10 Steps to a Digital Practice in the Cloud, 2nd Edition

Appendix B: Glossary

back-office processes. Supporting business functions, such as accounting, finance, payroll, employee benefits, and IT that provide infrastructure for an organization’s vision and create a platform for growth. Back-office processes are also referred to as noncore processes.

business process outsourcing. A process of delegating the back-office processes or noncore business functions to a third party service provider.

client accounting services. Services offered by CPA firms to their clients to help them manage their finance and accounting functions. Although the services offered within a client accounting services practice vary, they generally fall into three categories: (1) after-the-fact financial statement preparation, (2) transaction processing, and (3) CFO/controller services.

client assessment. A thorough review of a client’s current operating environment to gain insight into his or her current business operations. This includes reviewing and documenting operational workflow and business practices, understanding and documenting business structure, and control activity information. This information enables the CPA firm to understand areas of the client’s operation that can be improved and how your firm’s services and systems can address those areas for improvement.

client service delivery model. This describes the methodology a CPA firm uses to share software and data when performing client accounting services. There are generally three service delivery ...