http://www.artipot.com/authors/14981/salim-omar-cpa/ Latest articles by Salim Omar, CPA from Artipot - your one-stop resource for free articles. http://www.artipot.com/articles/450390/what-does-your-cpa-practice-have-in-common-with-the-new-york-yankees.htm We talk about businesses being teams, but it's rare that I meet an owner of a CPA business who really trusts every member of his or her "team" to do what they should do, all the time, whether the "boss" is in the office or not Sports teams can't work that way Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:38:14 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/450390/what-does-your-cpa-practice-have-in-common-with-the-new-york-yankees.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/450386/what-does-your-cpa-practice-have-in-common-with-mcdonalds.htm An important criterion for success as the owner/operator of a CPA practice is to see your practice as made up of systems Like McDonald's, like any business, an accounting practice has to manage, efficiently and consistently, a number of tasks Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:31:20 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/450386/what-does-your-cpa-practice-have-in-common-with-mcdonalds.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/446860/transforming-your-cpa-practice-with-a-vision-statement-moving-from-dream-to-reality.htm An essential step toward success in your CPA practice is to have a clear vision CPA practitioners need to be dreamers to become successful Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:45:49 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/446860/transforming-your-cpa-practice-with-a-vision-statement-moving-from-dream-to-reality.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/446858/dont-have-enough-time-to-market-your-accounting-practice-heres-how-to-make-time.htm In my work as a consultant helping other CPAs to market their CPA firms, one objection I hear often is "But Salim, I just barely have enough time to do the work to deliver my services to my clients I simply can't spare a lot of time to think about marketing Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:38:48 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/446858/dont-have-enough-time-to-market-your-accounting-practice-heres-how-to-make-time.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/446817/amazing-but-true-testimonials-the-cornerstone-of-marketing-your-accounting-firm.htm Testimonials are one of my favorite low-cost but high-impact tools to grow my CPA practice Getting testimonials from happy clients is an important thing to do and creates a powerful tool for marketing your accounting firm Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:38:43 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/446817/amazing-but-true-testimonials-the-cornerstone-of-marketing-your-accounting-firm.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/446808/most-cpa-practice-websites-suck-how-to-create-one-that-grows-your-cpa-firm.htm Most accounting practice websites suck They're passive Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:31:54 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/446808/most-cpa-practice-websites-suck-how-to-create-one-that-grows-your-cpa-firm.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/446805/grow-your-cpa-firm-using-killer-marketing-materials.htm Truth be told, you don't have to be an award winning copywriter to create effective marketing materials for your CPA practice I found out a number of years back that even the "pros" use templates to create ads and sales letters that get results Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:25:04 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/446805/grow-your-cpa-firm-using-killer-marketing-materials.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/398553/good-things-come-in-packages-how-to-leverage-package-deals-and-cross-sell-services-to-grow-your-cpa-practice.htm When it comes to selling things, the human tendency to package can make life easier When you're marketing yourself and trying to sign on new clients, you'll want to take full advantage of aspect of human psychology Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:00:06 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/398553/good-things-come-in-packages-how-to-leverage-package-deals-and-cross-sell-services-to-grow-your-cpa-practice.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/398545/newsletters-can-build-your-cpa-business-send-one-your-clients-will-actually-read.htm With the ease and low cost of electronic communication, some CPA practitioners question the value of continuing to send paper newsletters Paper newsletters serve some functions that electronic communications can't, and that makes them valuable as a way to grow your CPA practice Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:51:42 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/398545/newsletters-can-build-your-cpa-business-send-one-your-clients-will-actually-read.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/398537/focusing-like-a-laser-beam-on-the-right-target-market-for-your-cpa-practice-marketing-step-one.htm Most CPAs don't have a strong enough foundation on the subject of marketing Even in college, we focus a lot on accounting theory and hardly learn anything about real world marketing, despite the fact that many CPAs will be, effectively, small business owners running their own practices Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:44:50 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/398537/focusing-like-a-laser-beam-on-the-right-target-market-for-your-cpa-practice-marketing-step-one.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/398516/why-cpas-must-keep-in-touch-with-clients-and-how.htm As the owner of an accounting business, you know that finding clients is an important task, but retaining those clients--especially once you've started to tap your ideal market--is just as important You can have the best marketing system in the world bringing in new clients but if you don't have a client retention system in place, you will not have much growth Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:37:56 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/398516/why-cpas-must-keep-in-touch-with-clients-and-how.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/398507/accountants-are-your-fees-too-low.htm Pricing is critical to the success of any professional practice or business In fact, many books and articles have been written solely on the subject of pricing Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:31:00 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/398507/accountants-are-your-fees-too-low.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/397946/killer-closing-kungfu-for-cpas.htm If you're a CPA who's working on improving your marketing, and you've already made the time for marketing, positioned yourself as the expert, and packaged your services...and you have a steady stream of leads flowing in--the next step is "meeting with the prospect" and "selling" them on your service, right Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:05:36 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/397946/killer-closing-kungfu-for-cpas.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/397945/simple-formula-to-achieve-guaranteed-success-for-your-accounting-practice.htm One of the best ways that I know to build any accounting practice effortlessly is to position yourself as an expert in your field When you position yourself as an expert, you have instantly differentiated yourself from your competitors Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:01:06 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/397945/simple-formula-to-achieve-guaranteed-success-for-your-accounting-practice.