one of the signs of a good partner.
by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners
a standard section in well-written partnership agreements is a non-solicitation agreement. this term is a bit confusing. it really should be called the “if you leave and take clients with you, you have to pay for them” section. but it means more than that. read more →
and the two methods used by the smartest firms.
by marc rosenberg
author of how to bring in new partners
regardless of whether it is a corporation or a partnership, there is a substantial amount of accrual basis capital in a cpa firm. all the partners “own” some portion of that capital.
there are at least three methods for determining how much capital each individual partner “owns.” one of them should be avoided like the plague. read more →
by marc rosenberg
cpa firm management & governance
no organization can flourish over the long term without effective communication among the leaders. cpa firms are no exception. here are four signs your firm probably has good communication among partners: read more →
monthly meetings may be the solution.
by ed mendlowitz
“tax season opportunity guide“
question: there seems to be disagreement among our partners on important issues in running our practice and we never seem to have time to discuss it or work things out. we are a three-partner firm with 15 employees and no one is designated as managing partner.
answer: a suggestion is to have monthly partner meetings out of the office and an annual retreat. both of these have been covered previously but i will add some new ideas here. read more →
responsibilities, abilities, and deliverables.
bringing in a new partners is part art and part science. marc rosenberg, after studying thousands of cpa firms, has a few suggestions on the science, with a series of checklists covering intangible, financial, legal, practice development, production, client management, technical, administration, and supervision-related benchmarks. read more →
if actions speak louder than words, what does that say about your firm’s core values?
by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
creating the effective partnership
the concept of core or shared values gets a lot of press and most professional service firms’ websites promote their core values to prospects, clients and recruits. but, like so many management ideas that are on the soft side, they are often more talk than reality.
creating the effective partnership: every partner’s first question: ‘what’s in it for me?’ | the 9 building blocks of a winning vision that the big four have discovered | the politics of an accounting firm partnership | nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams | audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today
for too many firms, their espoused core values don’t actually represent what the firm stands for and don’t guide individual behavior. often, in fact, neither the partners nor the employees know the firm’s core values and no one in the firm is evaluated or rewarded on how well they live them. read more →
except when it affects themselves.
by marc rosenberg
author of how to bring in new partners
partner accountability addresses what is expected of each partner, how partners will be managed so that the expectations are met and what the consequences will be for failure to meet these expectations.
i have interviewed hundreds of partners on partner accountability. i frequently ask them if they would like the firm to have partner accountability. the most common response i get, somewhat apocryphal, is: “yes, i’m all for partner accountability (long pause) as long as it doesn’t affect me!” read more →
and that you can use too.
by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
creating the effective partnership
what should a compelling vision contain?
while we still see some visions that talk about becoming the leading player in a state or region, we are seeing a real recognition that a vision is a lot more than the statement we used to see firms use across accounting and the other professional services firms sectors.
more creating the effective partnership: the politics of an accounting firm partnership | nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams | audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today
consider, now, the common ideas from the visions of the big four firms: