The CPA's Guide to a Successful Financial Planning Practice

Jim Ainsworth looked at the tax return handed to him by one of his clients and knew that his business was in trouble. The return had been prepared by the client’s daughter, a high school junior, using commercial software purchased for under seventy dollars—and it was perfect! How could a CPA continue to charge a professional fee for a service that could now be performed by a teenager? This was just one in a series of events that led Jim to commit his business to a course of action he had been experimenting with for some time—selling financial investments and marketing advisory services. This book is both the story of Jim’s successes and failures along the road to becoming a top-rated marketer of financial planning services and an inspirational and practical guide for other CPAs who, like Jim, know that the CPA who only does tax returns may soon be as quaint a figure as the blacksmith and the iceman. In this book you will find everything you need to actively market yourself as a full-service financial planning consultant and turn this side of your business into a noncyclical revenue generator. Jim Ainsworth defies the positions taken by the AICPA and the College of Financial Planners that accounting professionals should not become licensed to sell investments. He provides both a strong argument and practical advice on how and why CPAs should recommend or "sell" financial investments. He demonstrates that CPAs can provide these services to their clients at lower cost than other sources, and he rates the pros and cons of a range of investment options. And he introduces you to TOPS—Trust, Opportunity, Pain, and Solution—the low-pressure sales method that enabled him to triple his productivity in just one year without jeopardizing his relationship with his clients. Jim would be the first to tell you that it won’t be easy. You’ll have to work hard, think hard, discipline yourself, and focus all your efforts on the ultimate goal. But the payoff is both enriching and personally rewarding—the ability to make money while helping other people make money as well. The elements of success are at your fingertips and, in the words of Jim Ainsworth, "If you apply them, make a commitment, and [are] persistent, you will succeed."