three types of skills you need to become a partner

senior businessman mentoring two younger workerswhat is your firm doing to help staff develop these?

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

the old-school way of developing staff into partners was very simple:

  • staff are bountiful. those with the right stuff move up; we’ll move the others out and hire a new crop to replace them.
  • it’s up to the staff to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and make their mark. nobody showed us how to make partner. nobody held our hands.

more: six ways new partners differ from managers | sixteen duties of a partner | seventeen basic expectations of partners | the four essentials for every new partner | five people to keep out of partnership | nine ways to woo a prospective partner | tell potential partners what it takes
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  • it’s up to the staff to tell us that they want to be partners. unless and until they show us this ambition, we won’t talk to them about becoming a partner.
  • bringing in business can’t be taught. you’re either born with it or you’re not.
  • and while we are on the subject of business development, we all know from experience that marketing must be done nights and weekends. clients are too busy during the day. and we need the days to get our billable hours in. so a partner must commit to working long hours, including nights and weekends, and be willing to sacrifice his or her personal life for the firm.

not much of a clear or easy path in those days, was there?
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six ways new partners differ from managers

two businessmen talking across a deskbusiness development is a determining factor for some firms.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

this is one of the grayest areas in bringing in new partners. it has perplexed cpa firms for decades.

more: sixteen duties of a partner | seventeen basic expectations of partners | the four essentials for every new partner | five people to keep out of partnership | nine ways to woo a prospective partner | tell potential partners what it takes
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here is the typical scenario. the firm has had one or more managers on board for 10 to 20 years. they have made their mark primarily with their technical skills, doing great work with clients, showing tremendous loyalty and work ethic. they generally lack business development and to a lesser extent, leadership skills, but they have become indispensable to the partners, who rely on them heavily to service their clients. the partners would have heartburn if these managers left the firm.
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sixteen duties of a partner

green cast iron sign with white 16 painted on itplus seven things that partners are entitled to … and 12 that they’re not.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

there are a number of realities that go along with being a partner in an accounting firm.

you’re an owner. as such, you get paid based on the firm’s earnings, not as an employee.

more: seventeen basic expectations of partners | the four essentials for every new partner | five people to keep out of partnership | nine ways to woo a prospective partner | tell potential partners what it takes
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you pay for your ownership. new owners in any business must pay money to acquire their ownership. at cpa firms, this is called a new partner buy-in. because cpa firms have a substantial street value, it’s reasonable that new partners should be required to purchase their interest in the firm.
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seventeen basic expectations of partners

serious-looking businessman in front of empty conference roomdevelop staff, develop business, develop yourself.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

the following apocryphal vignette plays out at partner retreats on a regular basis: the partners brainstorm what is expected of partners at their firm. they have a spirited, productive discussion that results in a dozen items written on a flipchart.

more: the four essentials for every new partner | five people to keep out of partnership | nine ways to woo a prospective partner | tell potential partners what it takesgoprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

all of a sudden, one of the partners yells, “oh, no!” the startled partners ask him what’s wrong. he points at the flipchart: “none of us qualify!”

there is not one firm whose policy on what a partner is reads exactly like the list below. this is a collection of what i have seen at many great firms i have had the pleasure of working with.
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the four essentials for every new partner

group of four young professionalsbonus: a list of 28 core competencies. which matter to your firm?

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

we’ve all heard the names given to various generations of people over the past century. the lost generation. the greatest (wwii) generation. the silent generation. baby boomers. gen x. millennials. gen z. though i don’t know of any studies on this, i’m sure that every generation of cpa firm ownership has complained bitterly about the younger generation.

more: five people to keep out of partnership | nine ways to woo a prospective partner | tell potential partners what it takes
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baby boomers and gen xers love to complain that today’s staff don’t want to be partners. they cite this as a major reason why bringing in new partners is so difficult.
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five people to keep out of partnership

businesswoman opens door to brick wallyou’ll resent them later.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

many firms make the mistake of admitting to the partnership someone who will not be a strong contributing member of the group. they miss the signs that this person will be a bad fit.

more: nine ways to woo a prospective partner | tell potential partners what it takes
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the following red flags may signal a potential future challenge in the partnership. consider whether your candidate
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nine ways to woo a prospective partner

number 9 created by gaps between many small green plastic 9'splus counterarguments for those who say they don’t.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

partners have it great. if a staff person really gets a proper, thorough understanding of why it’s fantastic to become a partner in a cpa firm, there are almost no reasons for not wanting to be a partner. well, there are a few, but we’ll discuss them later in the post.

more: nine reasons to make someone a partner | tell potential partners what it takes
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  1. the money. sorry, i probably shouldn’t have led with this one. i struggled with where to put it. if i put it first, you might think i’m saying that money is everything, but i certainly don’t feel that way. if i put it last, some might think it’s the least important, but that is not the case either. if i bury it in the middle, it might not get your attention.

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nine reasons to make someone a partner

signals, sparks and strategies.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

why would a cpa firm ever want to make someone a partner in the first place? why would it want to share profits with more people?

more: tell potential partners what it takes
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the short answer is that it must be beneficial to both the firm and the new partner. a win-win, as the saying goes.
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