develop your employees or suffer the consequences

businesspeople discussing chartsevery employee, for developmental purposes, needs to directly report to somebody.

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

you may have established a competency model for your firm, but how do you use it to develop your people? let’s walk through what an action plan might look like to drive that development.

it is common for firms to have talented partners and principals.  depending on the firm’s size and organization structure, things start getting fuzzier from a competence perspective from there on down the organizational chart.

more on performance management: cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions | how to target what skills to develop now | what having your employees’ backs means | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? |  job 1 for the practice owner: client management

for example, some firms have a strong management group with a gap in talent starting at the senior or supervisor level. others might experience their talent gap at the manager level because everyone who shows any self-starting initiative or promise is moved to a principal position early on. it doesn’t matter the size of your firm, you will likely be feeling a big gap or drop in talent somewhere in your organizational chart.

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cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions

reeb-and-cingoranelli-with-cpatr-si-logo-200checklist: how to fine-tune your own firm’s performance management systems.

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

when evaluating people within a firm, “relative importance” is a way to differentiate expectations regarding the same competency for various levels within your firm. we decided the best way to drill down even further into a competency model was to share some of the details of our competency model with you.

more on performance management:how to target what skills to develop now | what having your employees’ backs means | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? |  job 1 for the practice owner: client management

it considers the following six levels within a cpa firm (each firm needs to choose whatever breakdown works best for them):

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how to target what skills to develop now

reeb-and-cingoranelli-with-cpatr-si-logo-200bonus checklist: 12 competencies everyone in the firm needs.

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

in discussing how to become a more effective people manager and developer, the first question we ask is, “what skills and aptitudes are you trying to develop?”

more on performance management: what having your employees’ backs means | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? |  job 1 for the practice owner: client management

in other words, just saying to someone, “you need to improve” is weak advice.

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what having your employees’ backs means

why failure is a value proposition.

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

i want to start by talking about the phrase “having your employees’ backs.” so what does this mean? simply that, as the boss, you will take the bullets publicly for your people’s mistakes. this is such a rare phenomenon that many of you have never experienced what i am referring to – a boss taking the heat for his or her people.

more growth & succesion: 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? | job 1 for the practice owner: client management

most of the time, when problems are uncovered, company cultures are “at the ready” to quickly identify someone to blame regardless of the situation. in these organizations, those with exceptional cya skills are the most highly valued. no, i did not misspell this acronym as it was not meant to be cia (as in the government intelligence agency or certified internal auditors), but rather those good at covering their butts (i guess i should have referred to it as cyb).

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5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them)

how common management pitfalls hurt firms and employees.

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

how do attitudes, misconceptions and bad habits get in the way of our learning to be better managers?

related: do cpa firms need management or leadership? | job 1 for the practice owner: client management

here are five common attitudes, practices and perceptions we find:

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do cpa firms need management or leadership?

differentiating between the two, and the two most common styles of management.

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

let’s start out with a straightforward question. what is the difference between management and leadership?

from one point of view, leadership is far different than management. for example, leadership might be all about developing a vision for the organization, being innovative, motivating others, empowering those around you, focusing on developing the people around you instead of just developing yourself, looking for positive ways to change, doing the right thing, and keeping the forest in view and not just see the trees.

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15 can’t-skip merger terms to decide

#15 billiard ballgot that malpractice tail coverage handled yet? what about wip collections?

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm mergers: your complete guide

think your firm is ready to merge? not so fast.

more on mergers: 14 keys to a successful merger | 13 reasons accounting firms merge | mergers 101: when negotiations aren’t really negotiations | 5 steps to take before merging

all of the following are common terms that must be agreed upon by both merger partners.

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what culture really means for partners

bissettbonus: three outlooks from our exclusive expert council: grundy, pipe, dunn.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

the passport to partnership study collated a number of responses from existing partners of accounting practices in a conversational style. examples that really stood out on the realities of individual variances in firm culture are showcased below.

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more on the passport to partnership: firm culture is inevitable; make it work for you | 12 ways to determine your competence | what competence really means for partners | sailing through the seven c’s to partnership | passport to partnership: new research shows wide gap between partners and partners-to-be

if we really like them, we’ll take them out to dinner with the partners to see how they cope in that environment.

meaning, can they hold their own intellectually in more senior circles? how would they then behave when meeting with other senior executives as a contemporary of theirs? this is a huge consideration for existing partners as the reputation, goodwill and future new business of the practice is influenced greatly by how well the firm is represented by its chosen ambassador (e.g. you).

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12 ways to determine your competence

martin bissett
bissett

bonus: case study and worksheets:
3 questions to gauge your own competence, 4 questions about your personal brand and a 5-point checklist.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

the passport to partnership study collated a number of responses in a conversational style. two brief but succinct examples that really stood out on the realities of how a firm assesses an individual’s “competence” to lead are showcased below.

  1. learn more
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    they need to explain technical data to me in a way that i know they understand it.

  2. what kind of lifestyle does this person have outside of work? we’ll be looking at facebook, twitter and google to find out.

more on the passport to partnership: sailing through the seven c’s to partnership | passport to partnership: new research shows wide gap between partners and partners-to-be

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how mergers impact a firm’s retirement plan

plus how to handle partners who want to opt out.

older businessman sitting at desk smiling as wall clock indicates 5 minutes to retirementby marc rosenberg
retirements & buyouts

how do mergers impact a firm’s partner retirement plan?

more on buyouts: why 30% of cpa firm retirement plans are defective | are partner buyout plans just ponzi schemes? | clawback and how to handle it | can partners compete after they leave? | disability is far more complex than death | mandatory retirement? 4 reasons the firm comes first | how to transition clients from retiring partners | vesting can cover part-timers, too | eat what you kill? then maybe ‘book of business’ is for you | the multiple of compensation method, fully explained | 5 points to consider when paying out goodwill | how to set terms and limits for goodwill payouts | 4 ways to decide how to pay out capital

these suggestions propose verbiage that could be included in the firm’s partner agreement: read more →

what competence really means for partners

martin bissett
bissett

bonus: four outlooks from our exclusive expert council: baker, dobek, tierney, mister.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

the skill in producing financial reports is limited by the quality of the information presented to the cpa by the client. motivation of the client to influence that financial information comes in many forms, some intentional and some unintentional. competence comes first in being able to resist pressure and present a true and accurate position of the client’s organization.

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sounds obvious, doesn’t it? but there’s a twist.

more on the passport to partnership: sailing through the seven c’s to partnership | passport to partnership: new research shows wide gap between partners and partners-to-be

competence didn’t actually rank highly in the majority of partner requirements when interviewed in our study at all.

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why 30% of cpa firm retirement plans are fatally flawed

senior businessman holding briefcasemake provisions, or state partnership laws may do it for you.

by marc rosenberg
retirements & buyouts

twenty to thirty percent of all accounting firm partnership agreements have no provision for goodwill-based retirement payments to partners departing due to death, disability, retirement or withdrawal.

more on retirement: the top 10 mistakes in partner retirement plans | 20 new, essential keys for today’s partner retirement plans | you want goodwill payments? give proper retirement notice | compromise is in order for some goodwill payouts | three ways to calculate goodwill payable in partner buyouts, none of them great | the ins and outs of aav for goodwill | 5 points to consider when paying out goodwill | how to set terms and limits for goodwill payouts

they’re in for a rude surprise. read more →