three essentials to making it work: entrepreneurial spirit, leadership skills and knowledge.
by paul rich
rothstein kass
if your goal is to be a “firm” (rather than a collection of sole practitioners) with the potential for significant growth, maximization of revenue and profits, the “one firm” model should start upon the commencement of business operations.
here’s something we should have known before the banking crash…
the new practice management discipline.
by august aquila
aquilaadvisors.com
no profits no mission, as one of my partners is fond of saying.
while leadership, balanced life, outstanding client service and efficient processes are critical for success, they mean nothing if the firm is not sufficiently profitable to make investments for the future and compensate performers. i want to focus on ten ways to make your practice more profitable.
these ten areas form the basis of my practice operational review. read more →
a framework for action.
if trust has been broken in your accounting firm—and given the great recession, odds are, it has been—you must start now to rebuild it.
michelle and dennis reina, authors of “rebuilding trust in the workplace: seven steps to renew confidence, commitment, and energy” (berrett-koehler, 2010), recommend a seven-step process, drawn from two decades of research, for healing and rebuilding trust.
to be sure, the seven-step process isn’t a silver bullet. but it may provide a framework for leaders to demonstrate courage and to take concrete, constructive, and compassionate action. read more →
work/life balance proves essential to recruiting, retaining staff.
by rick telberg
if that cpa working next to you appears stressed out by the job, take a long, hard look because you may not see him or her again in the future.
while cpas in all walks of the profession are strained and face tough workloads, those feeling the greatest stress and workplace demands are more likely to be seriously in the market for another job. at any given moment, according to my studies, about one on three cpas would consider changing jobs, even it meant a pay cut, in exchange for better working conditions. among the most stressed-out cpas, the ratio of job seekers jumps to about half.
so it’s imperative for managers of cpas to offer state-of-the-art workplaces if they want to retain hard-to-find staff. read more →
start by stopping.
stop doing things that undermine accountability, says skip reardon at six disciplines business coaching, “stop overseeing, legislating and micro-managing.”
reardon, a veteran of the accounting business dating back to solomon software, says “accountability is not something you ‘make’ people do – it has to be chosen or accepted by people within your organization. people must ‘buy into’ being accountable and responsible. for many, this is a new, unfamiliar way to work. most importantly: individual purpose and meaning come from assuming responsibility and accepting accountability.”
so, how do you build company-wide accountability?
now that internet services provider godaddy has been sold for $2.25 billion, founder bob parsons is looking pretty smart.
so maybe it’s worth looking at the entrepreneurial, controversial parsons’ self-written “16 rules.” (by the way, after serving in vietnam, parson graduated with an accounting degree.)
1. get and stay out of your comfort zone. i believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. i hear people say, “but i’m concerned about security.” my response to that is simple: “security is for cadavers.”
client retention falls to winning new business as top issue for firms.
in a signal that the competitive wars among cpa firms have only just begun, a new survey of practitioners shows client retention and even revenue growth are taking a backseat to a desperate grab for new clients.
adding new clients ranks no. 1 for firms employing 2 to 5, 6 to 10 and 11 to 20 professionals, according to the 2011 aicpa private companies practice section’s cpa firm top issues survey, last issued in 2009. read more →
take a lesson in change management from weight watchers.
by august aquila
aquilaadvisors.com
david maister in “strategy and the fat smoker” notes that there are two elements needed in order for us to change. the first is a willingness to do it. the second is determination. but alas, we know the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
there are a multitude of platitudes about change. but unless we change we don’t grow and the skills that got us to where we are, won’t get us to the next level. none of us can achieve more unless we become more. if i fail to change, i will not produce different or better results, but only the same thing. this is extremely dangerous because the world around us – our clients, our employees, the market place continue to change.
take a quick acid test. what do you know today that you did not know five years ago? ten years ago? if your list is short, you haven’t changed much. if your list is long, congratulations! the longer the list, the better.
l. gary boomer has been talking lately about liz wiseman’s new book, “multipliers: how the best leaders make everyone smarter.”
“multipliers” reports research that shows so-called “multiplier” leaders get two times more production than “diminishing” leaders.
“multipliers are genius-makers,” boomer says, “where everyone around them gets smarter.” by genius, she is referring to innovation, productivity and the collective intelligence of the team.
multiplier leaders are not just “feel-good” managers, boomer says: read more →
are you scaring away the next generation of owners?
via accountingtoday
you know it’s important. so why do only 35 percent of multi-owner firms and 9 percent of sole proprietors have written succession plans in place?
“most firms don’t have any plan,” robert fligel, president of rf resources tells accounting today. “even to do a memo would be a major accomplishment… it’s human nature; we don’t want to deal with mortality because it’s a very daunting thing. but there’s a fantastic sense of relief when you do these things. and you should think about your clients – you don’t want to leave them in a lurch.”
marc rosenberg explains why change needs to start at the top…
adapt and grow. or don’t and you won’t.
by alan vitberg
vitberg llc
new rules about marketing and business development are at hand, and firms that adapt early are those that will grow, not unlike their predecessors who capitalized upon transformative changes that occurred over two decades ago.
here’s a “baker’s dozen” of those new rules that can transform your firm’s marketing and business development, and take it to new heights: