June 2007 Circle Update
The long-awaited revival of the Boomer Technology Circles has begun! While the groundhog emerges from his burrow in early February, the Circle program must wait until after tax season—and things finally kicked off for the year on May 1, 2007.
Over the next three weeks, five of seven Circles convened to renew acquaintances, meet new members, and resume sharing experiences, best practices, and lessons learned.
The Circles’ return to the Intercontinental Hotel (formerly the Fairmont) in Kansas City is a noteworthy change for 2007. While last year at the Marriott on the Plaza was a great success—and we thank its staff for outstanding support—the InterContinental’s location is a bit more convenient to the restaurants and shops our members enjoy.
Tax season, mentoring & more
The Circle meetings themselves were great successes! BTCs #7 and #5 were first out of the gate, meeting back-to-back during the first week of May. Each featured a Strategy and Vision session by Gary Boomer, a Mad Lab review of brief but significant topics, and breakout sessions for partners and IT professionals.
Each Circle also featured sessions led by Circle members. As always, the group shared experiences on topics chosen by the members themselves. During BTC #7 we heard recaps of this year’s tax season, a discussion of online (Internet-based) backup strategies, and insights into niche practice areas developed by two member firms.
BTC #5 also spent its custom time to review tax season, highlighting members’ experiences with digital tax prep, scanning tools and the use of portals. Members also conducted an in-depth review of IT Governance, featuring case studies of two firms and their technology committees.
Next week BTC #3 came to town, and its members, too, had a wealth of experience to share, recapping tax season and featuring one member’s special expertise in the transportation industry. This Circle was also the beneficiary of a truly excellent presentation on mentoring programs in the accounting firm. Rita Keller of Brady Ware & Schoenfeld, Inc. (BTC #2)—a nationally acclaimed speaker and well-known champion of firm administration—shared her experiences and stories of what has worked well in her firm. Since retention and recruiting are the top problem areas in the profession, Rita’s insights were especially on-topic!
“Why do you do it that way?”
During the week of May 15-18 we welcomed BTCs #1 and #2 to Kansas City. They, too, followed a similar program outline as the others but customized it to reflect special interests. Unique presentations at BTC #1 included a practice management update, which evolved into an in-depth discussion of billing practices. Members discussed a variety of methods and added some thoughtful discussion centered around the question, “Why do you do it that way?”
Eric Benson of Boomer Consulting, Inc. offered his insight into the features and benefits of Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and the various ways it integrates with other applications to unify back office tasks within an accounting firm.
BTC #2 convened next and also discussed tax season experiences from an IT perspective, including an excellent and informative review of Application Virtualization (what it is, how it works, and why you should care). Firm members concluded with a discussion of firm-wide resource budgeting and the tools available to automate parts of this process.
Building on experience
While all this discussion is interesting, it’s not beneficial without an action plan to make anything happen. Therefore, Circle members finished each meeting with a 90 Day Game Plan outlining actions they will execute before the next meeting. When they re-convene, each Circle will begin with an Accountability Review session during which members will “fess up” to peers concerning what they accomplished from Game Plans outlined in May!
Some consensus evolved during the course of all five meetings. In terms of tax season, it was a profitable year, but one that was more difficult and, frankly, not much fun for a variety of reasons. Some problems were technical; some induced by brokerage companies and some the result of staffing challenges.
Many firms aggressively tried new technologies in their tax practices, most notably automated scanning tools from multiple vendors. They report mixed success with these new tools; some firms report good results while others gave up in frustration. It appears the deciding factors are technology, staff acceptance, and solid standards, policies, and procedures. When BTC #4 and #8 meet in mid-June, it will be interesting to see if their perceptions match those of their peers from Circles that met during May.
Don’t be left out!
If your firm is not yet a Circle member and the kinds of issues shared in these meetings sound intriguing to you, it’s never too late to join! Simply contact Eric Hunt at 888-266-6375 or erich@boomer.com. He will get you started on the first steps toward joining these great firms getting better together.
