strategy

accountability includes partners

by

manager dangling carrots in front of staffdeliver not only rewards but sanctions.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

let’s take a close look at what accountability might look like.

more on performance management for pro members: accountability requires clear expectations | accountability is for everyone | who decides what? | firms say what would change retirement pay | action plans for transitioning partners | how retirement issues affect succession planning | how partner ratings factor into equity | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions

for partners, accountability is best described as having a system in place that rewards partners for
read more →

seizing the $10 trillion opportunity

by

targeting the heart of american business – the vast market of mid-sized companies.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

let’s begin by answering two basic questions:

  1. what is the mid-market?
  2. what is a mid-market sustainable brand?

the mid-market is commonly defined as both private and public companies with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion. the estimated u.s. mid-market universe is nearly 200,000 companies, largely privately held.

more from domenick j. esposito:  learning to ‘run with the big dogs’ | the cpa success formula: ties that bind  |  8 steps to great: the vast new opportunities for smart, aggressive firms | and more…

these companies are a vibrant, resilient, but often neglected, segment of the u.s. economy. they represent 30 percent of all u.s. companies, one-third of all jobs and more than $10 trillion in combined annual revenue.

read more →

accountability requires clear expectations

by

two businesswomen sitting at table and talking in office courtyardmake an effort to learn from your successes as well as your failures.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

accountability needs to be rooted in much more than a casual perception or it is destined to fail. therefore, the first step to accountability is to move this from an “i will watch you and tell you if i think you are doing a good job” approach to one that clearly defines what you expect of someone up front.

more on performance management: accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | 4 ways to create more capacity | partner retirement and the war for clients | succession: the questions to care about | hazards of not reallocating equity

now this sounds fairly straightforward, and it is, but it is also loaded with plenty of traps that you can fall into. one of the traps we want to avoid is ambiguity. you can overcome this trap by taking time to describe the expectations you have of someone, like:
read more →

learning to ‘run with the big dogs’

by

dogs run race adobestock_73651025 copytoday any firm can compete and win against the world’s largest firms.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

even these days – or, especially these days – there is room in the cpa firm market to build a powerful mid-market sustainable brand and, yes, potentially the category killer.

more from domenick j. esposito: the cpa success formula: ties that bind  |  8 steps to great: the vast new opportunities for smart, aggressive firms | and more…

the opportunity is there for the taking.

but you need to focus on what matters if you want to “run with the big dogs.”

read more →

accountability is for everyone

by

businesswoman working late at deskdo you credit others as much as you do yourself?

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

most firms consider accountability an essential part of their leadership practices.

more on performance management: base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | firms say what would change retirement pay | action plans for transitioning partners | how retirement issues affect succession planning | how partner ratings factor into equity | develop your employees or suffer the consequences | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them)

in the pcps top issues survey, for firms with 11 to 20 professionals, partner accountability/unity landed in second place. for firms with 21 or more professionals, this same issue ranked first in concerns to be addressed.
read more →

13 succession plan requirements

by

time to retire clock facemake sure you’re not growing your own competition.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

there are various sections that should be included in any succession plan. we are not going to present you with a sample succession plan, but even better, to describe topic areas you should address in your plan.

more on performance management: base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | how involved should retired owners be? | how to find a partner’s replacement | best practices for mandatory retirement | 7 succession questions to ignore for now | the pitfalls of equity allocation and reallocation

as always, there are various best practices to consider as you put your plan together. for any succession plan to work, you have to start with consideration of the business model you use:
read more →

who decides what?

by

businessman looking thoughtfulyou need to ponder some questions before you answer.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

everywhere you turn, you overhear someone talking about, being asked about the status of, or referring to their need to develop, a succession plan.

more on performance management: how retired partners are robbing their own firms | how involved should retired owners be? | how to find a partner’s replacement | action plans for transitioning partners | how retirement issues affect succession planning | succession: the questions to care about | 7 succession questions to ignore for now | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions

as a matter of fact, for the past 12 years through surveys with the aicpa, we have been asking firms to share with us whether or not they have a succession plan in place.

when you consider the responses to this question from the pcps succession institute succession management surveys conducted in 2008 and 2012, clearly more and more firms are:

  • getting their act together,
  • documenting their succession management strategy and
  • thinking through the ramifications of retiring one or more senior owners.

here is the question we asked along with summary data from both surveys: read more →

how retired partners are robbing their own firms

by

masked man carrying large money bagif you don’t set policies and enforce retirement deals, your firm could become a financial hostage.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

as many as 30 percent of firms pay more to retiring partners than they initially agreed, according to our succession survey.

more on performance management for pro members: how involved should retired owners be? | firms say what would change retirement pay | action plans for transitioning partners | how retirement issues affect succession planning | how partner ratings factor into equity | develop your employees or suffer the consequences | what having your employees’ backs means | do cpa firms need management or leadership? |  job 1 for the practice owner: client management

here’s why.

read more →

who’s your competition? everyone

by

businesswoman at laptop with cloud floating above outstretched handtime to get on the radical bus.

by jody padar
the radical cpa

i’ve been in the cloud for nine years so it’s old news to me.

more on radicalism for pro members: how the ‘new firm’ was born | radical firms embrace 4 values | radical or complacent? you choose | 3 questions to ask if you dare | how spiritual value affects pricing | keep scope creep and seep from hurting bottom line

the biggest thing to do is to look around and look at the competi­tion. you can probably leave your firm and start your own firm with less than $400 a month in software and with no or very limited overhead. isn’t that terrifying for you old-timers!
read more →

4 ways to create more capacity

by

purple no. 4 billiard ballconsider creating two classes of partners.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

when partners plan to retire, how do we go about creating additional capacity or freeing up the necessary capacity to handle the client transitions that need to occur?

more on performance management: partner retirement and the war for clients | succession: the questions to care about | 7 succession questions to ignore for now | develop your employees or suffer the consequences | what having your employees’ backs means | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | job 1 for the practice owner: client management

first, all of the “c” clients, which is our shorthand way of describing the smallest clients the firm serves – who while profitable, don’t have much opportunity to hire us for additional services – should not be transitioned to partners, but rather to managers.
read more →