As a CPA, your clients look to you to help them avoid and mitigate risk, and it’s a responsibility most professionals take seriously. But at times it’s good to turn our gaze toward yourself to consider the areas where your own firm may be unexpectedly exposed to risk. Once again, we love our catchphrases; “Marketing can help!” Your marketing team can help you avoid risk in public facing areas while safely putting your best foot forward.

1. “Expertise”

If the words “expert” or “expertise” are on your website, do yourself a favor and remove them ASAP. Yes, you do have a lot of experience and knowledge when it comes to your profession, the industries you work with and the services you provide. However, the word “expert” is subjective, and could give someone the impression that you’re so good you’re infallible. That leaves you open to potential legal trouble if something goes wrong. In fact, while you’re reviewing your website and marketing materials, keep your eyes open for definitive language that may guarantee results or outcomes.

What to do instead: Instead of using the word “expert,” describe your unique experience, showcase your memberships in trade organizations, share case studies or vignettes. Highlight how you are helping clients in a way that will demonstrate your knowledge, and use your blog to share insights that will give clients and prospects access to your approach and way of thinking.

2. Niche

Sick of hearing about niches? Sorry, we can’t help you with that. Once again, having a niche can really help you out. When it comes to risk, specializing (and the more specific, the better) can help you avoid mistakes, including the trap of not knowing what you don’t know. When your firm focuses on a particular industry or ideal client, everyone on the team has a better chance of delivering in a way that avoids risk. Including your marketers! Making sure you are accurately representing your ability to support and advise the clients you engage is the first step to avoiding risk.

What to do instead: Stop trying to be everything to everyone. Ok, that’s easier said than done, but when your marketing politely repels prospects outside of your niche, you avoid stepping into territory that may turn into trouble. Instead when you focus on your niche industry and ideal client profile, your marketing can help attract those clients that you can confidently serve. Niche firms are also positioned to provide unique high-value advising services with less inherent risk than a general service provider. If you’re not already specialized, pull in your marketing team when you’re ready to make the shift.

3. Advisory Services

CAAS is the fastest growing service segment within CPA firms as firms look to differentiate themselves and provide high-value services to their clients. Wealth management, payroll and fraud protection, to name a few, are becoming increasingly common services CPAs are offering their clients. All advisory services have inherent risk related to them, and it’s easy to be over-eager when it comes to going to market with these services. We see a lot of websites with a laundry list of vague services, and often find out later that those are things that the firm could do. That’s a risky headache right there. 

What to do instead: Only promote services you are equipped to offer, and make sure everyone on the team is properly trained. That includes your marketing team, because by now you know that misrepresentation can get you into trouble. Also, please make sure you are charging for advising and not giving it away for free! Not only will that help your bottom line, but as you’ll see when we talk about engagements and packages, not formally offering advisory services can be an issue as well.

4. Recruiting

Did you know that CPA firms have been sued for misrepresenting expectations during the recruiting and hiring process? If the firm is vague or withholding about hours, growth opportunities or pay, you open yourself up to risk. Hiring is a priority for most firms right now, it’s time to reevaluate language in your materials like “flexibility” “great benefits” and “supportive environment.” Ask ten different professionals what those phrases mean, and you’ll likely receive ten different interpretations. 

What to do instead: Make sure that marketing and HR professionals work together to develop a recruiting message that accurately represents your culture, what it would be like if someone chose to work with you. Swap vagaries and platitudes for clear, meaningful language in the form of quotes, stories, and thoughtfully crafted language. Create written policies that can be shared early in the recruiting process to better explain your “flexibility” so you remove the ambiguity. For example, can people work from home once a week? Whenever they want? With permission? As long as they’re online 9:00-5:00? You get the picture. Then, have your employment attorney look at everything before you publish it.

5. Onboarding and Offboarding

When a new client chooses you, everyone is surely eager to jump in and get started right away. Taking shortcuts with onboarding clients could have consequences down the line. Developing an onboarding process that sets both sides up for success will keep you and the client happier for longer. You also have to be thoughtful about handling an engagement that’s come to an end. Do you have a process for communicating with clients you’re “firing” and offboarding them? There are professional rules about this, so when done the wrong way, a client could have grounds to take legal action. Even if a project has come to its end, it’s always best to properly close out that engagement in writing so there’s no ambiguity for the client.

What to do instead: Your marketing team can create an onboarding process with the help of a cloud-based CRM like HubSpot. Use forms to collect information and share important documents, who to contact at the firm, and expectations for communication. The client can quickly move through the online onboarding process, and when it’s stored in your CRM, your team can access it anytime. This isn’t intended to capture PII, but you can provide details on sharing sensitive docs through your secure portal as part of the process. When it comes to offboarding, work with marketing and legal to draft a disengagement letter that lawfully and thoughtfully terminates the relationship.

6. Engagement, Pricing and Packaging

Making sure your clients and your team understand what you’re providing mitigates risk and improves the client experience. Seems simple enough, but if you don’t have an engagement letter clearly spelling out what both parties are agreeing to, or your scope lacks transparency, you’re taking on risk that could potentially be avoided. 

What to do instead: First, having easy to access and understand packaging and pricing will make a big difference here. This allows the client to see what is available and agree to something on paper that everyone understands. When a client chooses one package, they are inherently NOT choosing other packages that may include more services. That makes it clear that the client was offered services and made a decision not to purchase them, which can help you in court. Clearly defined packages also help your team members stay in scope, and gives them a way to offer more to a client without going off-script. With clearly defined services, the engagement letters become streamlined and there shouldn’t be any surprises for the client or your team

Understanding your potential areas of risk can help you make good choices. Working with marketers who have deep appreciation for and experience in the profession can go a long way to helping you achieve your goals while avoiding bad press and lawsuits that mistakes or missteps can create. Could your firm be more intentional with risk mitigation? Let's talk!