retention

chris allegretti makes retention a top priority at hbk

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allegretti
allegretti

also: expanding on the notion of ‘most trusted advisor.’

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 staff

while hiring top talent is a key concern for chris allegretti, chief executive officer of hbk cpas & consultants in canfield, ohio, he’s even more concerned with his firm’s ability to retain its best people.

hbklogomore from the corner office: lou grassi focuses on recruiting, retention at namesake n.y. firm | richard berkowitz drives berkowitz pollack brant to ‘warp speed’ | randy myeroff at cohen & co.: winning the youth movement | rick dreher innovates wipfli for clients, younger workers | how blain heckaman drives value at kaufman rossin | weisermazars mp blake charts u.s. expansion | frank longobardi: cohnreznick’s battle for top talent | the robo-cpa: jim sikich prepares for disruptive technologies |  exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

“of  course our job is to recruit the best, but we ‘re also finding that we have to constantly ‘re-recruit’ them by investing in their futures and making our firm the place where they’ll want to stay,” he says.
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don’t weed out the roses

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gardener pruning a rose bushwhen tweaking your comp system, remember it’s not just about the money.

by august aquila
creating the effective partnership

if your partners are putting up a fight to keep clients who should be let go, take a look at your compensation system. it’s not just about billable hours.

more on leadership for pro members: 8 questions to analyze your pricing | what makes a successful strategic plan? | innovate or die | partners love, hate leadership | 8 ways leaders destroy firms | today’s top six partner compensation trends | 8 financial ducks to line up now

here are 16 tweaks to your firm’s compensation system. while the list is not exhaustive, it does provide criteria that firms can consider beyond revenue.
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top 100 firms report solid growth amidst staffing challenges

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top 100 overall revenue chart
source: accountingtoday

attest, m&a and salt lead top trending niches.

accounting today’s annual listing of its top 100 firms reflects what the industry as a whole is seeing: business is good and it’s getting better.

overall growth was a healthy 8.44 percent, similar to but slightly higher than recent years.

firms with revenues between $100 million and $1 billion outpaced the others in growth mode, although mergers had a great deal to do with that.

the most difficult challenge cited was – no surprise – recruiting and retaining qualified staff, especially those with three to five years of experience. pressure is being put on the talent pool by retiring baby boomers only exacerbates the problem. tools to counter it include: read more →

10 do’s and don’ts for making small business clients happy

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aby ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: most of my clients are either tax returns or small business clients. the number of individual tax returns grows each year, but i seem to be standing still with business clients. for every new one i get, i lose one. otherwise, i have about a 6 or 7 percent turnover. is there anything i can do to keep them?

response: i think small business clients need extra hand-holding from us because they are really alone.

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8 steps in cpa mentoring

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to develop and nurture talent: it’s more than just lunch.

molly sargent
sargent

unfortunately, even the best-intentioned mentoring initiatives can easily fizzle in the early stages, before delivering value to the participants and the organization at large, according to molly sargent of rowayton, conn.-based professional impressions consulting.

sargent has trained and coached thousands of financial professionals and client-facing executives in professional image, presentation skills, business etiquette and sales effectiveness. since 1985, she has helped major accounting firms and fortune 500 companies, including aetna, american express, at&t, citibank, goldman sachs, jpmorgan, key bank, mastercard, pricewaterhousecoopers and prudential achieve breakthrough results.

with so much to gain, how can your firm initiate mentoring in a way that is successful and sustainable? read more →

cpas salute the people who shaped their lives

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today’s best career advice: join the survey; get the answers.

by rick telberg

at 20 years old, the world was a blank canvas with vast opportunities for sal inserra. he thought he knew exactly what he wanted in life.

“until,” he once told me, “i was set straight.”

like many cpas, sal owes much of his career and success to a few key mentors who guided him early on.

today — as the kids head back to school and college, and as the rest of us wind up our summers and look ahead to the fall — it may be a good time to salute the mentors who help steward a great profession to the next generation. read more →

18 pieces of today’s best job advice

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get certified. apply early and often.  join the survey; get the results.

by rick telberg

i’m looking over the early responses to our new cpa careers survey and one stands out for its practicality and wisdom. this from a veteran senior finance manager at a fortune 1000 company is, i think, 18 pieces of the best advice i’ve ever heard.

1. for the accountant who is not a cpa yet: if you’re not  a cpa already, make it a goal.

2. if you need hours, apply to every accounting firm that you could drive to or are willing to move close to.

3. apply beginning in mid-april, after busy season, when accounting firms clean house. read more →

how to turn client surveys into new revenues

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download the sample client satisfaction survey.

by ed mendlowitz

question: is there any value to sending clients a survey?

response: yes.  our firm sends a survey with every deliverable to a client.  we want to know what they think and how they feel about our service.

i think your best friends are the clients that complain.  this gives you an opportunity to correct any deficiencies or exceptions.

one time a long time very good client put on the survey that we were great but our fees were high.  i immediately met with him, reviewed our charges, had the time runs and details of everything extra we had been doing beyond the scope of our engagement, and the value to the client.  in the following year he recommended two clients to us!  i don’t believe we would have gotten the referrals had he not complained.

here is a sample of a survey we’ve used: read more →

how long can you keep a client?

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clients say: not as long as you think.

if you’re a finance manager on the client side, what do you say?

by rick telberg

are most cpas fooling themselves?

if you ask a cpa, as 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 has been doing since 2006, how long they typically keep a client, you’ll get a fairly consistent answer through the years.

if you ask a client how long they’ve worked with their current cpa firm, you’ll also get a fairly consistent answer.

the problem is: the cpa and the client disagree. read more →

five things accountants take for granted that costs them real money

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what we know that clients don’t even know they need.

by sandi leyva

i’m pretty sure that i am not the only accountant who has made the following mistakes with clients. here are a couple of ideas to help us remember what we know that the client doesn’t and why it costs us when we forget.

more sandi leyva: 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

1. clients do not know how to evaluate our technical skills.

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