Client Accounting Services (CAS) is a relatively new service line niche for the accounting industry. In short, CAS is a service customized for each client to provide an all-in-one accounting resource.
Accounting Today identifies CAS as follows:
Traditionally, client accounting services meant that you, the accountant, do most (if not all) of the accounting work for your clients. That means you perform:
- After-the-fact financial statement preparation (write-ups);
- Transaction processing, bill payment, processing of AP, AR, and bookkeeping;
- Payroll and payroll compliance;
- Periodic tax payments/compliance (sales tax, etc.); and,
- Outsourced CFO and/or controller services, which entail ongoing, higher-level services to review financial performance and provide input on strategies to improve business.
Connie Hammell, KWC’s Managing Principal and head of the firm’s CAS group, was recently interviewed for Accounting Today‘s special report, CAS: Beyond Bookkeeping. Along with other industry specialists in CAS, she detailed the unique services offered and their alignment with clients’ operational goals.
“CAS has morphed from being seen as ‘bookkeeping’ and a relatively low-value service to being one of the premier service offerings in many firms. This has been driven by our desire to provide our clients with information that they can use to effectively manage and grow their businesses. … In order to go to that next step of advising our clients, we need to have solid, real-time accounting data that can be used to analyze results and provide insight into trends (whether good or bad), assist in creating strategic plans, and providing a roadmap on how to execute,” she said.
All of KWC’s CAS engagements begin with a systems and process analysis, said Hammell, which is a critical step both for the firm and its prospective clients.
“The clients see very early on that this is not after-the-fact general ledger maintenance. We want to understand the accounting cycle (or lack thereof) within the client’s business to make sure that proper internal controls are implemented, that there is backup for each step to ensure continuity, and that there is transparency at every step. We assist in building an accounting platform that is centered around QuickBooks Online that removes pain points in the process and allows for real-time data collection resulting in up-to-date records every single day instead of 20 days after the end of the month. This approach allows us to then provide the advisory and analysis services that business owners are looking for and place a premium on,” Hammell said.
To learn more about the firm’s CAS offerings visit https://kwcadvisors.com/ or contact your KWC advisor.
Register to read the full Accounting Today report at https://www.accountingtoday.com/report/cas-as-the-core-of-an-advisory-practice.
To view Accounting Today’s overview of CAS click here.