here’s what you’re looking for: august j. aquila

leadership

leader training is time well spent

leader addresses co-workersfour questions to test your leadership culture.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn

being a good coach is just one of the expectations firms must have of their partners. they are expected to be leaders, as well.

more on leadership: managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

while most of the partners we know understand and accept that need, not everyone does, and not everyone understands what being an effective leader means.

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leadership

successful strategy execution requires focus on people

business people working in group in the officeby robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn

momentum is critical in driving change, so it is no surprise that the initiation of activities that drive and support the strategy is key.

more on leadership: managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

it is also one of the reasons why focus is critical. and yet one of the mistakes we see are initiatives having too much time between them.

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leadership

managing partners must remember partners’ needs

a businessman with some jigsaw puzzle pieces in his handand 4 questions to consider.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

professionals loathe anything bureaucratic. but we know of many firms who ask their partners to account, in detail, for every minute of their time.

to ask high-need-for-achievement professionals at the top of their field to provide what, to them, is bureaucratic data immediately implies a complete lack of trust and respect for their expertise and their position. it is simply a motivational disaster, which distances the partners from the firm. partners know that they have to account for their time but we know too many firms that, often at the behest of the finance function, ask for a level of specificity that drives the partners to distraction.

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leadership

5 questions about your firm’s direction

businesspeople moving along corridorsetting direction is the first step.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

how do successful managing partners respond to the internal and external challenges they face?

without exception, all of the partners we spoke to talked about the need to have a clear sense of direction that the partners, in particular, could coalesce around. but what they considered even more important is the translation of that direction into a compelling vision and the strategies for achieving it.

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leadership

partners have love-hate relationship with leadership

aquila leadership context modelby robert j. lees, august j. aquila
and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

regardless of their ownership structure, most firms either operate as partnerships or would prefer to operate as partnerships.

the tensions between being a business and the loss of the values and ethics of being a partnership feature strongly in our research.

but accounting firms are different from their corporate counterparts in a number of ways, which impact their functioning and, therefore, their leadership. read more →

leadership

what does being a partner mean?

aquila how to engage partners in the firms future clip square cvrpartners persuade their people to join them on the journey and to play a part in building a better firm.

by robert j.  lees and 
august j. aquila
creating the effective partnership

just as the partners need to engage with the firm’s vision so do the firm’s people. but, like everyone, they actually engage with people not words. so, effective partners continually engage with their people, regardless of their level and role. they go out of their way to create a personal bond, sharing personal information and operating with honesty and integrity in all of their interactions.

creating the effective partnership: every partner’s first question: ‘what’s in it for me?’ | the 9 building blocks of a winning vision that the big four have discovered | the politics of an accounting firm partnership | nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams | audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today read more →

leadership

mirror, mirror on the wall

11 weekly self-assessment questions for successful professionals.h

by august aquila
the effective partnership

when’s the last time you talked to your partners about the “mirror questions”? we all know that it’s easy to kid ourselves about how well we’re doing. but when we have to look ourselves in the mirror, well, it’s another story.

rather than giving the partners the questions they should answer, we suggested that they come up with their own self-assessment. specifically, we wanted them to devise questions they could ask themselves each week to evaluate how well they had performed. in the end, we came up with 11. read more →

leadership

the 8-point financial tune-up for your accounting firm

hstrengthen your partnership and protect minority interests.

by auqust aquila
creating the effective partnership

with busy season just around the corner, it’s a good time now to tweak your firm’s financials and partner performance.

start by reviewing your billing rates, billing and collection policies, type of work partners are doing, how you reward performers and your leadership.

more august aquila on creating the effective partnership: three ways to run a firm: but only one is sustainable  •  eight key goal areas for partners  •  5 must-do’s for every managing partner today  •  are bad clients driving you crazy?  •  6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger  •  new times call for new cpa firm metrics  •  6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation  •  when the deal is done: a 24-point checklist for the morning after  • 

take the time to focus on what drives the bottom line. it’s time well spent. here are eight issues you shouldn’t miss: read more →

mergers & acquisitions

when the deal is done: a 24-point checklist for the morning after

how to integrate two firms after a merger: carefully.

by august aquila

the tough negotiations and hard-fought agreement were the hard parts, right? think again. now you must move your eye from the financial to the human side of the merger.

your work has just begun and may last for 12 months or more. in order to make sure your merger has a better than average chance of succeeding, here are at least two dozen questions that need to be answered: read more →

leadership

6 reasons to keep partners from retiring

aquila
aquila

and 4 ways to put them to good use.

by august j. aquila
creating the effective partnership

there may be some senior partners who want to spend their remaining years basking in the sun or playing golf. but, given the negative and low returns of the stock market the last few years, more senior partners will be concerned about their economic future and will want to stay involved in the profession. this can be a win-win situation for both parties or it can be a lose-lose.

senior partners have a wealth of knowledge that you don’t want to lose. for example, they possess: read more →

outlook & analysis

seven reasons why it’s time to start holding the partners accountable

especially in these trying times, partners must show leadership by accepting the consequences of their actions — or their inaction.

aquila

accountability is the essence of your success, according to management consultant august aquila, ceo of aquila global advisors.

aquila is co-creator of the firm growth and succession program, creating the effective partnership, which includes the research-based guides how to engage partners in the firm’s future, and leadership at its strongest.

“i don’t think that the average partner takes accountability seriously,” aquila says. “if they did, they would take their individual goals more seriously and not let their fellow partners down.” read more →

leadership

the four keys to creating a firm vision that unites and mobilizes

and the eight ways to give core values real business value.

by robert j. lees and august j. aquila
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

when we talk about having a compelling vision, we don’t just mean the simple, well-crafted statement you find in a lot of firms.

for a vision to be compelling, for it to persuade the partners that they want to play an active part in making it a reality, a vision must have four elements: read more →