes improvements to tax administration that will make it easier for the American people to file their taxes. Those who are rebuilding after a natural disaster particularly need help filing taxes, which is why this set of bills lightens the load for taxpayers in communities struck by a hurricane, tornado or some other disaster. With Tax Day just a few days away, we must look for common-sense, bipartisan ways to make filing taxes less of a hassle.”

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Accounting

In the blogs: Many hats

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Teaching fraud; easement settlement offers; new blog on the block; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Many hats

  • Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): There’s sure an “I” in this “teamwork:” What to know about potential IRS and ICE collaboration.
  • Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): How IRS data would likely be unhelpful validating SNAP eligibility.
  • Yeo & Yeo (https://www.yeoandyeo.com/resources): How financial benchmarking (including involving taxes) can help business clients see trends, pinpoint areas for improvement and forecast future performance.
  • Integritas3 (https://www.integritas3.com/blog): One way to take a bite out of crime, according to this instructor blogger: Teach grad students how to detect, investigate and prevent financial fraud.
  • HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Verifying income, fairly distributing property, digging the soon-to-be-ex’s assets out of the back of the dark, dark closet: How forensic accounting has emerged as a crucial element in divorces.

Standing out

Genuine intelligence

  • AICPA & CIMA Insights (https://www.aicpa-cima.com/blog): How artificial intelligence and other tech is “Reshaping Finance,” according to this podcast. Didem Un Ates, CEO of a U.K.-based company offering AI advisory services, tackles the topic.
  • Taxjar (https:/www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): How AI and automation can help even the knottiest sales tax obligations and problems.
  • Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): Favorite opening of the week: “The madness doesn’t just happen on college basketball courts — it also happens when your finance team is stuck using a legacy on-premises accounting system.”
  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): Top client portals for accounting firms in 2025.
  • Mauled Again (https://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): Despite what Facebook claims, dependents have to be human.

New to us

  • Berkowitz Pollack Brant (https://www.bpbcpa.com/articles-press-releases/): This Florida firm offers a variety of services to many industries and has a good, wide-ranging blog. Recent topics include the BE-10, nexus and state and local tax obligations, IRS cuts and what to know about the possible bonus depreciation phase out. Welcome!

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Accounting

Is gen AI really a SOX gamechanger?

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By streamlining tasks such as risk assessment, control testing, and reporting, gen AI has the potential to increase efficiency across the entire SOX lifecycle.

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