“Spending $5,000 dollars for the opportunity to meet with a potential client is not as fool hearted as it might sound,” says Joseph Charneske, a partner in a full service accounting firm based in Bannockburn, Illinois.   When asked how his partners felt about such a proposition Charneske admits they were somewhat skeptical at first however after some reassuring from him were willing to move forward.

“I basically received a phone call about a $7 million dollar medical equipment and supply company that was looking for a new accounting firm to outsource all of their accounting work to,” says Charneske, a partner at Goldberg Mechales Charneske & Schiffman, Ltd.   “We’re accustomed to receiving client referrals from other clients of ours who are happy with our work and not from a marketing firm,” says Charneske. However his awareness of GoodAccountants.com which spans a period of more than 18 months combined with the appeal of the fast growing medical equipment company presented to him by Senior Consultant, Al Chisolm was far too compelling for Charneske not to follow his intuition to invest the $5,000 dollars required to become a member of GoodAccountants.com.   The decision to do so has paid off handsomely in the form of a six-hundred percent (600%) return on investment achieved in little more than sixty days.

“I now have a contractual $30,000 dollar yearly billing engagement with a great client referred to me by GoodAccountants.com and believe it or not I just sent them another $5,000 dollars today,” says Charneske.

When asked by GA Insider if his partners were now ready to upgrade to a larger marketing program Charneske replied they would have been pretty disappointed had we not landed the client.  Charneske himself maintains however he is very comfortable with GoodAccountants.com considering the extensive research he has done on the company and having witnessed how far GoodAccountants has come over the years.

The fact is Joseph Charneske is a Certified Public Accountant and with all things being equal he certainly does understand what a good return on investment should look like.   A six times return on one’s money is not exactly chop liver especially when stacked up against the single digit rates of return that are being offered today by most other investments. “This is a great way to build an accounting practice and I also get to write off the $5,000 dollar membership fee as a marketing expense,” adds Charneske.

GA Insider’s very next issue will feature the $7 million medical supply company engaged by Joseph Charneske from GoodAccountants.com.   To insure you receive the full television reality episode filmed on location please click here.

Something momentous is quietly unfolding in Chatsworth, California just as it is in cities all across America such as New York, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Tampa and Charlotte just to name a few. It’s bringing about a new wave of thinking and a new way of doing business for hundreds of accountants like Sabita Jagtiani and Brenda Kommareddy of Jagtiani & Kommareddy, Certified Public Accountants. The pair who are often referred to as the ‘dynamic duo’ by staff members at GoodAccountants as a result of their winning personalities have racked up more than $75,000 in billings to clients referred to them by GoodAccountants.com, the nation’s largest accountancy referral service and have become the focus of this month’s Insider cover story.

“GoodAccountants.com came to our rescue,” says Sabita Jagtiani referring to the sustained growth her accounting firm has experienced over the past eighteen months despite the recession which has ravaged the accounting industry. “Many of our other clients have packed up and gone out of business but we actually increased our overall billings during this same period of time as a result of all the clients we’ve landed from GoodAccoutants.com,” she explains.

“We’ve gotten a variety of clients from them ranging from 1040’s to a $12 million dollar commercial landscaping company based in San Pedro, California with more than100 employees,” remarks Brenda Kommareddy. “We recently engaged a $6 million, 25 year old, food safety and nutrition company based in Westlake Village, California from GoodAccountants.com that has become a $25,000 dollar annual client of ours,” says Sabita Jagtiani. The company referred to by Jagtiani happens to be one of only two companies in the entire country that hold government contracts in their field and are consultants to major hotel chains and casinos, as well as to sports and entertainment complexes across the country. “Their bookkeeper of more than 20 years had retired so they contacted GoodAccountants.com for a replacement but were advised by Patty Schoenfeld of GoodAccountants that our firm could do the same work for them on an outsourced basis more cost effectively so they agreed to retain us,” explains Jagtiani. “The folks at GoodAccountants.com are for real and they have worked very hard to match us with the type of clients we look for,” adds Jagtiani.

