management

take a cue from venture capitalists: your firm needs a brain trust trinity

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how to give your firm the three distinct personality traits that spell outrageous success.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

i was reading chip conley’s book, the rebel rules: daring to be yourself in business. despite its title, the book doles out fairly standard business advice, except for a handful of tiny tidbits of sheer brilliance. one is the list of items that investors are looking for when considering providing startup money to new businesses.

sandi smith

more for soloists and small firms:   accountants, do you know your opportunity number?  •   five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity • rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech  •  four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance • 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients • the top 12 business card blunders accountants make • seven tips to keep the clients you have • how to attract clients like a magnet • eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients • 

even if you’re never going to seek venture capital money to help to fund your practice, chip’s advice makes a great question to consider for your firm, especially if yours is a small or sole-owned firm. read more →

the “aha moment” in cpa firm leadership

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are you leading, or merely managing or administering?

by marc rosenberg, cpa
author of “cpa firm management and governance”  

when attending conferences, we love “aha” moments.  those are moments when a speaker says something so profound that it causes a sudden understanding of a major issue and captures our imagination.  we can’t wait to get back to the office, share it with our partners and start implementing the idea.

more on cpa firm management and leadership:   leadership is overrated: it’s good management that makes successful firms •  40 great ways to improve firm profitability  •  four management metrics that fool even the best-run firms  •  19 ways to improve accounting firm profitability • de-bunking the myth about niche marketing for tax and accounting firms • practice development is no longer an optional activity • 10 good ways the achieve partner accountability • pick your partners right to begin with • the first nine questions your partner team needs to embrace for optimal profitability • profitability and the value of strategic thinking • the five essential building blocks for creating a strong accounting firm • the seven signs of great leadership in a cpa firm • compensation issues for the new managing partner •

marc rosenberg
marc rosenberg

i had an “aha” moment not so long ago.  the speaker was bob bunting, long time managing partner of regional firm  moss adams, a leader in our profession par excellence.   he delivered a very simple but powerful statement that described a value system at moss adams:

  • leadership is worth more than your billing rate.
  • management is worth your billing rate.
  • administration is worth less than your billing rate.

my take on this is: read more →

seven ways to build the right culture

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and five ways how not to implement a system of partner accountability.

august j. aquila

august aquila, a veteran practice management consultant, works globally with accounting firms on leadership and management issues. if you’re thinking about the quality of leadership at your firm, think on this.

five wrong ways to make partners more accountable:

  1. let’s make it into a checklist. one thing you can count on – accountants love checklists. it seems that a checklist is the answer to all our problems. read more →

how to change a partner

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august aquila
august aquila

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.

is there a change process?

the quick answer to the question is yes. read more →

novice manager needs to know: how to do it all?

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15 strategies for a first-time supervisor’s success.

here at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间, ed mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. he’s the right one to ask. after more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, withumsmith+brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. we’re happy to have him at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. send your questions for ed here, or chime in with comments below.

ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and amore from ed mendlowitz, the practice doctor q&a: why no one listens to you | fun reads for busy season  |  when not to offer a free initial consultation | measuring growth in yourself, staff and partners  |  what do you think you’re doing?  | can you teach judgment?  |  clients’ calls at home  | what you need to know before expanding into business valuation |

question: my boss asked me to call you.  i am a staff accountant with five years experience.  i am having a lot of stress trying to manage everything i have to do. i am juggling supervising people that i don’t know how to supervise, being managed less by those above me and having to figure out more for myself – including things i never did before or in industries i never worked on previously, keeping current with changes in accounting rules and taxes (since i am more like a generalist and clients ask me everything) never seem to have any free time, juggling my schedule because most of my clients are never ready when they say they will be and being accountable to my boss for everything i do plus what the staff working under me does. so how do i do it all? how can i prioritize all my responsibilities? read more →

how a founding partner passes the baton to a new managing partner

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with 16 questions and 10 steps.

by august j. aquila

one of the most difficult events that a firm faces is the transition of power from one managing partner to another, especially when it’s the first time. knowing when to pass the baton and how to pass it are critical decisions every firm will have to make.

