plus actionable tips for each area.
by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor
question: do you recommend strategic planning for a small accounting practice?
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answer: i recommend it for everyone. it is important for larger firms to make sure the partners are on the same page.
it is also valuable for small firms, especially sole practitioners. they are alone and i have seen the strategic plan provide a focus and direction. i did it early on when i was starting out and updated it at the beginning of almost every year. they help and work.
all i could suggest is to try it and then evaluate the results. here are some ideas to get you started on your strategic plan.
- strengthen niches
- have more interaction between people intra-firm in the niche groupings
- have a niche strategic planning meeting
- have niche-specific cpe at least once a year for niche members, others in firm interested in those niche services, other accountants and controllers and staff of clients
- hire niche industry specialists such as an auto dealer parts or service manager to consult in auto dealer clients; a registered nurse to review charts for hospital and physician offices to determine potential for greater reimbursements; a person who worked at a bonding company or a construction supervisor to consult on contractor clients. the object is to expand our consulting service areas in each industry we have a niche for. the consulting cannot be limited to the occasional expertise gathered by the auditor or partner.
- everyone in a niche specialty should attend at least one industry-specific outside program that primarily deals with management of companies in those industries
- there should be a strong visible presence in every client’s professional organizations
- where possible, speeches should be presented and articles should be written
- everyone in a niche should have at least one subscription to an industry newsletter
- there should be firmwide updates about activities of each niche, similar to bill’s weekly ceo email and his new client e-mails (bill hagaman jr. is withumsmith+brown pc’s mp and ceo)
- there are a lot of “experts” throughout the firm who are not part of every niche group they can assist. an example is an estate planning or valuation specialist. this would apply to almost every type of business and they need to “promote” their specialties throughout the firm
- hours
- tax season hours are too long and should be shortened. requiring 60 or more hours during a couple of months is not reasonable and makes it very difficult to retain staff, plus will make it very difficult to attract people to your firm. a suggestion is no more than 48 hours a week during tax season
- mentoring
- mentoring should be a continuous process and not a quick lunch a week before a reporting period
- mentoring should include career management assistance. staff should be made aware of opportunities beyond what they are working on and given a glimpse of what is entailed in different specialties and niches
- every effort should be made to have staff who have been with the firm at least three years pass the cpa exam
- organized management training should be done for first-time supervisors
- ditto for marketing activities
- ditto for sales activities (different from marketing)
- client service
- staff should be trained on what providing “world-class” service means and should be encouraged to go the extra yard for clients
- deadlines must be kept
- every staff person on a job should have familiarity with the client’s industry and what they do to make their money – this should be acquired by each staff person separately reviewing client’s website, googling client and reviewing previous tax return and financial statement before they start any work. i would not have a “meeting” to relay this info, but would expect each staff person to do this on their own
- at least once a year there should be an interdisciplinary collaboration for each business client – this would include a tax person, an audit or accounting person, a niche leader or consultant, an it person and perhaps a systems person
- work quality
- staff people need to hand in top-quality, error-free work. this requires a quality-oriented mindset
- the firm needs to make excellent work part of its culture. this has to be transmitted to the staff and the managers and partners must buy in to this. every interaction must convey the necessity and importance of error-free work
- self-review procedures need to be established and transmitted to staff. most work has self-checking mechanisms so make sure staff are aware of this and use it
- comment: if there were error-free work on tax returns by preparers, there would be much less review time and redos and re-reviews, and work would turn around quicker. wouldn’t that reduce a lot of the overtime?
- it
- software needs to be learned and training should be done for all new software
- existing software needs some sort of training, e.g. in most firms there is uneven use of basic software such as adobe and excel
- staff need to be made aware of all the software the firm has for client services. an example is data mining, t-value and profitcents
- marketing
- partners and senior managers (and managers) should be encouraged to have existing clients engage us for additional services
- training should be done on how to do this