Before upgrading to GoodAccountants.com’s $25,000 Marketing Program both Jagtiani and Kommareddy say they first learned of GoodAccountants from a radio commercial they heard while driving to work one morning but decided to get started with a smaller $5,000 dollar marketing program which they repeated two additional times. “When we first joined GoodAccountants we started to get worried because the first six months did not produce stellar results for us but then we suddenly began engaging much bigger clients from them,” says Kommareddy. “Marketing is something you have to commit to just as you commit to a particular profession; you don’t stop being a doctor because you may have lost your first patient,” she adds. “We’re so glad we kept renewing our membership because now we are seeing a two to three times return on our investment in the first year alone and the clients are staying with us year after year,” says Jagtiani. “So we recently decided to upgrade to their $25,000 marketing program which guarantees us $75,000 in billing,” she adds.

Among the clients that were referred to Jagtiani & Kommareddy is a 31 year old, 350 student, private Christian School located in Compton, California. “Al Chisolm at GoodAccountants set up the meeting for us to meet with them and they instantly fell in love with us and we with them,” says Jagtiani. “We also recently met with a medical doctor in Los Angeles that GoodAccountants referred to us which is still pending but looks very good,” she adds. When asked how she would at this point characterize the relationship between her firm and GoodAccountants.com her response was as follows; “To use the word ‘love’ is pretty strong however when somebody is giving you the kind of clients they’re giving us then I have to say I love them.”

To learn more about Jagtiani & Kommareddy, Certified Public Accountants please click here. To see the full reality television episode filmed on location in Chatsworth California featuring this firm and the clients referred to them by GoodAccountants.com please click here.

“Two months ago you couldn’t get me to even think about doing something like this,” explains Charlie Jones as he reflects on the $5,000 dollars upfront membership fee that is required by GoodAccountants.com to join their national marketing and advertising network.  “The ironic thing about it was they were only offering me a six-month membership for my $5,000 dollars so I asked Patty what happened to the other six-months, don’t I get to be a member for a full-year for that kind of money,” says Jones as he recounts a telephone conversation with Patricia Schoenfeld, a Senior Business Consultant with GoodAccountants.com.    Schoenfeld assured Jones that six-months was more than enough time for him to ascertain whether or not her company’s marketing and advertising savvy would make him want to upgrade his membership before the end of the initial six-month period.    “The fact is I did upgrade to their $25,000 membership program which guarantees me $75,000 in yearly billings or a 3 to 1 return on my investment,” says Jones.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia Jones says he has received sixteen client referrals from GoodAccountants.com in the span of sixty-days and is prepared to handle as many companies GoodAccountants can send to him.   Jones is the co-founder of a 25 year old, twelve-person, full service accounting firm.   The death of his partner Harry Marshall last year caused Jones to rededicate himself to increasing his client base along with adding an additional $150,000 to his firm’s annual billings.  “GoodAccountants.com is a surefire way for me to realize my goal of adding an additional $150,000 in billing this year, I’m convinced of it based on the money I’ve made with them so far,” says Jones.

To see the full reality television episode filmed on location in Atlanta, Georgia featuring Charlie Jones and several of the business owners that were referred to him by GoodAccountants.com please click here.

Wendroff & Associates LLC, a full service CPA firm based in Arlington, Virginia with more than 60 years of combined experience represents a new wave of accounting firms that rely heavily on Internet marketing as a way to attract new clients and reach new markets.   Among a growing number of accounting firms that employ a Director of Communications, a position that would have been non-existent in earlier times due to  old school conservatism that relegated accountants to pursuing new clients strictly by word of mouth, Wendroff & Associates embraces cutting edge technology as a part of its overall marketing strategy.

Wendroff & Associates, LLC also has offices in San Diego, California where it employs fifteen accountants with a combined 100 plus years of accounting experience.  The firm is so highly technologically based that it provides monthly webinars for its clients who benefit from a corporate philosophy that engenders extremely proactive outreach.  Wendroff & Associates also offers outsource bookkeeping as an alternative way to lower their client’s accounting costs.

