record pre-season hiring surge: ready for biggest tax season ever?

cpatrendlines jobs report tilt
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new jobs pace sets stage for record-high revenues – or disastrous disappointment.

who’s leading the charge?
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by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

tax and accounting industry growth is on a tear with no signs of slowing down, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 sources.

in most segments, people are working less and earning more, with payroll a notable exception.

and new data show the industry gearing up for a huge tax season, with tax prep employment leaping 22.5 percent over the same period last year.

here 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 reports on:

  • current hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, tax, payroll 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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best practices for mandatory retirement

time to retire clock facethe work retired partners should – and shouldn’t – do if they stay on.

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

once “fair” retirement benefits have been determined, for this moment in time, we can move on to the next step in building our succession plan. the reason i mention that we are simply putting stakes in the ground is because as we set additional stakes in the ground, those new stakes might require us to rethink a decision made when setting a previous stake.

more on performance management: how retirement issues affect succession planning | how partner ratings factor into equity | the pitfalls of equity allocation and reallocation | develop your employees or suffer the consequences

for example, if the firm later establishes premium perks for past owners who want to continue to work for the firm after sale of ownership, then that might require reassessing the retirement benefit calculation agreed to when setting that earlier stake (because in the end, the retirement benefit is about the whole package offered, not just one component).
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how retirement issues affect succession planning

an old-school bronze justice scale with inequal stacks of moneyif you believe your firm will be dysfunctional without you, now is the time to fix it.

by bill reeb, dominic cingoranelli, and tommye barie
the succession institute

when we take our clients through succession planning, eventually the focus turns to implementing the best practices for running a firm – but first we normally have to start with short-term retirement issues.

more on performance management: succession: the questions to care about | how partner ratings factor into equity | the pitfalls of equity allocation and reallocation | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions | what having your employees’ backs means

why? because typically you won’t get any buy-in for change until the partners have looked at whether the current retirement system is paying at least roughly a fair market value to the near-term retiring partners.

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succession: the questions to care about

track and field athletes passing relay baton. studio shot over white.bonus checklists: 5 rules to govern a succession plan. 8 keys to an effective compensation system.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

we’ve seen a lot of frequently shared, misdirected advice on commonly discussed succession issues. we would rather stop focusing on symptoms and start focusing on resolving the root cause issues that a good succession plan should address.

more on performance management: 7 succession questions to ignore for now | hazards of not reallocating equity | develop your employees or suffer the consequences | how to target what skills to develop now | what having your employees’ backs means

our solution: the robust succession framework

first and foremost, good succession management is a function of good business operating practices. over and over, we find successful firms – including many that have even effectively retired partners in the past – that are overlooking some very important best practices.
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7 succession questions to ignore for now

serious-looking businessman in front of empty conference roomthere’s some misdirection in succession management out there.

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

you can’t go a week without seeing some article or blog focused on succession management and everyone seems to have a different opinion as to what is important when addressing succession. so, we thought it was time we challenged some of the more common misconceptions.

more on performance management: how partner ratings factor into equity | hazards of not reallocating equity | the pitfalls of equity allocation and reallocation | develop your employees or suffer the consequences | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership?

the first thing most authors want to focus on with succession is the development of future leaders. then the dialogue will shift quickly to mentoring programs, leadership training and more. well, it would be hypocritical for us to disagree with this because we actually develop and conduct these kinds of programs. however, training such as this is only valuable after many other issues are addressed first. so, while it is important, i guess the best phrase to describe this is “first things first,” and this is not first by any stretch of the imagination.

