Customer Reviews

Building a Profitable Online Accounting Practice

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ignoring all the other bad reviews, I bought this book because it was the only one out there about doing accounting on the Internet. First of all, the content isn't at all what I had expected. Second, the book is full of chapters on stuff that doesn't make any sense. I mean, come on, a chapter on what the Internet is??? Aren't we a little past that? Third, the writing is difficult to follow and what little I did read through just left me confused.

I flipped through the whole book searching for SOMETHING useful and maybe found 5 pages total with info I might be able to use. Needless to say, I returned this book. Oh, and the fact that it costs like $33 is ridiculously expensive and absolutely NOT worth it for what you get...I wouldn't pay $2 for it!

Please see my review for the 3rd Edition ISBN 0471351601 and save yourself some money. My review has my initials scg on it; It currently is the second one down.

In my opinion this book provides very little practical value on building an accounting practice. There is no information on lead generation, client consultation and acceptance, setup, billing, office management or administration. The text is very basic, providing information that is predominately either general ('What is a Business Plan?', 'What is the Internet?") or referential (software provider lists).

My suspicions were aroused as early as the second paragraph of the preface, where Mr. Fox comments on why he did not become a CPA. He then mentions the Accounting Guild as an alternative to "empower entrepreneural accounting". After subtly bashing CPAs through the text (e.g. 'Are CPAs Serious About the Internet?' p. 71), we later learn that Mr. Fox helped found the Accounting Guild and operates a firm by the same name.

The book is 10 years old but I doubt the information would have been helpful even when initially published. At best, this is a general business guide. I am surprized and disappointed John Wiley & Sons, a highly reputable publisher, agreed to publish this book.

The way our profession will service our clients in the future is taking a dramatic turn for the better. Jack Fox understands this new paradigm of service and, like a coach, takes you step-by-step through how to prepare your firm to profit in this new age of on-line services.

Jack Fox literally wrote the book on building your own accounting practice. No one is better qualified to guide accountants into developing an accounting practice in the digital age. This book is a roadmap for trail-blazing accountants.

There can be no business without clients. One of the key things I have learned in my more than twenty year accounting business journey is that the type of clients you attract and serve, and the caliber of associates with whom you partner,determine the kind of accounting or consulting business you build.

With the success of my first edition of Starting and Building Your Own Accounting Business, I sold my then six-year-old accounting practice to concentrate on providing accounting practice development services. After conducting more than a thousand seminars and workshops, I continued to search for ways to share my extensive practical knowledge utilizing the personalized, in-depth attention so beneficial to new and experienced accountants, alike. Each and every accounting and consulting professional has specific skills, interests, personality traits, hopes, and dreams that no seminar, boot camp or book, no matter how good, can completely address.

This latest book shares the current developments of Internet-based, application software providers and what and what does not work in relation to the threshhold of opportunity and prosperity that had never been imagined in the past and now within our grasp.

I appreciate your readership. For just as there can be no business without clients, there can be no purpose for books without readers. I wish you Godspeed on your exciting journey.

The way our profession will service our clients in the future is taking a dramatic turn for the better. Jack Fox understands this new paradigm of service and, like a coach, takes you step-by-step through how to prepare your firm to profit in this new age of online services.