With the emergence of firms such as Wendroff & Associates, LLC the accounting profession is rapidly undergoing dramatic change despite the fact that accountants in general are still regarded by most marketing specialists as being fifty years behind the times when compared to other professionals such as lawyers, doctors and dentists who rely heavily on advertising and marketing.  Darren Wendroff who serves as the firm’s Communications and Marketing Director says his firm has been quite happy with the level of client referrals it has received from  GoodAccountants.com since joining the nation’s largest accountancy referral service earlier this year.   “Since we’ve joined GoodAccountants.com we’ve received more than fifteen referrals that have ranged anywhere from $1,000 dollar individual clients to $30,000 dollar annual billings for business clients and they’ve also  been very good about  meeting our criteria for what we were looking for in the way of a client,” says Darren.

Had Hafed remained at home and in his own garden instead of trekking across strange lands only to endure hunger, pain and suffering he would have found his “acres of diamonds” which had been right under his feet all the time.

Most of us at one time or another have become Ali Hafed and have looked everywhere for success instead of looking for it right underneath our feet.   Today for many accountants across the country like Russell Nay, a sole practitioner based in North Las Vegas, Nevada, the Internet has become a personal ‘acres of diamonds’.   Nay says he has found success so close to home that he rarely ever has to leave the house except to meet new clients that are delivered directly to him by GoodAccountants.com through his laptop computer.   “I became a member of GoodAccountants.com on February 17th of this year and here it is March 20th and I’ve already received about $10,000 in potential billing and it has more than doubled the amount I paid in and things have been going very well,” says Nay

For accountants operating accounting practices that have fallen on hard times as a result of the current economic recession which has robbed them of as much as 30% to 40% of their client base the Internet may be the answer they’re looking for.   Increasingly plagued by slow payment from cash strapped clients along with the stress of long grueling hours that must be endured each tax season many accountants are looking for alternative ways to sustain their income year round.   Accountants who wish to attract new clients can do so by tapping into the ground swell of tens of thousands of key word searches that are conducted each month by business owners who search for local accountants throughout the year using the Internet.

GoodAccountants.com offers a cost-effective, high-tech solution for accountants who wish to expand, maintain or rebuild their client base and generate income year round through its new GA Access portal;  a new platform designed for accountants that delivers website users to them minutes after they request a referral from GoodAccountants.com.

To obtain more information on how your accounting practice can take advantage of this new technology to increase your billings call 1 (800) 505-7861.

To watch the full reality television episode you must become a free subscriber to GA Access.

“Our client had told us they were paying in excess of $700,000 annually in accounting fees but felt they were just not getting the service,” says Johanna Laurent, President of GoodAccountants.com.  “I immediately assembled our top people and we began very intensely researching all of the large accounting firms in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut tri-state area that we felt could provide our client the highest level of service and it was Amper, Politziner and Mattia, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants who kept coming up for us,” adds Laurent.

Ranked by Crain’s as the twelfth largest accounting firm in the New York regional area, Amper, Politziner and Mattia is one of the fastest growing accounting firms in the country.   With more than $120 million in revenues and 600 employees, Amper’s chairman Phil Politziner is quick to point out that his firm has grown organically which is a direct result of its ability to attract top talent and deliver an array of key accounting services to its clients among whom are some of the nation’s largest corporations.  Headquartered in Edison, New Jersey the firm has offices throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and is a prominent member of Baker Tilly International a professional network of 147 accounting firms in 104 countries throughout the world.  Amper, Politziner Mattia is also one of the top audit firms in the country and provides audit services to private and public corporations of all sizes.  The firm also services a long list of not-for-profit organizations and is the only accounting firm in the history of the state of New Jersey to guide a major hospital out of bankruptcy.

“I believe one of Amper’s greatest assets is their chairman, Phil Politziner,” says Johanna Laurent.  “Phil has an amazingly friendly personality and his smile is disarming and more than anything he engages as well as relaxes people which is a powerful attribute to have when you’re first meeting a potential client,” adds Laurent.  “When we obtained feedback from our client after their meeting with Phil and his team they told us Phil’s first question to them was ‘how can we help you?’ which meant a lot to them,” she adds.    “I’m very comfortable referring Phil and the folks at Amper to our clients because personality sometimes is a big factor in the equation when a client is considering retaining the accountants that will guide them through the myriad of tax and accounting issues that affect their business,” says Laurent.

