Advisory services soared this year, with clients turning en masse to their accountants for help navigating the coronavirus pandemic — and with the possibility of a second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans, accountants should be prepared for more of the same in 2021, according to experts from the American Institute of CPAs and its technology arm, CPA.com.
The AICPA has been urging lawmakers to accelerate the passage of the so-called "PPP 2." This round would be a new, more targeted small-business assistance program. It has bipartisan support, but disagreement between parties on other aspects of the stimulus bill has slowed its progress.
“The time is now to be prepared for PPP 2,” warned Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com, during its annual Digital CPA conference, held virtually this week. “Stay current on legislation. Be fully aware of potential timing. Advance proactive strategy to support clients. Unfortunately, this is going to happen during the holiday period, but be proactive.”
He went on to say that “capabilities are key” for PPP, and pointed accountants to the guidance the AICPA has released, and that it has authored into its various publicly available calculators such as
But it’s not just help with applying for PPP 2 loans that businesses will need from their accountants. It’s also help with loan forgiveness for loans obtained this year — basically a done deal, according to AICPA leaders, simply because the government doesn’t have the manpower and/or technological capability to manage the repayment of the $523 billion dispersed this year.
While the work piles up, firms are benefiting. Some firms consider it their duty to provide assistance with PPP to their existing clients for free, but the need for PPP assistance comes with a host of other potential services, such as cash flow management, budgeting and forecasting, and other advisory pieces.
As for managing the new stream of work, and harnessing the new advisory opportunities it brings, Javier Goldin pointed to technology as the answer.
“I always say tech is the ultimate equalizer,” said Goldin, managing partner of Goldin Group, during a Digital CPA session. “Once we have an ecosystem like what we have access to [through CPA.com], then we have access to the greatest and most robust tech at prices affordable to anybody. We don’t need to invest in servers and programmers to get the best. That’s what has allowed us to move everybody to the cloud almost right away, and has also been the deciding factor in differentiating firms that are pushing forward in capturing information in real time via technology, and those that are still working through Excel sheets.”
Goldin noted that his firm grew 30 percent just this year, spurred by advisory services.
“Small to medium business were thirsty for advisory services because, one, they need someone to talk to more than large business; and two, they need someone decisive to guide them through these difficult times,” he said.
