how the best managing partners turn ideas into reality

man and woman in meeting across deskapproaches can differ dramatically from one partner to another.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

how can the managing partner operationalize the strategy within the policies, process and budget set forth by the partner group?

more on performance management: accountability includes partners | accountability requires clear expectations | base retirement on today’s operations | 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

to keep this simple, because it can get very complex extremely fast, let’s say that the firm has three strategies the partner group has mandated:
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randy myeroff at cohen & co.: winning the youth movement

myeroff
myeroff

“whoever can connect with today’s youth movement and invest in it the right way is going to win.”

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 staff

attracting and retaining high-caliber, younger workers is far and away the most pressing concern at cohen & co. in cleveland, ohio.

more from the corner office: rick dreher innovates wipfli for clients, younger workers | how blain heckaman drives value at kaufman rossin | weisermazars mp blake charts u.s. expansion | frank longobardi: cohnreznick’s battle for top talent | the robo-cpa: jim sikich prepares for disruptive technologies |  exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the cpa firm, which ranks among the nation’s 100 largest, is reaching out to young talent via means that include offering one of the top-ranked internship programs in its northeastern ohio region, and by simply increasing its hiring of new college graduates.
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managing the managing partner

businessman standing at conference table with 4 colleagues seated behindchecks and balances are key.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

as past success and personal development continuously demonstrate, organizations operate more effectively when people are managed. and since partners are people, rather than gods or superheroes, it makes sense that we put something in place to manage them as well.

more on performance management: accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | base retirement on today’s operations | how involved should retired owners be? | firms say what would change retirement pay | 4 ways to create more capacity | 7 succession questions to ignore for now | how partner ratings factor into equity | hazards of not reallocating equity | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? |  job 1 for the practice owner: client management

with this general background in mind, let’s dive a little deeper into how a managing partner goal-setting process might work.
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women gain jobs, payroll up and down

cpatrendlines jobs report tiltoverall industry employment continues to rise.

who’s hiring; who’s firing.
join the survey; get the answers

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

women are outpacing men as new hires in the tax and accounting industry today, according to new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research.

female headcounts are advancing at annualized rates of 5.5 percent in overall employment, 7.3 percent at cpa firms, and 10.6 percent in payroll services, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research.

at the same time, payroll is emerging as one of the most volatile sectors, with staff up 7.5 percent in the latest month, while wages dropped 8.8 percent year-on-year.

in metairie, la., a source at a three-partner partner firm reports they are looking for a cpa with the right “mix of technical skills and communication skills.”  “it’s very important to be able to communicate issues with both management and clients,” the source tells 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. at the same time, work at the firm has its challenges. “although we strive to give clients the best service possible, it is sometimes to the detriment of our work/life balance.”

at a 12-partner cpa firm with offices scattered across colorado, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 hears from an insider that they are seeking to promote from within. “we are cultivating staff-level employees because we need middle managers and supervisors who already have some experience.”

in the rest of this report, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 delves into:

  • current hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and cpa segments of the industry.
  • average hourly wages for key segments.
  • typical hours worked per week.
  • and trends concerning women in the accounting workforce.

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how to decide who decides pay

woman on building roof spraying out dollars with a garden hosewhere to draw the line between managing partner and compensation committee.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

everyone likes the idea that “i” will hold “me” accountable. but few like the idea of “anyone else” holding “them” accountable.

more on performance management: accountability requires clear expectations | base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | best practices for mandatory retirement | how retirement issues affect succession planning | succession: the questions to care about | 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

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

so, once the decision has been made to implement systemic changes to hold partners accountable to specific performance expectations rather than just relying on everyone to put in a self-proclaimed “good day’s work,” the next battleground is determining who will be holding whom accountable. the discussion always shifts to “let’s have a group of people, like a compensation committee, hold us accountable.”
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why this help wanted ad is all wrong

ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aconsider why the person is leaving.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: please explain why you told me this ad was off base.classified ad for an accountant

more practice doctor q&a: everyone needs strategic planning | help clients, increase revenue: make sure everyone on staff knows your firm’s full menu of services | i made partner, now what? | 19 ways to stop wasting reviewer time | how to sell your practice | why gross is the method for pricing a practice | no go on pro bono | how to advise an executor | 14 ways to use timesheet data

answer: the ad was placed in a local newspaper by a small cpa firm looking to hire someone with two years of experience. this firm obviously does quality work since they do audits.