To watch the full reality television episode filmed on location at Amper, Politziner and Mattia in Edison, New Jersey and hear Phil Politziner recount the early days at Amper you must become a free subscriber to GA Access.

Despite the dramatic downturn in our nation’s economy and the current ten percent unemployment rate, 94% of all Coleman University graduates are employed in a gainful job on or before their graduation date. Using what he describes as an “inverted curriculum” Dr. Coleman Furr may have discovered what could very well be the cure to the current economic malaise that has tens of millions of Americans unemployed.

Motivated by his desire to turn around what he saw as a national crisis with jobs leaving our shores each year in record numbers Dr. Coleman Furr set out to do something about it and along the way may have found the key that opens the door to what is truly a meaningful education; which seems to have eluded most Universities that remain all but oblivious to it. As more and more college graduates lose the battle to payoff their six-figure education loans and are joining the ranks of the unemployed perhaps other universities will begin to consider adopting Coleman University’s ‘inverted curriculum.’

With a realization that creating new jobs is directly hinged to our ability to create a more relevant worker, Dr. Furr’s approach to workforce preparedness starts to make more and more sense. But if  by chance Dr. Furr proves not to have cornered the market with the answer to the single most important domestic problem facing Americans today; which is massive unemployment, then the country is going to be hard pressed to find a more viable solution than the one that bears Dr. Furr’s name and has been transformed into brick and mortar as Coleman University.

The way we educate our work force will directly affect our nation’s bottom line according to Dr. Furr is a truth that speaks to what is fundamentally wrong with our economy. “If we are going to teach people how to get a job we aught to also help them find a job,” he adds.

Formerly known as Coleman College the school which grossed $100,000 in its first year while housed in a small 15,000 square feet building in downtown San Diego has since grown into 87,000 of combined square footage in two campuses on 5.5 acres; one in San Diego and the other in San Marcos. The school has three major educational departments; computer programming, computer networks and computer graphic design.

The full reality television episode featuring Debbie Ford, Manager of Affiliate Marketing with GoodAccountants.com was shot on location at the Balboa Avenue Campus and can be seen by clicking here: see full reality TV episode.

For more information about Coleman University please call the San Diego Campus at (858) 499-0202 or the San Marcos Campus at (760) 747-3990 or go to www.coleman.edu.

It certainly appears to be true for a large contingent of accountants who are harnessing the power of the internet to virally market themselves and their accounting practices by starring in their own ‘reality television show’ which features them along with the corporate clients they’re obtaining from GoodAccountants.com, the nation’s largest accountancy referral service.

GoodAccountants.com is the nation’s largest accounting referral service having more than 10 million business owners in pursuit of a local accountant or accounting firm use its website. The company has just launched an internet based ‘reality television show’ that features both the companies and the accountants who use the popular website to connect with each other.

The way it works is video taped segments also called webisodes that feature participating accounting firms across the country along with the services they offer and the clients they serve are uploaded to dozens of internet properties such as YouTube, FaceBook and MySpace as well as other social networking websites. The videos are also emailed in vast quantities to targeted audiences including thousands of corporations, business owners, chief executive officers and chief financial officers.  The objective is to achieve widespread viewership among groups that are most likely to need accounting services.  The accountants featured in the webisodes also serve as ‘in the field’ service providers also called Designated Service Providers (DSPs) or marketing affiliates of GoodAccountants.com and are the ones that fulfill the actual accounting services that are needed. Filmed episodes highlight the various accounting services that are offered by each provider such as tax planning, estate planning, strategic business planning, succession planning and internal controls consulting which will help business owners hold onto more of the cash they earn while avoiding higher tax payments.  The net affect of the marketing strategy is to attract corporate clients looking to cut their accounting costs from the generally higher accounting fees they pay to large, regional accounting firms by getting them to switch to a smaller accounting firm belonging to GoodAccountants.com’s national network of accountants. “Given the current economic climate many companies paying substantial accounting fees are looking to cut back and this offers them the alternative they’re looking for,” says Johanna Laurent, Chief Executive Officer of GoodAccountants.com.