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/397944/grow-your-accounting-practice-by-positioning-yourself-as-an-expert.htm One of the most powerful ways that I know to build any CPA practice effortlessly is to position yourself as an expert in your field When you position yourself as an expert, you have instantly differentiated yourself from your competitors Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:54:12 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/397944/grow-your-accounting-practice-by-positioning-yourself-as-an-expert.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/397933/an-ezine-can-build-your-cpa-practice-for-free.htm The single biggest complaint that small business owners have about their accountants is "My CPA doesn't stay in touch with me" That is by far the biggest reason why a client will change their CPA... Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:40:34 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/397933/an-ezine-can-build-your-cpa-practice-for-free.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/397932/advertising-your-cpa-practice-the-one-change-you-must-make-now.htm One of the biggest complaints I hear from CPAs is a poor return on marketing dollars The reason these CPA practitioners get poor results is because they don't understand the difference between good and bad marketing Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:33:27 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/397932/advertising-your-cpa-practice-the-one-change-you-must-make-now.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/265467/is-your-business-engaging-in-poor-marketing-strategies.htm It is so easy for a business owner to get caught up in the daily operations of their business The inventory ordering, order processing, data input, putting out fires and more, can become all consuming Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:09:22 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/265467/is-your-business-engaging-in-poor-marketing-strategies.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/264705/have-you-made-the-mistake-of-delegating-the-financial-responsibility-of-your-business.htm Many business owners make the mistake of delegating ownership of their financial matters completely to another party While it is important to engage the professional assistance of CPA's and internal CFO's to manage and oversee the financial affairs of your business, it is still crucial to take full ownership of them Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:37:10 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/264705/have-you-made-the-mistake-of-delegating-the-financial-responsibility-of-your-business.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/264700/how-effective-are-small-business-owners-at-utilizing-their-time.htm The main reason I have found why so many small businesses do not perform to their appropriate level is because the owner does not properly use his or her time; that is, they don't prioritize which of their efforts create their best results so that they know where to focus their time Without knowing who your best customers or clients are or what the best use of your time is,... Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:23:17 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/264700/how-effective-are-small-business-owners-at-utilizing-their-time.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/264690/is-cash-really-king-in-small-business.htm Although cash is critical, most small business owners put emphasis on profits instead of cash flow The dot-com bust is a painful reminder that profitability does matter - but that "cash is king" Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:09:30 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/264690/is-cash-really-king-in-small-business.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/264191/do-you-pay-yourself-first.htm Small business owners need to put something aside from every check they receive in order to save for their futures I call it "Pay Yourself First" and it is one of the cardinal rules of running your own business Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:23:08 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/264191/do-you-pay-yourself-first.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/264187/do-you-seek-the-right-kind-of-advice-for-your-small-business.htm Do you have professionals providing your business with quality advice In business, you should surround yourself with a variety of professionals including a lawyer, a CPA and a business advisor Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:14:17 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/264187/do-you-seek-the-right-kind-of-advice-for-your-small-business.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/260874/do-you-know-what-the-key-financial-indicators-are-in-your-business.htm Most accountants will only keep track of historical numbers like gross sales, gross margins and net profits While these can be useful, there are other equally or more important numbers that should be kept track of that most "old school" accountants are not aware of Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:08:13 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/260874/do-you-know-what-the-key-financial-indicators-are-in-your-business.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/260848/are-your-business-overhead-expenses-out-of-control.htm Businesses are always searching for ideas and concepts to generate profit Some of these concepts include increasing sales, while others include decreasing overhead Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:34:59 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/260848/are-your-business-overhead-expenses-out-of-control.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/260847/could-your-business-be-paying-more-taxes.htm Income taxes are the single largest expense that a small business owner will encounter This amount is often larger than their home or the cost of getting their kids through college Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:29:18 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/260847/could-your-business-be-paying-more-taxes.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/260827/are-you-under-pricing-your-products-and-services.htm Pricing is critical to the success of any business In fact, many books and articles have been written solely on the subject of pricing Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:08:41 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/260827/are-you-under-pricing-your-products-and-services.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/217667/the-top-10-bookkeeping-mistakes-made-by-small-businesses.htm Keeping accurate records for your business is a crucial task But, many business owners fail to take the necessary steps to ensure that this task is completed properly Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:55:29 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/217667/the-top-10-bookkeeping-mistakes-made-by-small-businesses.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/216121/top-10-small-business-start-up-mistakes.htm Millions of people each year start up small businesses around the world And, the vast majority of them will encounter challenges along the way Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:42:27 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/216121/top-10-small-business-start-up-mistakes.htm http://www.artipot.com/articles/216116/13-items-to-address-when-hiring-an-employee.htm While many companies seek to hire new employees every day, many do not take the proper steps to protect themselves and their businesses Employers need to become familiar with the hiring process, the required documents for their area and any associated taxes required to be withheld or paid by the business or the employee Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:34:37 +0000 http://www.artipot.com/articles/216116/13-items-to-address-when-hiring-an-employee.htm