august j. aquila

more august aquila on 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间:  six reasons not to plan for succession  |  how to apply sam walton’s 10 rules for success at your firm |   nine steps to effective succession planning for the small firm |  thinking merger? look before you leap  | four new checklists for succession planning  |   partner accountability: seven signs your firm may be in trouble | 25 ways to grow your practice  | herding cats: change management for cpa firms  | engaging partners in the firm’s future  | what it means to be a partner  | leadership at it’s strongest: what successful managing partners do | no alignment? no execution. | 12 steps to a foolproof merger  | seven steps to building a great partnership  | 5 success tips for tax season  | managing partner job #1: how to get buy-in  | the 10 basic ways to boost profits at an accounting firm | can you really change a partner?  | 11 weekly self-assessment questions for professionals  | seven keys to a successful merger |

for the managing partner who is thinking about succession, there are four primary goals that he or she should be working on during the next few years. each of these issues needs to be discussed with your founding partner: read more →

four management metrics that fool even the best-run firms

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how looking at realization, billables, utilization, and labor costs can lead you astray.

by marc rosenberg, cpa
author of “what really makes cpa firms profitable?”

if you’re striving to maximize profitably in your accounting firm (and who isn’t these days?), there a few important things you need to do.

marc rosenberg
marc rosenberg

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members get more [go pro here]: 19 ways to improve accounting firm profitability  • de-bunking the myth about niche marketing for tax and accounting firms • practice development is no longer an optional activity • 10 good ways the achieve partner accountability • pick your partners right to begin with  •  the first nine questions your partner team needs to embrace for optimal profitability  • profitability and the value of strategic thinking  • the five essential building blocks for creating a strong accounting firm • the seven signs of great leadership in a cpa firm • compensation issues for the new managing partner  •

and then there are four things that are just a total waste of time. like these. read more →

why no one listens to you

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the new “listening deficiency epidemic.”

ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aquestion: i notice that most of the time my staff doesn’t listen when i talk.  how can i make them listen?

more from ed mendlowitz, the practice doctor q&a: fun reads for busy season  |  when not to offer a free initial consultation | measuring growth in yourself, staff and partners  |  what do you think you’re doing?  | can you teach judgment?  |  clients’ calls at home  | what you need to know before expanding into business valuation |

response: i find this issue very widespread.  i believe there is an epidemic of people not listening, not just staff.

read more →

how to create a no-equity partner position in your firm

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it may be the answer to keeping talented people.

by gary adamson, cpa

most firms are faced with the dilemma of keeping long term managers who are major contributors to the firm but for whatever reason are not ready to be equity partners (or who perhaps never will have what it takes to be equity partners).

here is a seven-point outline of what the no-equity position looks like, how it differs from the normal equity partner spot and some considerations to implement it in your firm.

read more →

how to apply sam walton’s 10 rules for success at your firm

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they work at walmart. here’s how to make them work for you.

by august j. aquila
aquila global advisers

if they were good enough for sam walton, shouldn’t they be good enough for you and me? is there anyone who wouldn’t want his or her firm to be as successful as walmart?

august aquila

more august aquila on 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间:   nine steps to effective succession planning for the small firm |  thinking merger? look before you leap  | four new checklists for succession planning  |   partner accountability: seven signs your firm may be in trouble |

of course, we can’t guarantee your success, but you are more likely to achieve it if you follow walton’s ten rules. read more →

19 ways to improve accounting firm profitability

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 only 19?

by marc rosenberg, cpa
author of “what really makes cpa firms profitable?”

partners are generally paid a lot more than firm administrators. for good reasons.

the marketplace has determined that doing what a partner does (bringing in business, possessing high levels of technical expertise, managing client relationships and managing the firm) commands a higher level of compensation than doing what a firm administrator does.

related: de-bunking the myth about niche marketing for tax and accounting firms • practice development is no longer an optional activity • 10 good ways the achieve partner accountability • pick your partners right to begin with  •  the first nine questions your partner team needs to embrace for optimal profitability  • profitability and the value of strategic thinking  • the five essential building blocks for creating a strong accounting firm • the seven signs of great leadership in a cpa firm • compensation issues for the new managing partner  •

therefore, it makes no sense to pay a partner to do an administrator’s work. besides, most partners aren’t as good at administration as trained, experienced administrators are.

read more →