why partners can't shirk performance reviews - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

five types of partner evaluations. bonus: partner self-evaluation and impact form.

by marc rosenberg

the classic purposes of a performance evaluation are:

to improve performance.
to clarify what is expected of the individual and what is needed to advance.
to provide management with information to use in making promo-tion and compensation decisions.

more: twelve questions that prospective partners should ask | adding new partners: 19 reasons to choose between equity and non-equity | how partner buyouts work | what buying in actually means | how partner and staff actions impact profits | nuts and bolts of mentoring staff | nine ways to measure staff performance on the path to partner
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the need for performance evaluations applies to partners as well as staff. contrary to what many partners may feel, partners can and must continually improve their performance.

five types of partner evaluations

these five types of evaluations, taken together, get feedback from all the people a partner works with. the results provide a basis for appraising partner performance.

self-evaluations
staff evaluations of partners
client satisfaction surveys
peer evaluations
evaluations by supervising partners such as the managing partner and partner in charge

let’s drill down on each of these.

self-evaluation. this can be used in one of two ways: the self-evaluation can be a standalone tool distributed to those participating in the evaluation and income allocation process, such as the managing partner or the compensation committee. or it can be the start of a traditional performance appraisal by the managing partner or a department head. see the end of this post for a great example of a self-evaluation form.
upward evaluations of the partners by the staff. the #1 reason staff leave their firm is dissatisfaction with the boss. in a cpa firm, the partners are the bosses. any firm that is serious about developing excellent staff and being a great place to work must get feedback from the staff on how they see the partners. upward evaluations help management assess partners’ effectiveness with staff. just as important, they help individual partners understand how they can be more effective at managing staff.

many firms are reluctant to conduct upward evaluations. major reasons for this are that partners fear receiving weak evaluations and don’t wish to subject themselves to criticism.

larger firms are more committed to upward evaluations than smaller ones. this list shows what percentage of firms of each size do upward evaluations:

- 72% of firms over $20 million
- 44% of firms $10-$20 million
- 37% of firms $2-$10 million
- only 3% of firms under $2 million

skeptics of upward evaluations fear that the staff are not mature enough to evaluate partners properly. here are some reasons:

- when a staff person performs poorly on an engagement and then receives a weak evaluation by the partner, the angry staff person may avenge the poor grade by giving the partner a weak evaluation.
- some young staff are slow to learn how a professional behaves in a business environment. they may resent a partner’s attempts to teach them proper conduct and give the partner a weak evaluation in return.
- personality differences occur in all walks of life. there are bound to be situations where clashes occur between partners and staff.
- staff may be reluctant to complete honest evaluations for fear that the partners (their bosses!) will somehow find out who said what. the result could be inflated ratings.

my responses.

1. yes, some staff may give a weak evaluation that is undeserved. the cure is for the firm to be large enough to generate enough evaluations (at least five or six) for each partner to minimize the impact of one improper rating. if only two or three evaluations are generated for each partner, it’s probably not feasible to conduct upward evaluations.
2. i have conducted dozens of upward evaluations. in every one of them, those partners receiving low grades acknowledged the evaluations’ validity.
3. the key to conducting any kind of survey effectively is to use methodology that yields valid results. to get effective upward evaluation results, use the following techniques:
  - anonymity and confidentiality must be guaranteed.
  - to make the staff feel safe to be open and honest in their responses, the survey must be tabulated by an outside organization instead of internal personnel.
  - at least 95 percent participation by the staff is needed.
  - staff should be allowed to complete evaluations only of partners they worked for. no one should be allowed to evaluate a partner based on hearsay from fellow staff.
  - if a partner receives only two or three evaluations, the results should be discarded because the partner may be able to figure out who said what.

client satisfaction surveys. these measure clients’ satisfaction and loyalty to the firm and identify ways to better serve them. along with staff, clients are a major group that partners need to interact with effectively.

client surveys should do more than determine whether or not clients are happy with the firm’s work. they should examine the level of a client’s satisfaction and what to do to improve it. in designing a survey, the firm needs to take the time to determine exactly what it needs to know from clients. if you are planning a client survey, consider the following questions:

- how thorough are we in our approach to your work?
- how creative are we in our proposed solutions?
- do we document our work activities to your liking?
- have we responded promptly to your needs?
- are you familiar with other services we provide?
- would you use us for other services?
- are our communications understandable?
- do we listen well?
- do we let you know in advance the steps involved in solving your problems?
- do we anticipate your needs?
- do we show an interest in you beyond the projects you have engaged us for?
- has your understanding of the matters we handle for you improved from working with us?

