the tag alliances™ fall international conference - …...3 strategy(and(governance(competetive +...

1

T H E TA G A L L I A N C E S ™Fall International Conference - October 21-23, 2013

TM

TIAG

Fall Conference, Munich Panel Discussion

Op:mizing Your Prac:ce: How to Improve the Quality of Your Firm’s

Work Product

22nd October 2013

Topic Time (minute

s)

Member Content

Introduction 5 Dr. Kay Jess (GGV, Germany) - Topic - Panel members

Strategy & Governance

15 Dr. Kay Jess - Project plan - Partner interviews - Portfolio analysis - Management structure and organization - Strategy teams

Country Standards

10 Wynke Möller (Witlox, Netherlands)

- Standards in the Netherlands

Software 10 Norman Posner (Samet & Company, USA)

- US Standards, esp. implementation of software XCM

Country Standards

10 Eric Pritsch - German Standards

Country Standards

10 Kurt Baker (ESV, Australia) - Australian Standards

Final words 5 Dr. Kay Jess, Wynke Möller, Norman Posner, Eric Pritsch, Kurt Baker

AGENDA

2

Introduc:on

Goal of quality High quality work product §  Constantly §  Across all service areas and level of experience

Strategy Requirements §  Business sense §  Understanding of people

initial position, expectations and ideas from the partners for the project

single partner interviews in the 3

offices 5th, 11th, 19th Feb 2013

guiding principle: vision / mission segmentation of markets and activities

meeting of the mana-gement committee 12th-13th Feb 2013

definition & analysis of businesses workshop strategy

team 18th- 20th March 2013

workshop strategy team

strategies of business fields requirements of resources and processes

10th -12th Apr 2013

analysis of resources & business processes workshop strategy

team 18th-19th June 2013

workshop strategy team strategic action plans

9th-10th Oct 2013


meeting of the mana-gement committee general strategy and structure

27th-28th Aug 2013

23rd Nov 2013 workshop strategy team presentation of the results

Project Plan

-‐4-‐

Averages of the 3 GGV offices: H=Hamburg, F=Frankfurt, P=Paris

1: high human competence – low human competence : 5

1: innovaJve -‐ lacking in ideas : 5

1: leader -‐ follower : 5

1: flexible -‐ unflexible : 5

1: serious -‐ unserious : 5

1: young -‐ old : 5

1: successful – unsuccessful : 5

1: clear objecJves – no objecJves : 5

1: well organized – not organized : 5 1: reliable -‐ unreliable : 5

1: upscale – low-‐priced : 5

1: strong service-‐orientaJon – low service-‐orientaJon : 5

1: high consultancy level -‐ low consultancy level: 5

1: wide service range -‐ small service range : 5

1: high level of experJse -‐ low level of experJse : 5


3

Strategy and Governance

competetive position

+

- +

mar

ket a

ttrac

tiven

ess

3 4d 1

4f

2

5

IST 2012

12.550.000 €

competetive position

+

- +

mar

ket a

ttrac

tiven

ess

1

target value 2018

20.000.000 €

2

4

3

5

actual value 2012

1 – ongoing consulting 2 - projects

3 – actual: consulting GER/FR

target: consulting GER/FR + new country packages

4 – acutal : properties, fonds (GER/FR)

target: property fonds (GER) 5 non profit, foundations

Portfolio Analysis


u Board of partners: l Governing body, approves strategy and business plan.

u Management commiPee: l Develops strategy and business plan l Leads business on basis of internal rules (made by the board)

u CommiPees (some only temporarily) l strategy l profit distribuBon l accounBng l  liquidity

Management committee

Board of partners

Ongoing consulting

Fond

s &

pro

perti

es

Operations

partners make returns and get customers

The partners are responsible for the „operations“, in a dynamic organisation which:

•  builds up an image

•  generates high returns

supp

ort

Team

leader

IFR

S

rede

velo

pmen

t &

rest

ruct

urin

g

Projects

M &

A

Internat. Beratung

GE

R /

FR

GU

S

US

A.

Non

Pro

fit O

rgan

izat

ions

optim

izat

ion

& d

esig

n

BU 1 BU 2 BU 3 BU 4 BU 5

Management Structure & Organisation


u  Teams + Team leader: (across locaBons) l brings the business unit (BU) forward together with the team and reach qualitaBve und quanBtaBve objecBves.

u  Support-‐experts and support funcBons: (across locaBons) l Experts per ressort , „Inhouse" or "Outsourced" l Experts take responsibility for their units (authorized to make decisions)

l Support funcBons across locaBons: Controlling, IT, MarkeBng, Human Ressources

Exp

ert

IT E

xper

t C

ontro

lling

E

xper

t M

arke

ting

Exp

ert

H.R

.

employees

office Frankfurt

employees

office Hamburg

employees

office Paris Sup

port

Func

tions

Team

s und

Team

leite

r

BU

1

BU

2

BU

3

BU

4

BU

5

OPERATIONS

MK

IT

HR

CO

MK

IT

HR

CO

MK

IT

HR

CO

Par

tner

Par

tner

Par

tner

Par

tner

Management Structure & Organisation

4


Strategy Teams

Quality a set of standards

or a mind set?

