Carrie Ross is the Managing Partner of Ross, Sells, and Young, LLP, a mid-sized CPA firm. She has just finished reviewing the firm’s detailed income statement for the previous quarter. The statement showed that auditing revenues were about 4% below last year’s value and tax revenues were about the same. Carrie also noted that the income from financial auditing was 10% less than that of the same quarter for the previous year. She is dismayed, but not surprised, by the figures. During the past few years, competition for new audit clients has been intense and Ross, Sells, and Young has cut its hourly billing rates. The client base of the organization consists mostly of small- and medium-sized retailers and wholesalers besides several midsize property management companies. Carrie and the other partners have been discussing ways to expand the revenue base of the organization. Knowing that information technology is a tool that the firm can use to develop new lines of business, Ross, Sells, and Young hired several college graduates during the past few years with dual majors in accounting and information systems or computer science. Given the recent financial results, Carrie thinks now is the time to begin offering other professional services.

Requirements
1. Would it make the most sense for Carrie to consider developing new clients or to consider offering different types of services to existing clients?
2. Carrie knows that the AICPA has developed a list of various types of assurance services that auditing firms might consider offering. Describe three of these assurance services that might be a good fit for this organization. (Hint: Visit the AICPA’s web page or a website of a large accounting firm for a listing of assurance services.)
3. How can Ross, Sells, and Young capitalize on its new hires’ combined strengths in accounting and information systems/computer science?