five suggestions to help you compete.
by marc rosenberg
the rosenberg practice management library
to thrive in today’s tough and fast-changing market, accounting firms must become more agile and adaptable than ever before. but what are the characteristics of an agile, adaptable, quick-learning cpa firm? and how do you get that way?
more: new partners must be impact players | why partners can’t shirk performance reviews | what firms should address in partner agreements | 11 best practices for partner compensation | why buying into a firm is such a great investment | the business side of cpa firms | it shouldn’t take so long to make partner | three types of skills you need to become a partner
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my initial, somewhat amusing (probably just to me) thought was the credo for little league umpires (who in many communities are 14-18 years old):
be mobile.
be assertive.
be loud.
it may have more relevance to what follows than either of us might initially think.
survival for cpa firms, for the most part, means continuous development of their future leaders, be they managing partners, business developers, mentors or client handlers. as with the hands of a clock, it’s hard to see the gradual aging of a firm’s leadership over time. when the average partner in a cpa firm earns $350,000/year and carries a demanding workload, it’s easy to see how she or he can get caught up in the day-to-day demands and lose his or her vigilance for an unrelenting effort to ensure the firm’s renewal.
the late, great ceo of coca cola, roberto goizueta, said it best: “to be successful over the next 10 years, we have to disturb the present.”
firms need to commit to reinventing and re-engineering themselves on a continuous basis. this can only happen when veteran partners have the courage to change and are not afraid to bring in new, younger partners who stir things up. remember, einstein always said he “searches for the right questions to ask rather than seeking the right answers.”
here are some suggestions:
1. managing partners and other key partners should belong to roundtable groups and cpa firm associations and regularly attend practice management conferences. if they don’t, their firms will always be in a cocoon, unaware of changes taking place and unexposed to new ideas.
2. many have heard the mantra regarding a key strategy of cpa firms: “grow or die.” expand that to “develop young talent or die.” successful cpa firms understand that they need to adopt a culture in which it is just as important for partners to help staff grow as it is for partners to bring in business.
3. one of my most profitable and favorite clients regularly invites me to facilitate their retreats. each year, i get nervous and anxious about it. why? because the managing partner refuses to allow any aspect of the retreat to be normal or routine. he challenges and pushes me to think of ways to make each year’s retreat an “outside the box” experience. most of his ideas have been a bit weird. he isn’t afraid to fail and hear complaints from his partners because he knows that good cpa firms benefit from stretching their minds and dreaming of what they need to become.
4. training must not focus exclusively on the technical; it must also accommodate soft skills and technology skills.
5. benchmarking. sometimes the most damaging problems are the slowly evolving ones that fall below the radar screen. then, seemingly out of the blue, the firm has a big problem. benchmarking establishes a relentless regimen of comparing your firm’s performance to national and regional norms so that problems are identified and can be addressed when they surface.