The books balance. The software situation? That’s another conversation. The client’s books are clean. The controller is competent. The business is still being held back by the software.
The client asks what to do. They expect a real answer from someone they trust. Hedge, and you look uncertain. Refer the wrong implementation partner, and your firm’s reputation is attached to whatever happens next. Either way, the graduation moment, QuickBooks to something else, is one of the highest-stakes referrals a CPA, CAS, or bookkeeping firm makes.
We built our part of that process around one idea: you stay the advisor your client already trusts. We’re the second opinion, and when it’s time, the team doing the implementation work behind you.
You stay the advisor. We’re the second opinion behind you.
You don’t need to become an ERP expert to have this conversation well. You need a framework for spotting when a client is genuinely ready, and someone you trust to hand off to when they are. That’s the role we’re built for. Your name stays on the relationship. We do the technical work.
Choose how involved you want to be
Not every firm wants the same amount of hands-on time once a referral is made, so there’s no single required way to do this.
Some firms make the introduction and step back entirely. Some want to stay looped in through scoping and kickoff, then check out. Some want visibility at key milestones so they can speak to progress when the client asks. You decide how involved you want to be. We’ll work around whatever you choose.
The graduation moment, in three signs
Not every “we’re outgrowing QuickBooks” conversation is really about the platform. Sometimes it’s a reporting or workflow problem, not a software problem. Three signals tend to separate the real candidates from the rest:
- Month-end consistently runs past five business days because one or two people are doing manual rollups and reconciliations by hand.
- Multi-entity rollups happen in Excel: two or more entities, a parent company, an acquisition, all consolidated through a spreadsheet.
- More than one full-time person’s real job has quietly become “keeping QuickBooks working.”
One signal means ask follow-up questions. Two means the conversation is real. Three, plus a growth trajectory, usually means the client is ready.
Where the Microsoft suite usually fits
The better question is rarely “which ERP.” It’s where the process is actually breaking down.
- Business Central fits clients who need real financial structure: inventory, multi-entity consolidation, project accounting, or approval workflows.
- Power Platform fits when the pain is workflow, reporting, or repetitive manual work that doesn’t need a new ERP yet.
- Dynamics 365 Sales fits when the front office is disconnected from finance and operations.
- Microsoft 365 and Teams form the collaboration layer around all of it.
For smaller clients, Estimate My Project gives you an initial planning range. Scope, pricing, and timing are confirmed for your project.
What we’d want you to ask us
Before you put your reputation behind any referral, ask the implementation partner these five questions. Here’s how we’d answer them:
- Who specifically will do the work, and can I talk to them first? You’ll know your team by name before anything is signed, and you can talk to them directly.
- What’s the methodology? Discover, assess, design, execute. Every project runs against a defined scope and a real change process.
- Can I talk to three references in businesses like ours? Ask, and we’ll connect you with clients in a similar industry and size range.
- What does post-go-live support look like? It doesn’t end at go live. What it costs depends on the plan, and we’ll walk you and your client through the options before they need to decide.
- What does “done” mean? Every project runs against a defined scope and a real change process, so “done” is a specific, agreed line, not a moving target.
If any implementation partner’s answers are vague, including ours, keep asking.
Get the guide
We packaged the fuller version of this framework, the complete readiness checklist, a platform comparison, the partner-vetting questions, and a one-page decision sheet you can hand a client, into a free guide for CPA, CAS, and bookkeeping firm leaders.
Ask us for the CPA’s guide to recommending an ERP
Free. No sales call required.
How to refer a client
Send an introduction to hello@trunova.ai. If you have a client conversation coming up and want to compare notes before you make the referral, reach out the same way. No pitch, just the framework we’d actually use.
If there’s ever a referral fee involved, here’s how that works: get up to 10% commission on all top line revenue we earn from the clients you refer, for the lifetime of the relationship. Simple structure. No sales quotas. No fine print. Just a way to reward the trust you’ve already built with your clients.
Why it works
- You stay focused on being the advisor your client already trusts.
- We handle the ERP and Dynamics work, under your name.
- Your client gets a better outcome. You get recurring commission.
- Everyone wins, especially your client.