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make accountability a process

man and woman reviewing a documenteveryone performs better when someone else has oversight.

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

setting up an “accountability and goal process” always sounds much easier than it actually is to implement. so for those who already think this process would be painful, just know that you still are probably underestimating the amount of agony in store.

more on performance management: accountability requires clear expectations | accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | how involved should retired owners be? | firms say what would change retirement pay | 4 ways to create more capacity | how to find a partner’s replacement | action plans for transitioning partners | partner retirement and the war for clients | best practices for mandatory retirement | how retirement issues affect succession planning | succession: the questions to care about 

this leads us to the standard question, “if this is so awful, why would anyone do it?” the answer is both simple and abstract.
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pay varies when performance varies

closeup shot of a caliper measuring the word "goals"plus ways to measure both objective and subjective performance criteria (yes, it can be done).

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

an important point to keep in mind is that we, as human beings, have good months and bad ones, good years and bad ones.

more on performance management: accountability requires clear expectations | accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | how involved should retired owners be? | firms say what would change retirement pay

what is going on in our personal lives has a lot to do with how we perform in our professional ones. therefore, if someone is going through a difficult time, such as a divorce, death in the family, major conflicts with extended family, etc., we can expect those events to spill over into our work life.
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accountability includes partners

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
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accountability requires clear expectations

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:
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fresh data spell new staffing issues at tax & accounting firms

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 jobs reporthiring and wages are up. utilization rates are down.

next question: the best talent retention strategies.
join the survey; get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

most workers in the tax and accounting industry are working fewer hours than a year and a half ago, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 sources, a potentially troubling sign of unsustainable hiring and management practices.

in addition, year-over-year increases of 5 percent or more were seen in

  • number of overall staff;
  • number of cpa firm employees, both total and staff;
  • payroll staff;
  • and women overall, at cpa firms and in payroll

the really bad news comes in payroll agencies, where positions are at their second highest level ever, but wages are plummeting.

with the new data, the monthly 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 jobs report projects a new surge in turnover with the end of busy season. there will be winners. and there will be losers. savvy, growing firms will be well-positioned to attract the under-leveraged talent that slow-footed firms can’t handle or afford. top talent will be making lateral moves, as much for more supportive cultures and future opportunities as for a quick pay increase, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 analysis.

in this report, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 provides additional detail and analysis on:

  • current hiring trends in each of the cpa, tax preparation, payroll and bookkeeping segments of the industry;
  • average hourly wages for key segments;
  • average hours worked per week;
  • and trends concerning women in the accounting workforce.

read more →

accountability is for everyone

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.
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will college grad supply meet industry demand?

silhouette of graduates throwing caps into airfirms are hiring, but accounting enrollment has swung widely.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

there’s disturbing but not disastrous information about the profession’s labor supply.

or, to look at it another way, good news and bad news.

the good news is that accounting firms are optimistic enough to foresee a lot of hiring.

the bad-but-not-disastrous news is that the incoming supply of accounting graduates may not keep up with the demand.

so much for optimism.

since 1971, when the aicpa began its study, “trends in the supply of accounting graduates and the demand for public accounting recruits,” the general trend in graduates with bachelor’s and master’s  in accounting degrees has generally risen, but not evenly. growth was steady and steep through the ’70s but then evened off for 20 years. but the new millennium didn’t bring new hordes of cpas. quite to the contrary, graduation with accounting degrees rates declined. by 2006, they were down to the numbers of the mid-70s.

but the trend turned upward again and rose steeply, doubling the number of bachelor’s and master’s degrees by 2012.

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