Laurent’s strategy is to attract the attention of companies that are paying between $25,000 and $100,000 in accounting fees by offering to feature them on her company’s “reality TV show” along with the accountants she recruits to take over their accounting work but at a discounted cost. “It’s the ultimate ‘reality show’ challenge of ‘our accountants versus your accountants’…guess who’s better and more cost effective,” says Laurent.  Corporations that take Laurent up on her challenge will not only save on their accounting fees but will also be given the opportunity to promote their services and products free of charge through Laurent’s reality show.   For the accountants who participate on the show, Laurent is offering a 3 to 1 return on investment. “We’re so confident about the results we’re obtaining for the accountants who participate on our show and are looking for this category of clients, that we’re offering accounting firms that sign up now, a 3 to 1 guaranteed return on their investment, but we will only make this offer to the accountants participating with us at the Designated Service Provider (DSP) level,” Laurent clearly explains.

The first episode which aired on September 17th featured a small, boutique accounting firm whose first referral from GoodAccountants.com resulted in a $26,000 client.  Although Laurent will not reveal the exact amount the company was paying before she referred them to Nowicki and Company based in Buffalo, New York she does state they were paying far more than $26,000. A second referral given to Nowicki and Company is now a pending $100,000 engagement, all of which occurred shortly after the firm became a member of Laurent’s network. Laurent has taken measures to capitalize on the current trend of corporate clients that are migrating from the larger, regional accounting firms to smaller, more attentive accountants whose fees are less costly by recruiting new talent to her consulting firm to help coordinate the influx of search assignments. The recent acquisition of Debbie Ford, Laurent’s new Manager of Affiliate Marketing represents one such hire. Ford has been tapped to coordinate selection of the accounting firms being featured in the company’s ‘reality TV show.’

Debbie Ford, Manager of Affiliate Marketing

Debbie Ford has been recently recruited by GoodAccountants.com to the position of Manager of Affiliate Marketing and coordinator of the company’s internet based, reality television show. Debbie formerly served as Director of Sales for a Long Island based manufacturing company in her previous position where she was responsible for managing the Sales and Customer Service departments. During her eleven year tenure in her previous position Debbie found working side by side with her clients and helping them grow their business and secure major accounts most rewarding. “I am excited to be joining the ranks at GoodAccountants.com as the new Manager of Affiliate Marketing and look forward to helping the accountants in our Designated Service Provider Program grow their client base and to assist our clients in taking their businesses to the next level,” says Ford about her new position. For further information about becoming a participating member of GoodAccountants.com contact Debbie Ford at 1 (800) 505-7861 ext. 1016

Laurent acknowledges that a bad economy has substantially helped her company grow because in tough economic times companies are forced to cut their costs, from everything from payroll to their accounting fees. Laurent confides that her company is benefiting from search assignments that are now coming to it from business owners who are paying annual accounting fees ranging from $25,000 up to $100,000 but are now looking to scale back. According to Laurent many of the companies that are now using her website, fit in this category and accountants who wish to become the beneficiary of these kinds of referrals should act now and become a member of her network. “In the past, many corporations were not willing to move their business to a smaller accounting firm until the economy started tanking,” explains Laurent. “Ordinarily they would be looking for the larger accounting firms despite the higher fees however now due to the economy the exact opposite is true,” she adds.

A visit to the GoodAccountants.com website supports the assertion that many large corporations with recognizable names are turning to the Long Island based referral service to find accountants to fulfill their accounting requirements. Universities, manufacturing companies, distribution companies, fast-food restaurant chains, and technology companies among others are using the services of GoodAccountants.com to identify their accounting relationships and to cut their accounting costs. “When we can cut a company’s accounting costs by 20% or 30% and sometimes as much as 50% while maintaining the level of service they’re accustomed to, it becomes very difficult for these companies to stay with the large accounting firms that often put them on a back burner,” says Laurent.