client surveys can go beyond measuring satisfaction levels. they can be tools for inquiring about clients’ needs or interests in additional services your firm offers.

peer evaluations. whereas the first forms of evaluation are suitable for firms of all sizes, peer evaluations are appropriate only at smaller firms, say, five partners or less. at this smaller size, the partners all know each other well enough to evaluate each other. once firms get larger than five or so partners, it gets increasingly difficult for partners to evaluate their peers properly. for them, better evaluation options include upward evaluations and reviews by department heads and the managing partner.
traditional performance evaluations. an appraisal session is convened to review the partner’s overall performance. the evaluation is performed by a supervising partner such as the managing partner, partner in charge or practice group leader. some firms appoint two partners to jointly conduct this appraisal session. cpa firms below $20 million are, unfortunately, not big users of partner evaluations, evidenced in the rosenberg map survey. this list shows what percentage of firms of each size do traditional evaluations:

- 81% of firms over $20 million
- 56% of firms $10-$2 million
- 35% of firms $2-$10 million
- only 6% of firms under $2 million

as with staff, it’s useful to have the partner being reviewed complete a self-evaluation form and discuss it with the reviewing partner.

partner self-evaluation and impact form

name_____________________________________

date______________________________________

the firm should provide all partners with key production statistics: their personal billable hours, client base managed, realization on both, age of wip, age of a/r, etc. firms don’t want people guessing what their actual statistics are.

many firms use the same form for both partners and managers. the idea is that if firms want their managers to perform and think like partners, they should get used to being evaluated like partners.

for your production statistics, summarize the year you had. explain why the numbers were good (or below expectations or ok, etc.).
business brought in, net of realization, both from new clients and cross-selling to existing clients.

_________________________________________________________________

the size of the client base you managed, net of realization, including retention of clients. include (a) clients you transferred to others and who are therefore are no longer on your billing run and (b) clients you managed who appear on other partners’ billing runs.

__________________________________________________________________

billable hours, in general.

_________________________________________________________________

billable hours: roughly how many of your billable hours could have been done by a staff person? why did you do them instead of staff?

_________________________________________________________________

do the production statistics tell the full story for what you contributed to the firm? if not, give examples of why not. explain unusual variations from firm standards or goals.

____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

describe your performance in the areas of retaining, developing, mentoring, nurturing and recruiting staff and, in general, helping staff learn and grow. be specific. explain the extent to which you feel you made a positive impact in these areas and what you did.

____________________________________________________________________

list separately the names of staff and junior partners who advanced and excelled under your tutelage.

__________________________________________________________________

if you participated in upward evaluations of yourself by staff, summarize the results. were you proud of them? were they fair? what do you plan to do to improve them?

__________________________________________________________________

to the extent that you have a role in the firm’s management and administration, summarize your performance in these areas. did you meet expectations? why or why not?

________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

summarize your performance in the following areas:

the technical quality of your work.

____________________________________________________________________

development of new markets, services, specialties.

____________________________________________________________________

engagement management. includes timely billing of your wip, optimizing realization, timely collection of your receivables, etc.

____________________________________________________________________

living and breathing the firm’s core values; promoting the firm’s core values and leading people to live and breathe them too.

____________________________________________________________________

how active were you in business development? what efforts did you make to bring in business for the firm?

____________________________________________________________________

list your speeches, articles, seminars, and community, civic and charitable activities. how effective were they? what impact did they have?

____________________________________________________________________

describe your success at retaining clients and how you were a difference maker to your clients.

___________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

for your clients, give examples of how you moved services provided to them upscale.

____________________________________________________________________

describe the impact of your efforts to build a team of professionals as opposed to practicing alone like a sole practitioner. provide evidence of the success of these efforts.

____________________________________________________________________

for your top five clients, what have you done to ensure that each of them will remain with the firm if you should suddenly leave?

____________________________________________________________________

for your top five clients, list the names of other firm members who have established meaningful relations (touch points) with the clients, making them “firm” clients rather than “your” clients.

____________________________________________________________________

list your special accomplishments this year, in areas not previously addressed on this form, that had a meaningful impact on the firm.

____________________________________________________________________

if your partners were asked to cite areas of your performance this past year that need improvement or were disappointing, what do you think they would say about you?

____________________________________________________________________

performance of written goals. on a separate sheet, list your goals and indicate the extent to which the goals were accomplished. if the goals were not accomplished, indicate why and give a revised deadline.
use this area to make any additional comments. include comments necessary for your partners to get a good understanding of the kind of year you had.

____________________________________________________________________

posted on august 24, 2023