management

give clients three reasons to love you at the next meeting

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dazzle them with the pre-meeting meeting.

joey brannon
joey brannon

by joey brannon, cpa
axiom cpa

there is an old saying that “no man is an island unto himself.” this is certainly true in the world that i live in. i am nothing without my clients. so when we have time with them it is important that we use it to maximum advantage. and having an agenda in place well before the meeting starts exponentially increases the productivity and value of the experience. read more →

five skills that separate winners from losers in the accounting business

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super-successful firms are experts at achieving one or more these…

by marc rosenberg, cpa
the rosenberg map survey

if cpa firms did everything “right,” they could easily double or triple their income. doing things right includes effectively bringing in clients, charging high billing rates, maintaining strong realization, high leverage of staff to partners and keeping expenses down. it’s the rare firm that does well in all of these categories.

more practice management strategy: compensation issues for the new managing partner | 20 decisions for your firm’s new partner compensation committee | three ways to break partner gridlock in an accounting firm | what partners are entitled to, and what they’re not entitled to | how to make partner? | why accounting firm partners are “popping prozac like m&m’s” | more…

the path to profitability is different for every firm. but the truly profitable firms are successful at achieving one or more of the following: read more →

why 9% of firms flourish even in bad times

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a four-pronged approach to weathering any economic storm.

by sandi smith, cpa

according to an article published in harvard business review, three scientists, ranjay gulati, nitin nohria, and franz wohlgezogen, conducted a study to discover the strategies that generated the most – and the least – profits in lean times.

more small-firm success tips at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间:   ‘there is no such thing as a time problem’  •  15 off-the-hook ideas for accountants to dream big  •   3 money leaks that may need plugging in your business  •  seven tips to keep the clients you have • how to attract clients like a magnet • eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients • five things accountants take for granted that costs them revenue  • what’s in your new client funnel? • what’s in your welcome kit for new prospects? • five fun and easy ways to wow your clients • six ways to give yourself a raise • strategies to stop losing business to competitors  • five tips to manage your ‘overwhelm’ level • easy ideas for a quick business boost • four new mega-trend marketing strategies • how to stop leaving money on the table

first, here’s a list of sure-fire ways to kill your business: read more →

herding cats: change management for cpa firms

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eight good tips for getting everyone on board when change is scary.

change is inevitable. but with a crashing a crashing economy, it is also treacherous, which makes these suggestion from august aquila all the more urgent.

1. know where you want to go. what are you trying to achieve as a firm and a partner group? while it’s always difficult to address the elephant in the room, now is the time to take advantage of the economic turmoil and bring all issues to the table.

2. get others involved. if you are the only one in the firm who is pushing for the change, you might as well forget about it. when others get involved they also get committed. they provide you with feedback so that you can develop the best steps in the change process. read more →

don’t ask a cpa what profitability means

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you’d think they could agree on a common definition for their firms. they can’t.

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

if you asked the president of a fortune 500 company or the owner of a restaurant to define profitability, they would be able to give a quick, definitive answer. not so with cpas. surely, you’ve heard the story, perhaps apocryphal, of the company that was interviewing for a new cpa firm. only one question was asked of each candidate: “how much is two plus two?” the firm that won the bid gave the answer, “how much would you like it to be?”

related: compensation issues for the new managing partner | 20 decisions for your firm’s new partner compensation committee | three ways to break partner gridlock in an accounting firm | what partners are entitled to, and what they’re not entitled to | how to make partner? | why accounting firm partners are “popping prozac like m&m’s” | more…

the same can be true of cpa firm profitability. how do we measure it? you would think that the uncontested champions of measuring financial data, cpas, would have this down to a science. but such is not the case. read more →

preparing to sell your practice in a few years? 13 things you need to know today

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what to do before you put your practice on the market.

