CAS tech: How to expertly navigate the change

“I developed a plan for client advisory services [CAS] and thought everybody in our firm was just going to understand and embrace it from the get-go,” recalls Matt Gardner, CEO and co-founder of Hiline, a virtual accounting firm providing strategy-led accounting services to a wide range of startups and other entrepreneurial businesses. “That did not happen.

Now that Gardner has helped build a thriving CAS practice at Hiline, he can joke about this early misstep. But as virtually any firm leader who has launched a CAS practice and implemented a new piece of technology will tell you, the risks of overlooking change management are real—it can be easy to underestimate the challenge of getting firm professionals to adapt to the changes that come with CAS. That’s why change management—a focused, methodical approach to helping employees understand, embrace and implement change—has a central role to play in achieving CAS success, regardless of the size and scope of the practice.

Change management is an important part of undertaking any new business strategy, but it is particularly important in the CAS arena. Why? Because, in many ways, CAS represents a fundamental shift—a departure from the traditional model that has served the accounting profession so well for decades. It is a shift that is heavily enabled by (and reliant on) technology, with the ultimate goal of freeing professionals from time-consuming, repetitive, lower-level tasks to allow them to spend more time focusing on more strategic issues for clients. After investing in CAS-enabling technologies, firms can’t afford for their CAS team to only partially adopt them, ignore them altogether in favor of old ways of doing business, or use only a sliver of their full capabilities. Success in CAS relies on the ability of the firm to expertly guide their team, helping them fully buy into and support the overarching goal that drives the need for technological transformation.

“If you have people on your team who have always been paid hourly and maybe in the past their jobs involved, for example, driving around to clients’ houses, picking up invoices and receipts and bank statements, the idea of making this kind of shift in work style could be profound for them,” says Lindsay Wheeler, Strategic Accounts Director at BILL, formerly Bill.com, whose technology is in wide use by CAS practices. “So you need to think carefully beforehand about the kinds of changes you’re going to be asking them to make and taking steps to help ensure they’ll be on board and ready when the time comes.”

Practical, proven steps

Fortunately, there is a proven road map to change management for CAS practices—six steps that can be adapted for the specific needs of individual firms. Leaders of successful CAS practices have used these steps to avoid the delays, lack of focus, and resistance to technology adoption that can plague new practices from the start.

Assess the current state.

• Determine firm readiness.
• Define the “why” and need for change.

Align leadership.

• Identify key stakeholders across the firm.
• Create a compelling vision for the firm’s future.
• Identify the implementation team that will guide technology onboarding and related process updates.

Develop the roadmap.

• Develop a communication strategy and methods.
• Plan for managing change resistance.
• Manage and clarify the firm’s response to potential blockers to technology adoption and acceptable use.

Formalize goals and plans.

• Determine the phases and timeline for the implementation.
• Develop the project plan.
• Integrate the change with regular firm activities.

Guide implementation.

• Build training plans and team resources.
• Celebrate quick wins.
• Clarify roles and responsibilities during implementation.

Evaluate the change.

• Create a process to evaluate the change.
• Empower your team and clients to embrace change

* * *

Starting is the most important step.

There is much more to know about each of these steps. This recent webinar, “Change as a strategy: Building a plan to manage CAS growth,” as well as this white paper, “Mastering change in client advisory services,” offer a more detailed, practical guide. If your firm uses only this list as a guide to change management, it will be off to a solid start. And as Hiline’s Gardner says, starting is important. “The worst thing you can do is just not get started,” he says. “Avoid overengineering or analysis paralysis—as accountants, we tend to be risk-averse, wanting to play out every possible scenario, but with CAS and change management, you have to think about it as a more entrepreneurial journey. And that takes a different kind of strategy planning than many of us may be accustomed to.”

Whether your firm is looking to get off to its best start in CAS or is already underway and looking to jump-start its change management strategy, we can help. Learn more about how CPA.com can help you develop and implement the CAS change management strategy to keep your team motivated and focused – and your clients returning for more.

About the author:

Kimberly K. Blascoe, CPA, leads CPA.com’s CAS 2.0 practice transformation programs, focusing on helping firms establish and grow optimized CAS practices through consulting, practice development and training offerings. Prior to joining CPA.com, Kim spent more than 30 years in public accounting, which included leading the CAS practice for a Top 20 firm.