3,470,00

0,000 hi

ts on Go

ogle

Standards in the Netherlands


5

RegulaBon/law: ü  VGC ü  NV COS ü  RJ (Dutch GAAP) ü  Audit procedures ü  (conBnuing) EducaBon (40 hours a year)


VGC: (De Verordening GedragsCode = Code of ethics, Code of conduct) ü  Integrity ü  ObjecBvity ü  Competency and accuracy ü  DescreBon ü  Professional conduct

Ø  Principle based audit advisory

compilaBon

tax/legal

others

board >50% CPA

VGC


NV COS: (Nadere Voorschrieen, Controle-‐ en Overige Standaarden = Dutch Standards on AudiBng)

ü  Based on internaBonal standards ü  Rules for audiBng, compilaBon, etc


6

Audit: ü  Permit ü Monitoring by the AFM: Authority Financial Markets ü  Compliance officer required


Training Coaching

Communicating Cooperating Discussing


Today’s Agenda

IntroducBon to Workflow AutomaBon

Bill Hamrock Director of Business Development

781-‐348-‐9883 [email protected]

www.xcmsoluBons.com Twioer: @XCM_SoluBons

7

Today’s Agenda

Group Demographics

Types of Firms

Sole Prac

MulB Partner

MulB Office

Working less papered

Scanning

Digital review

MulB Monitors

What is Workflow? •  The process that allows you to get things done

•  The system(s) that you developed to track the progress of your processes

•  The controls that allow you to maintain compliance over your policies

•  The reporBng that allows you to manage people, process and deliverables

•  The tool that allows you to manage your desk, your client, your book of business, your firm

•  The mechanism you created to communicate inside and outside your firm

Today’s reality Mul:ple Control Points Rou:ng Sheet (Paper/Electronic) Physical Folder Hand wriRen notes/PDF/Word Excel, Excel & more Excel Outlook Calendar Email Engagement Binders Document Management Checklists & Signoffs Project Tracking & Due Date Systems

Weekly Staff Mee:ngs

8

How much Bme is spent determining…

•  Who… •  What… •  Where… •  Why… •  When…

Reduce Non-‐Billable AcBviBes

PROFITS

INCREMENTAL TIME SAVINGS

What is your realiza/on rate?

Workflow is what you do all day, everyday •  Improve Efficiency & Profitability

ü  Workflow AutomaBon Saves YOU Time on every project

ü  Eliminate and/or streamline manual and redundant processes

ü  Standardize Process – One Firm •  Visibility and Accountability

ü  Centralized, Real Time InformaBon Management ü  Automated Task Movement & Tracking ü  Automated Tickler System for all Users ü  Beoer Firm Metrics ü  Workload Balance / resource share

•  Improves Client Service ü  Single Point of Control for clients – real Bme info

for all pracBce areas

•  Automates Compliance Policies ü  Don’t miss Deadlines ü  Drives Internal Controls ü  Mirror Your ExisBng Process

PROCESS VS. PRODUCTION

How many tools to manage…

Workflow SoUware

INFORMATION MANGEMENT

SCHEDULING / UTILIZATION TRANSPARENCY

TRACKING TASK MOVEMENT

COMPLIANCE

ACCOUNTABILITY

TIMELY COMMUNICATION

ONE PROCESS = ONE FIRM

9

Impact to Firm 20 people X 10 Minutes ProducBvity per Day 200 Minutes per day / 60 Minutes 3.33 Hours per day X 250 Days 833.33 Hours of Produc:vity per Year OR .5 FTE for every 10 minutes of produc:vity

QUOTES – NEW WF CLIENTS 2013 •  We saw a significant reducBon in the wasted Bme spent

running around the building trying to figure out who had a return. Widespread agreement on this among partners, execuBve assistants and tax staff. We also used it to effecBvely monitor and shie workloads so our returns kept moving through the system. We heard a lot of stories about firms saying what a rough tax season they had, but we had our best season ever and XCM definitely contributed to that. There is complete agreement in our firm that it is a great tool and that we’ll benefit even more in year 2. –  COO 90 person firm in mid-‐west

