Alliances - The Cost-effective Way to Build Your Practice and Increase Client Satisfaction

By Steve Ernst

Software publishers and hardware manufacturers have long viewed the CPA profession as a key –if not THE key – influencer or advisor in the business management and purchasing decisions made by the CPA's clients. Study after study indicates that the profession's self-touting as "most trusted advisor" is spot on, well-earned and a designation on which the profession spends a great deal of both human and monetary capital. If you're in public practice and have clients in the private, small and midsize category, you know that very few critical business decisions are made, especially those requiring the expenditure of significant funds, without your client calling you for your opinion, your take, your thoughts and concerns.

Usually, the decision ferments, it's a decision made over time and after a lot of soul searching and more than a few phone calls and meetings. The additional warehouse, the second canning line, the hiring of two additional field sales people, the purchasing and implementation of technology, an acquisition of another business. Regardless of their experience, background or level of business acumen, you know your client would not undertake any of those without getting in touch with you to conduct due diligence, to advise on consequences and risks, and possibly to recommend a solution or next steps. It's the premise you've based your practice on, the trusting yet independent relationship that creates value. The objective, just-the-facts-please attitude coupled with your knowledge of the general business environment and the more-specific client-related business makes it an imperative of the client to get your buy-in, your tacit approval, your nodding agreement if not your formal report and opinion.

The above scenario is played out countless times a day around the world including here in the US where the CPA is held in high regard. It's why we in the technology business reach out to the CPA's in public practice to make them aware of what we're doing when it comes to the small and midsize business category. Building alliances with the CPA's who serve the small, growing, emerging companies is just good common sense for companies like SAP who realize growth will come from this market segment and it's key to reach out to those companies in tandem with someone that has built up well-deserved trust with their clientele. Carefully developed programs created by the major technology vendors who leverage and support the CPA's independence and objectivity are becoming critical to efforts in building awareness of products and services that are now available to the small and midsize business when, in the past, only larger corporations would have the budgets and staffs to implement, utilize and support technologies with the broad and deep functionality.

It's natural if not just human nature for the CPA to be skeptical of programs that seek to take advantage of the relationships with clients and non-clients that have been built up over the course of time. Relationships that are the life blood of the CPA's practice. Relationships which the CPA uses as a marketing tool, references and as a measure of the long-term viability of the practice. Those relationships have taken substantial effort to create, nurture and protect.

All too often a CPA looks upon an alliance with a third-party as an intrusion or a distraction when, in reality, these alliances, if involving an ally who understands the CPA's client relationships, and the responsibilities the CPA holds as important because of that relationship, can add value to the CPA's knowledge base, increase the level of service and effectiveness of services rendered by the CPA to the extent that that combination increases client satisfaction.

Keep in mind, there are no perfect alliance partners and there are no one-size-fits all alliance programs. That said, what makes a good alliance for the CPA to pursue?

In the eyes of the CPA or CPA firm, the value-adding alliance will include at least the following:

• There is no cost to the CPA for an alliance relationship.
• The alliance partner should have a known and respected presence in its own market segment and it has or is developing solutions and/or products which the CPA thinks is or will be of interest to the client.
• The alliance should offer an ongoing program of disseminating valuable and timely information in a cost-effective and travel-reducing manner. The information should, where professional standards allow, come with CPE. The world is getting smaller every day and just because a technology or product was not on the radar yesterday does not mean it won't be tomorrow. The profession is conservative by nature and change sometimes comes slow and reaction to something new is usually cautious and painstaking. The CPA whose practice succeeds and whose client feel well served are the CPAs who spends time thinking about what's new, what ideas are there whose time has come and who has found a viable and valuable source for information pertaining to the subject in general.
• The alliance partner is more concerned about provoking thinking and thought leadership on a broad topic rather than selling a narrowly focused product or solution.
• The alliance partner is locally located or is represented locally.
• Lastly and most importantly, the alliance partner plainly and clearly has to understand and respect the CPA's relationship with the client and will have formed the alliance processes to maintain and support the CPA's independent and objective nature.

Steve Ernst, CPA, leads the SAP CPA Advisor and other influencer programs for SAP America, Inc. Prior to joining SAP, Steve provided consulting services to boards and executive staff on accounting, auditing, business processes and internal control systems, as well as sales, marketing and business development initiatives. He has more than 30 years of experience, including 10 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and more than 20 years in international finance and operations in the consumer product and technology markets. You can contact him at steve.ernst@sap.com.

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