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.

meanwhile, browse more from ed here:  what’s a tax practice worth today?  /  congratulations! you bought a tax practice. now what? | how accountants can keep the business when a client wants to sell theirs | 10 reasons clients don’t pay, and what to do about it | 13 reasons timesheets will never die | 

— rick telberg
president / ceo

question: i am getting older and want to continue working at least five more years.  should i merge now to anticipate and facilitate a buyout?

read more →

‘there is no such thing as a time problem’

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it’s a management problem and here are three solutions.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

i know it’s a bold statement and a lot of you will disagree. but please have an open mind and hear me out.

time is the great equalizer. we all have the same number of hours in a day, yet some entrepreneurs, many of them self-made, become wildly successful, while others languish. only one in twenty business owners in the u.s. (2002 numbers) make it past $1 million in annual revenues. i believe the way they use their time is a big factor in their success or failure.

more from sandi smith at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间:  • 15 off-the-hook ideas for accountants to dream big  • eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients  • five things accountants take for granted that costs them revenue  • what’s in your new client funnel?  • what’s in your welcome kit for new prospects?  • five fun and easy ways to wow your clients  • six ways to give yourself a raise • strategies to stop losing business to competitors  • five tips to manage your ‘overwhelm’ level  • easy ideas for a quick business boost  • four new mega-trend marketing strategies  • how to stop leaving money on the table

here are three better explanations of your time problem:

read more →

the essence of cpa firm profitability

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what mickey mouse can teach accountants about accounting.

by marc rosenberg, cpa
author of the rosenberg map survey

it has been said that organizations should never have profitability as a goal. why? because profitability should be the result of an organization’s efforts, not its goal. profitability is a measure of success in accomplishing core business goals. the disney corporation probably says it best in their mission statement, which is short and sweet, but very powerful: “our mission is to make millions happy.”

related: compensation issues for the new managing partner | 20 decisions for your firm’s new partner compensation committee | three ways to break partner gridlock in an accounting firm | what partners are entitled to, and what they’re not entitled to | how to make partner? | why accounting firm partners are “popping prozac like m&m’s” | more…

disney super-pleases parents by creating hundreds of quality movies and lovable characters children grow up with and adore, and by creating theme parks that tap into our fantasies and imagination.

read more →

3 money leaks that may need plugging in your business

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why we do it and what to do about it.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

everyone is looking on the income statement to find places to cut their business expenses. but the best place to look is not on a report.

it’s in the habits, processes, and procedures that you and your team do through your work day. it’s also in the mindsets, the inner game you bring to your work.

sandi smith

more from sandi smith at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间: seven tips to keep the clients you have  • how to attract clients like a magnet  • eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients • five things accountants take for granted that costs them revenue  • what’s in your new client funnel?  • what’s in your welcome kit for new prospects?
• five fun and easy ways to wow your clients  • six ways to give yourself a raise  • strategies to stop losing business to competitors
• five tips to manage your ‘overwhelm’ level  • easy ideas for a quick business boost  • four new mega-trend marketing strategies  • how to stop leaving money on the table

here are my top three money leak sources for you to look at and see what you can find:

read more →

how to identify your firm’s core values

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and some examples to consider.

by marc rosenberg, cpa
author of how to operate a compensation committee

core values are the attitudes and beliefs that define a firm’s culture and a critical ingredient in a successful compensation plan.

 

more marc rosenberg practice management trends and guidance: three ways to break partner gridlock in an accounting firm | what partners are entitled to, and what they’re not entitled to | how to make partner? | why accounting firm partners are “popping prozac like m&m’s” | the 15-item checklist for your next partner retreat | five key responsibilities for a new partner| planning a partner retreat for real results | 6 steps to get your business to the next level | the 10 biggest mistakes in reading map statistics | re-engineering partner accountability | marc rosenberg: why cpas aren’t making more money [video] | marc rosenberg: slow learners need not apply | 10 to-do’s for a partner buyout

partners talk about the firm’s core values all the time, pointing out instances when someone’s behavior has clearly been impacted by them. these values are incorporated in processes throughout the firm, such as in the development and evaluation process, in the way income is allocated to partners, and in what raises are given to staff.

when identifying your firm’s core values, consider: read more →