“When we first launched our website in the fall of 2005 we were happy just receiving requests for assistance (with finding a good, local accountant) from companies that were for the most part start-ups or that had modest revenues of a few million dollars,” says Laurent. Today, we are receiving telephone calls as well as online requests for assistance from companies whose revenues are anywhere from $20 million to $50 million right up to publicly traded companies that are listed on the major stock exchanges, she explains.

Another objective of the show is to also increase awareness among companies paying fees in excess of $100,000 to demonstrate how scaling back their accounting costs can be as easy as switching to a smaller firm belonging to Laurent’s network. “The focus of the first episode was simply to introduce the idea of a reality show of this nature and to prove that not only would business owners and individual tax payers have an interest in watching such subject matter but if presented in an engaging way could be popular among millions of people who generally gravitate toward televised reality shows,” says Laurent. The verdict from viewers who have seen the first episode has given Laurent the answer she had hoped for and as a result fifty (50) new episodes will feature a new accounting firm each week along with the corporate clients they’re obtaining from GoodAccountants.com.

Laurent’s palpable excitement which comes through as she explains the thrust of her show is understandable when considering the current economy and how it’s impacting businesses of all sizes. “The companies that are being featured on our reality show are quite happy paying our accountants annual fees in amounts of forty to fifty thousand dollars or more,” says Laurent. “Some of them were paying more than twice what they’re paying now before they came to us for help,” she adds.

There can be little doubt that the companies being featured by Laurent’s show are clients almost any accounting firm would want and the show does appear to be a win-win for both the business owners and the accountants as well as for Laurent. “Showing a small to mid sized company we can offer them a viable alternative that allows them to cut their accounting costs and still maintain the quality of their accounting process is very enticing especially in an economy like this one and it’s resulting in companies switching to our accountants,” Laurent further explains.

Participating accounting firms are guaranteed a 3 to 1 return on their Designated Service Provider (DSP) Membership fee, which is $25,000 and a requirement to get the 3 to 1 guarantee, as well as be featured on the show. But more than just the $75,000 billing guarantee or 300% return on investment which can come in the form of a single client, each firm that participates will benefit from an intense marketing effort that includes “pay-per-click” ad-words campaigns coupled with targeted email blasts that are being sent to thousands of businesses within their proximity. “The viral marketing affect resulting from sending thousand of emails embedded with video taped episodes from our show will go a long way in generating tens of thousands of dollars in new billing for our members” says Michael Montoya, Social Media and Viral Marketing expert with GoodAccountants.com.

As additional insurance for participating accounting firms, GoodAccountants.com has recently tapped Atrinsic, Inc., a publicly traded company to manage its Google Ad-Words campaign. “We are committed to the proposition of expanding our dominance across all the major search engine networks including Bing, Yahoo, Hulu and others,” says Laurent. “The accounting firms participating in this marketing frenzy will not only triple their initial investment but will undoubtedly land clients from market sectors they have been trying to reach for many years but just didn’t know how to go about doing so,” she further explains. “This is a concerted effort to prove to the accounting community that our marketing approach is far superior to any others out there today in terms of our ability to attract ‘substantial clients’ that pay fees in excess of $20,000 and up,” confides Laurent.

The next episode features a $19 million dollar company based in Falls Church, Virginia along with the accountants that landed the engagement from GoodAccountants.com.

Accountants seeking more information or wishing to participate in GoodAccountants.com’s Reality TV Show please contact Debbie Ford, Manager of Affiliate Marketing at 1 (800) 505-7861 Ext. 1016.

A new “reality television show” that will feature accountants across America begins this fall when GoodAccountants.com rolls out its first episode on September 17th.

“Although our reality show may not be debuting on a major television network or cable station it will be highly visible on such web properties as YouTube, Hulu, MySpace and FaceBook,” says Michael D. Montoya, Social Media and Viral Marketing specialist with GoodAccountants.com. “For far too long accountants have been branded as being the most boring human beings on the planet and it’s high time to change that perception which necessarily isn’t true,” he adds. Although accountants do serious work not all of it is done in dimly lit dungeons behind six-inch thick walls ten stories below ground level. Instead, the show will depict accountants who are gregarious, engaging and extremely important to their clients. “There are accountants out there who make a difference and we’re going to bring them to the public’s attention through this show and we’re going to do it in a very entertaining way,” says Montoya.

