profit sharing for a staffer?

percentage signs on round hanging tagsthe owner wants to offer a percentage to a staff person, but how?

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: i have a small practice and have a staff person with me for eight years (who had nine years of experience before coming to me), and i want to offer him some profit-sharing percentage.

more: the secret recipe for staff retention | writing a reference? here’s how | 44 key attributes for assessing staffers | make cpe worth your while | what to do with a lousy client? | but i am managing! | how to run a practice in 90 pages
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

how do i approach it?

answer: this firm has a single owner with three other accountants. he supervises them, and the owner is not really involved in the daily work any of them do. the owner reviews everything, and the work quality is excellent.

the younger staff seem to be growing and are happy working here. the manager grabs any work he thinks the owner will be doing, and as a result, the owner has lost some skills. however, the owner spends more time with clients and is developing additional services from the clients. but referrals keep coming in because of his touchy-feely relationships with the clients.

the manager doesn’t meet with the clients, nor does he bring in any business. he also doesn’t work on weekends during tax season. but his work is always on time and up to date. there are never any complaints from clients, and occasionally there are compliments.

the manager is paid about 20 percent more than probably the market for that level person, but he doesn’t want to lose him. so now he wants to lock him in even more. he really doesn’t want to lose him.

i suggested that he offer a profit-sharing arrangement where the manager will get 10 percent of the profits after deduction for the salaries of the manager and owner. he should make sure this percent comes out to at least 10 percent of the manager’s salary. otherwise, the amount won’t be meaningful.

i would not offer equity ownership because this person is not an “owner” type but a super-good employee. owners need to grow the practice and bring in business or create organic practice growth. partners also need to be able to take over the practice at some point. the manager doesn’t appear to be able to do that.

this manager is doing a great job and needs to be retained. this unsolicited arrangement should do the trick for a couple of years, after which it can be re-evaluated.