Advisory Services: Why is everyone telling me to do this when I already do it?

Will has been with Thomson Reuters since 2001 and is currently a product manager in the Tax Professionals segment of the Thomson Reuters. In his role, he focuses on helping firms make the transition to being advisory focused through the development and growth of Practice Forward. He’s also responsible for the development of the AuditWatch and TaxWatch services.

Will’s varied background includes working with firms of all sizes and specialties and provides a solid foundation for business process-oriented training and consulting. In 2006, Will was recognized as the CSM Implementation Specialist of the Year. He was also part of the CPA Practice Advisor 40 under 40 list in 2015 and 20 under 40 in 2018.

In his time at Thomson Reuters, Will has developed many different educational classes and consulting offerings, including the Practice Forward service offering. Will is also a periodic blog contributor on the Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting website. He holds an MBA with a concentration in Leadership Studies from Baker College and a BA, majoring in both Business Administration and Economics, from Alma College

For almost 20 years, Paul Miller has been building his firm with a focus on meeting client needs beyond compliance work, and with a business consultancy mindset.

When he became self-employed in 1993, Paul found resources for tax planning, business structure/entity optimization, and overall business coaching difficult to find. After founding Business by Design in Edina, MN, his goal was to help other entrepreneurs and small businesses be more tax-efficient and make smarter business decisions, in addition to providing traditional accounting firm services.

Today, Paul has developed a firm that provides high-margin business coaching, tax planning, and asset protection services for small businesses, employing many of the same tax planning strategies that larger firms offer. This creates a trusted advisor relationship with his clients, builds multiple income streams for his firm, and establishes the firm’s unique value proposition. Whether it’s tax savings, business transition guidance or equity building strategies, clients see the value Business by Design delivers — thereby virtually eliminating the client fee pressure situations many accounting firms find themselves in today.

The firm employs a unique “team” approach that pairs Paul’s own entrepreneurial expertise with a highly trained and diverse staff that includes accountants, CPAs, enrolled agents, paralegal, and administrative staff to provide high-level, results-oriented services to their clients. Paul’s focus on progressive use of technology to drive firm efficiency and better serve clients, coupled with his consultative approach to helping business clients, has positioned Business by Design as a firm of the future.