Debbie Ford, Manager of Affiliate Marketing

Debbie Ford has been recently recruited by GoodAccountants.com to the position of Manager of Affiliate Marketing and coordinator of the company’s internet based, reality television show. Debbie formerly served as Director of Sales for a Long Island based manufacturing company in her previous position where she was responsible for managing the Sales and Customer Service departments. During her eleven year tenure in her previous position Debbie found working side by side with her clients and helping them grow their business and secure major accounts most rewarding. “I am excited to be joining the ranks at GoodAccountants.com as the new Manager of Affiliate Marketing and look forward to helping the accountants in our Designated Service Provider Program grow their client base and to assist our clients in taking their businesses to the next level,” says Ford about her new position. For further information about becoming a participating member of GoodAccountants.com contact Debbie Ford at 1 (800) 505-7861 ext. 1016

GoodAccountants.com will offer a series of weekly episodes that will feature accountants who participate as members of its marketing network and will air them on its own website along with a number of social media sites that find such content highly relevant to their users. Partner site Lifeafter50.com whose website traffic exceeds more than 12 million daily impressions will carry a portal that will give its users access to the show.

“What’s interesting here is the continuing metamorphosis of social media in ways that are highly unique and which we believe will help promote the accountants in our network along with the business owners who use our website while bringing attention to a whole different side of the accounting profession,” says Montoya.

“It’s pure genius,” says Ray Nowicki, one of the first accountants to be featured by the show and who in his first month of joining GoodAccountants racked up a $26,000 annual engagement along with a pending deal that could gross more than an additional $100,000 in annual billing for his firm, Nowicki and Company based in Buffalo, New York. Nowicki, who has an extremely affable personality, was able to overcome his skepticism about accepting a client referral from ‘out of the blue’ as he puts it, when John Alogna, a Senior Consultant with GoodAccountants first contacted him.

“There is a vast audience of accountants, business owners, entrepreneurs and individual tax payers out there who are simply unaware of each other and will benefit from the subject matter and information these webisodes will bring to them,” says Johanna Laurent, CEO of GoodAccountants.com. “Several episodes will feature some of the small business owners we’ve helped find their accountant,” she adds. “We’re actually sending out hundreds of invitations to these small business owners inviting them to share how their new accountant has been instrumental in helping them overcome the challenges of a tough economy,” says Laurent.

To further promote viewership every episode will also be transmitted via email to more than 500,000 business owners and financial professionals each week. Taxes, healthcare and other issues of the day are topics that will make up some of the subject matter the show will tackle. “Corporate sponsors such as American Express, Verizon and Hewlett Packard among others will find a new and exciting venue to reach the small business community through this show,” adds Laurent.

To see the first installment of the new GoodAccountants.com ‘reality show’ click here.

Please refer all media inquires to Michael Montoya at GoodAccountants.com. Michael can be reached at mmontoya[@]goodaccountants.com

Growth means creating unique products or services while looking to improve existing products or services. It means partnering with other businesses or associations that can introduce those products or services to larger market segments. And it also means forging key business relationships that will help grow your small business into a medium-size business, and potentially grow your medium-size business into a large business. One of those key business relationships is the one you create with an accountant, the one person who could mean the difference between growth, stagnation or failure.

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not having a big enough vision for their economic potential. ‘Why do I need an accountant now? I’m getting along just fine without one,’ many of them think. It is at the start-up phase of a business where an accountant can offer the most valuable advice and service. Most business owners aren’t savvy when it comes to bookkeeping. An accountant has the specialized knowledge to set-up the chart of accounts for recording transactions, which will later be organized into financial statements that will tell the story of your strategic success or failure.

A good accountant can guide you through monthly financial statements, helping you understand what the numbers mean, and how to use them to make strategic decisions. And what about having to decide how your business will be set-up? After consulting with another key business association, your lawyer, an accountant can explain the advantages and disadvantages of forming a sole proprietorship, C Corporation or S Corporation relative to your situation.