QUOTES – NEW WF CLIENTS 2013 •  For our firm the first year was certainly a success and we sBll have more to

learn as we conBnue with XCM. The ROI for us was the Bme savings by using XCM to track each project through the office. It is hard to measure, but there were many Bmes that I was out of the office and used XCM to track what was on my desk, so I knew if I had to come in early the next day to get tax returns reviewed or if I had clients contacBng me, I could easily see where a return was in the process. I would esBmate that we saved a few hours a week per person, maybe in the 5% to 7% of our Bme savings. So that mulBplied by our cost would be actual dollars saved. You could also say that it was more Bme that we had to spend on billable tasks, so that amount Bmes our billable rate would yield more revenues. We have not made an effort to actually try and calculate the numbers, as we don’t feel we need to spend Bme on this. We know we experienced the value which is what maoers most to us.

–  Partner 45 person firm in Capital region

10

QUOTES – NEW WF CLIENTS 2013 •  "I know that many firms said this past tax season was one of the worst in memory. To be honest, because of the efficiency we were able to realize with XCM, we had a great tax season. In fact, I felt like we could have done even more work this year. I am ramping up markeBng this summer to help us bring in more clients that we can assist.“ – MP 12 person firm in Capital region

Digital RouBng Sheet

Virtual Folder – Beyond Tracking!! • Knowledge Management – centralized capture of quesBons, review points & standing instrucBons • Automated Due Date system & Monitoring ; Extension Tracking • Mapped workflow processes by task type • Link to 3rd party soluBons and on-‐line resources • Firm Specific sign-‐offs by task type • Standardized Milestones (Checklists) by task type • Automated audit history of task movement • Centralized Assembly InstrucBons and Shipping History • Automated Checks & Balances to miBgate risk and liability • Resource AllocaBon • Calendar based scheduling • Real Bme access to the informaBon important to team members on demand

11

Digital Ticklers / Virtual Desktop

Robust Search

QuesBons to address •  Flexibility – Is WF designed for all pracBce areas? •  Firm Wide SoluBon – Will all levels in Firm access WF? •  Ease of Use – Will all levels actually use WF? •  CustomizaBon – Can you add your secret sauce? •  Ease of Mind – What controls allow firm to let go of old process? •  Ease of Set up – What does implementaBon entail and resources required? •  ImplementaBon Timeline – What is realisBc Bmeline to go live? •  Training – How is training performed / how long is training session? •  Technology – What are system requirements? Cloud? IntegraBon? •  Enhancements – How are enhancements deployed? •  Support -‐ What is your support structure? •  References – Can we talk to similar firm?

12

The Payoff •  Create efficiency in prac:ce – make more money •  Improve compliance monitoring / reduce risk •  Improve client service •  Improve ability to aRract new employees •  Improve employee reten:on •  Make prac:ce more aRrac:ve to merge / sell

Looking ahead… •  Be prepared to invest in soluBon (hard dollars and soe dollars) •  Be prepared for a liole data clean up •  Be prepared to champion the decision •  Be prepared to embrace change to pracBce/rethink the “SALY” principle •  Be prepared to counteract the fear of change •  Be prepared to fight resistance to change •  Be prepared to accommodate technology averse partner(s) in year 1 •  Be prepared to manage informaBon differently •  Be prepared to revisit your processes more frequently •  Be prepared to see ROI increase year over year

How would you advise this client?

VS.

13

QuesJons?

Learn more about how XCM can automate all your processes for completing work

Call 1-781-356-5152. Or, visit cpa.com/workflow

German Standards

This is GGV: •  German / French pracBce •  3 locaBons (Frankfurt, Hamburg, Paris) •  70 Professionals / 22 Partners •  Business Areas Laywers, Tax Advisor, Auditors, Notary

German Standards

Quality Aspects: •  Fulfilling High Professional Services •  Providing High Quality Service

•  People Business •  Quality Guideline •  Tools & Equipment

14

German Standards

Tools & Equipment: •  Audit Handbook -  Structure for Audit Services •  Soeware Tools -  Central Soeware (CAS-‐Soeware) o  All clients (basis for conflict check of new engagements) o  Document Management System •  Online Tools -  actual developments, commentaries, samples, etc.

German Standards

Audit Handbook •  Overview -  Audit Engagement (e. g. engagement leoer) -  Audit Process (e. g. audit checklists) -  Audit Quality (e. g. Internal office review)

•  Annually revised -  New ISA Standards -  New German Audit Standards

Thank you for your aoenBon!

the tag alliances™ fall international conference - …...3 strategy(and(governance(competetive +...

Documents