The accounting profession is experiencing a shift: Gone are the days of talking to clients once a year on tax preparation. Small and medium-sized businesses want an accountant or bookkeeper to act as a year-round advisor and are looking for an accounting professional who is going to add value to their business.
Sage Summit – taking place July 28-31, 2014, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas – will equip accounting professionals with the strategies and best practices necessary to overcome challenges and stereotypes of accountants and bookkeepers of the past and propel their business to the next level through powerful conversations and connections. Conversations and networking will take the form of insightful keynotes, sessions, and panels. If you’re not already registered and want information, you can visit SageSummit.com and register now.
Facilitated by subject matter experts and top accounting thought leaders, conversations will center on topics relevant to the accounting profession. For your convenience, we’ve highlighted a few of the conversations and sessions that will be facilitated by some of these thought leaders. There are many other sessions, so be sure to check out SageSummit.com for the complete list.
See you in Vegas!
Jason Blumer – Accountant business model transformation: A real-life case study
- IND-499
- Tuesday, July 29, 1:30 p.m.—2:30 p.m.
- Transitioning your business to the cloud requires more than just a shift in accounting solutions. To achieve the firm of your dreams, you need to look seriously at making a business model transformation and then rip off the Band-Aid! It can be tough, and it can be scary, but only you can take the steps and make the tough choices to move towards your dream practice. In this session host Jason Blumer, CPA and chief innovation officer at Blumer CPAs, shares with you the adventures and mishaps on the path to transitioning his own firm to something strongly resembling the vision he had for it.
Doug Sleeter – Avoid the tornado when moving to the cloud: Seven steps for Accounting Professionals
- BUS-459
- Tuesday, July 29, 1:30 p.m.—2:15 p.m.
- Are you planning to move your applications and data to the cloud but you’re afraid of creating a disaster? Deciding to move to the cloud is the first step, but then what? How many ‘connected’ systems need to be moved, and in what order? If you move the accounting software, what about the payroll, the merchant accounts, the e-commerce, and all of the other business processes? It’s critical that you plan the transition carefully, and this session, led by founder of The Sleeter Group Doug Sleeter, will give you a seven-step checklist to avoid creating a tornado.
Brian F. Tankersley – Power! Power! Power! Doing more with Microsoft Excel
- BUS-491
- Tuesday, July 29, 3:00 p.m.—4:00 p.m.
- New spreadsheet auditing tools in Microsoft Excel give you great power. Brian F. Tankersley, CPA, CITP, CGMA, and K2 Enterprises instructor, will explore the PowerPivot, PowerMaps, and PowerQuery functionality and take your Excel use to the next powerful level. (Yes, this session is all about power!)
Brian F. Tankersley – Security and privacy in a cloudy world
- BUS-489
- Tuesday, July 29, 4:30 p.m.—5:30 p.m.
- The rise of cloud computing has been one of the highlights of the last few years. The notion that information technology can be delivered in a highly scalable way is generating excitement and concern for accountants and business owners alike. Brian F. Tankersley, CPA, CITP, CGMA, and K2 Enterprises instructor, will help explore the concerns of security and privacy in a cloud-driven world.
L. Gary Boomer – Are you prepared to play above the line?
- IND-487
- Wednesday, July 30, 10:00 a.m.—11:00 a.m.
- Advisory services require a different level of thinking that result in significant and positive change. In this session, L. Gary Boomer, CPA, CITP, CEO of Boomer Consulting, Inc., will help you learn about the five P’s that will allow you to play at a higher level.
Jason Blumer – Building a super accountant or bookkeeper firm part 1 & 2
- Part 1: IND-478
- Part 2: IND-485
- Part 1: Wednesday, July 30, 10:00 a.m.—11:00 a.m.
- Part 2: Wednesday, July 30, 11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m.
- Jason Blumer, CPA and chief innovation officer at Blumer CPAs, will lead these sessions, exploring various aspects of the genetic makeup of a firm, including pricing models, customer satisfaction, employee management, and so on. Then he will lead small break-out groups as they take on the personas of customers, owners, and employees and look to build a firm. The second half of this session will consist of each group’s presenting their firm back to the room for greater learning. Ultimately the best points of each group will be combined into one big « super firm »with the help of a graphic interpreter.
Jody Padar – Positioning your new services in a new cloud world
- BUS-492
- Wednesday, July 30, 11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m.
- Jody Padar, accounting thought leader and CPA, MST, and CEO and principal at New Vision CPA Group, explains how adopting cloud technology creates the need for an entirely new business model in your firm. How do you go about positioning your services to cloud prospects? It’s not about selling bookkeeping services any more!
Tom Hood and Jennifer Warawa – Innovating beyond technology for accounting professionals
- MAX-502
- Wednesday, July 30, 2:00 p.m.—3:30 p.m.
- Innovation is one of the latest buzz words, but what does innovation really mean and how does it impact the way you do business and serve your clients? Often times, business leaders think innovation refers solely to technology, when in fact cloud and mobility are shifting away from being a new idea to being mainstream and an expectation, leaving clients wanting more. What does « being innovative » in your accounting firm mean to your business model, the way you interact with your clients, and how you plan for the future? Jennifer Warawa, Vice President and General Manager of Sage Accountant Solutions at Sage North America, and Tom Hood, CEO of Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, will share research, trends, and insights into how the next phase of innovation will have an impact on the way you do business, and what changes are crucial in order to stay one step ahead of the competition.
L. Gary Boomer – Packaging and pricing advisory services for accountants and bookkeepers
- IND-488
- Wednesday, July 30, 4:00 p.m.—5:00 p.m.
- The value of services increase when they are named, packaged, and priced together rather than separately. In this session, L. Gary Boomer, CPA, CITP, CEO of Boomer Consulting, Inc., will look at the necessary tools to assist you in naming, developing a menu of compliance, performance, and strategic advisory services in addition to a pricing matrix to provide guidance in the sales and pricing process. This is for those who are serious about developing a scalable advisory services business.
Jason Blumer – Transitioning your practice: Facing the fear
- IND-486
- Wednesday, July 30, 4:00 p.m.—5:00 p.m.
- How many times have you done a deep dive into a model transformation at a conference, gotten really excited where your firm needed to go, and then between the airport and your office, you completely allowed the fear of change and risk to prevent you from making significant changes? This session, led by Jason Blumer, CPA and chief innovation officer at Blumer CPAs, is about moving beyond the fear and embracing tools to help you know which risks are the right ones to take.
Randy Johnston – Alternatives to Microsoft Office Desktop
- BUS-490
- Wednesday, July 30, 4:00 p.m.—5:00 p.m.
- Learn about Microsoft Office 365 and Google Docs from Randy Johnston, MCS, MCP, and executive vice president and partner of K2 Enterprises. HIPAA compliance changes may impact the way you work!
Jody Padar – Accounting professionals engage your cloud clients
- BUS-493
- Thursday, July 31, 10:00 a.m.—11:00 a.m.
- With a new model shift comes a need for a new client engagement strategy. How do you effectively onboard new accounting clients, and what tools do you need to set the stage with new cloud clients? In this session, Jody Padar, accounting thought leader and CPA, MST, and CEO and principal at New Vision CPA Group, will discuss how.
Jody Padar – Delivering on your value promise with cloud clients
- BUS-494
- Thursday, July 31, 11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m.
- A cloud and value pricing model sets the stage for more regular interactions with your clients and bundles incremental value into your brand promise. How do you, as an accounting or bookkeeping firm, plan and deliver on your promise? In this session, Jody Padar, accounting thought leader and CPA, MST, and CEO and principal at New Vision CPA Group, will discuss how to deliver on this promise.
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