Do you know what you can deduct and what you cannot? An accountant is there if you have questions about what business expenses are deductible. You want to maximize all deductions that you are entitled, while avoiding penalties for deducting expenses that you are not entitled. While deductions are extremely important for businesses, it is also a complicated process as the rules and regulations continuously change, often varying by state.

Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Tax issues have certainly been the death of many start-up businesses. Technical situations such as filing W2s and 1099 forms have caused businesses thousands of dollars in penalties. A good accountant will know what taxes to pay and when to send out the forms. In the case of 1099s, he will advise if individuals who work for you are truly independent contractors, or should be registered as employees. Making a mistake here could result in hefty penalties, potentially crippling a young business.

What’s critical is that business owners truly understand the importance of developing a relationship with an accountant, instead of just thinking, ‘Okay, I’ll get one because I guess I have to.’ This is where business owners miss it. They should be thinking about this relationship as they would any strategic planning issue. Accountants have the ability to directly affect your business success, or its failure. Good accountants will have knowledge of the industry you’re in and recommend a course of action you may not have thought of, since they may have experience dealing with similar situations. The relationship with your accountant is so important that when your business stumbles, your accountant will be there to help position it back on track.

A good accountant can save you money by providing expert and timely advice, which often translates into business growth. Remember, it’s not enough to just make money. It’s about continuously creating new customers and holding on to them.

Oftentimes whenever a business owner is trying to break through that next level of revenue stream, an accountant knows exactly what to do and can steer a business away from any potholes. They can share their wealth of knowledge as in the case of knowing what lending institutions are more likely to lend to a particular business model.

What should you do when looking for investors to help get your business off the ground? Do you just pick up the yellow pages, walk to the local bank or do you look for someone who knows how to maneuver within this space, and can offer critical, time- and money-saving advice?

For example, if you own an Internet technology business, your accountant could advise you of which venture capital firms invest in Internet technology business models; you’re not wasting time searching out venture groups that are more amenable to lending to brick-and-mortar businesses. Most of the time, this kind of information can only be obtained through having the right accounting relationship. The right accountant may even have direct contacts in the very organizations that will fund your business.

There are a number of ways to find the right accountant for your business. You can ask a fellow business owner who you respect, get advice from an existing business relationship, such as your lawyer, or go through the yellow pages. Business owners should understand the risks if they choose to take any of these routes.

Using an accountant that has been referred to you by a friend or family member may not be the right accountant for your particular business needs. A lawyer’s expertise is “law.” While lawyers may certainly know accountants, they may not know which one is right for you. And using the yellow pages may be tantamount to playing the lottery if you’re looking for a perfect match. Searching this way takes time, and if the accountant isn’t the right one, it will also cost you money.

Anthony Randazzo is the CEO and General Manager of Johnny Rockets Restaurant, at the Broadway Mall, in Hicksville, New York. He quickly needed to find an accountant to provide services that his current accountant couldn’t perform. He found GoodAccountants.com after typing “accountants” in a search engine.

“They set us up with the perfect accountant,” Randazzo says. “The accountant knows the industry and knows exactly what we needed to do.” The franchise needed an accountant who was familiar with the restaurant industry and GoodAccountants.com found them one within 24 hours. “Now that we have a new accountant, our back office, all of our paperwork, is streamlined. Life is so much easier.”

The new accountant helped find new relationships with banks, helped find new investors and helped develop multiple franchise opportunities. As a result of getting a new accountant, Randazzo is hopeful of opening up as many as 10 franchises in the Long Island area of New York. “If not for GoodAccountants.com, we probably would have just picked one out of the yellow pages and wouldn’t have found the perfect accountant for what we needed.”

“GoodAccountants.com did not charge a fee for their services at all,” continues Randazzo, “and they set us up with a free consultation with our accountant.” In the past people have paid thousands of dollars for this type of referral service. That was before the advent of the Internet and before GoodAccountants.com existed.

At the end of the day, whether business owners decide to use a professional referral service or slog through the yellow pages, finding the right accountant may be the answer to creating true growth and success.

This article was written by Omar Reed, a freelance business writer and financial analyst