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tax & accounting employment hits new highs

cpatrendlines jobs report tilt
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by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the number of employees in the accounting industry keeps climbing and toppling old records. the latest data from 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 shows more than 40% of firms are hiring.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 careers and hiring outlook

today’s bonus question: what’s the most important trait or skill needed to succeed in the accounting business?

join the survey. get the results.

in this report, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 covers:

  • current hiring trends in each of the cpa, tax, payroll and bookkeeping segments of the industry, indicating growth and shrinkage among sectors.
  • average hourly wages for key segments, with trends in employee pay rates.
  • typical hours worked per week, showing utilization and productivity.
  • trends concerning women in the workforce, including hiring rates.
  • including 25 charts and graphs

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nine factors for dividing the partner pie

cut pie chart on plate flanked by fork and knifehow to decide who gets how much voting power.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

people who can lead, develop, train and supervise others are worth much more than those who can just make themselves faster, better and stronger.

equity ownership allocation is a critical success factor if you expect your firm to continue after you leave.  for many firms, reallocation of equity ownership is or will be an important part of succession planning.  while it can cause some anxiety for your owners’ group as you go through the process, it’s better to confront the issues now, to help ensure that your firm is in good hands after your leave. it’s not necessarily easy, but it must be addressed for long-term success.

more on performance management: hazards of not reallocating equity | the pitfalls of equity allocation and reallocation | develop your employees or suffer the consequences | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions | do cpa firms need management or leadership?

when you are deciding which partners should have more say (or less say, which is just as important), you need to consider issues such as whose judgment partners trust, who is pulling the wagon, who consistently acts in the firm’s best interest, or who is viewed as a current or future leader. with this in mind, here are nine areas to evaluate or each partner: read more →

the hazards of not reallocating partner equity

unbalanced brass scales“this stage is usually when the crap hits the fan in many organizations.”

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

let’s look at the common pitfalls we find with ownership distribution, using scenarios to drive home various points. let’s say we have a five-partner firm.

the ownership and age is as follows:

partner                                 equity                 age

senior partner 1 (sp1)           35%                    65

senior partner 2 (sp2)           35%                    63

junior partner 1 (jp1)            15%                    53

junior partner 2 (jp2)            10%                    48

junior partner 3 (jp3)              5%                    42

first of all, many firms would die for this kind of age split as – unfortunately – many firms have partners much closer in age than this 23-year range example. but continuing on, let’s say senior partner 1 (sp1) wants to retire at the end of this year. if this would occur as it does in many firms, we would be scrambling for additional partners. but for the sake of this discussion, let’s say we just addedjunior partner 3 (jp3) last year and we will add jp1 immediately after sp1’s retirement with an ownership interest of 5 percent.

so, if this were to occur without unusual intervention, the new ownership percentages would look something like this a year later:

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when two partners isn’t enough and three is too many

statue of scales of justice

the pitfalls of equity allocation and reallocation.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

i want to address the issue of equity – how it is commonly allocated to begin with, and then making adjustments to it over time.

for many firms, the idea in the beginning is that “all the partners are the same, so their ownership should be the same.” when the firm starts out with only a shingle, this is a very fair premise. so, for the sake of this column, let’s start out with a two-partner firm and build from there, talking through the common issues that arise in the area of distributing equity ownership.

more on performance management: develop your employees or suffer the consequences | 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

start with two

the most common approach would be for the two partners to split the ownership 50/50. the reason why this often works so well is because the two people who join together often are brought together because of their complementary skills. for example one might be very technically competent and the other more marketing savvy. together they make a great team – one, without the other, is less effective.

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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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tax & accounting firms lead u.s. economy in growth rates

employment and hours trending up.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

professional and business services such as accounting are emerging as a bright spot in our economy, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 sources.

the national unemployment rate remains at 5.1 percent. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in september, with 31,000 of those jobs coming in professional and business services. overall job growth has averaged 198,000 per month, compared to an average monthly gain of 260,000 in 2014. in professional and business services, monthly job growth has averaged 45,000 in 2015, compared to an average 59,000 in 2014.

accounting and bookkeeping employment hit the 1 million mark this year and keeps climbinh.
accounting and bookkeeping employment hit the 1 million mark this year and keeps climbing.

 

in accounting and bookkeeping services overall, the industry continued its upward climb, reaching 1,014,600 employees. the peak reflects a gain of 5,400 or 0.5 percent in the past month, and 47,000 or 4.9 percent in the past year.

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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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