strategy

research, but also be ready to act

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businessman hand press play button sign to start or initiate projects as conceptone key: accept that there are many different ways of achieving the same objective.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn

not every firm can be the market leader.

more on leadership: leader training is time well spent | managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

but every firm can have a culture of excellence, of striving to be the best at everything they do and of reinventing themselves as the markets for both clients and people change.

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why i became a consultant

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by ed mendlowitz the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor while i was working full-time early in my accounting career, i was also picking up clients that i did on the side, also known as moonlighting. one of the clients was a … continued

successful strategy execution requires focus on people

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business people working in group in the officeby robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn

momentum is critical in driving change, so it is no surprise that the initiation of activities that drive and support the strategy is key.

more on leadership: managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

it is also one of the reasons why focus is critical. and yet one of the mistakes we see are initiatives having too much time between them.

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like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

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businessman hand holding puzzle pieces

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

in our work with managing partners, we always talk about the importance of the partners “walking together,” of sharing that common vision.

but if the partners are to share the vision, they have to play an active part in determining the firm’s direction – and, critically, how it’s going to get there.

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5 questions about your firm’s direction

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businesspeople moving along corridorsetting direction is the first step.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

how do successful managing partners respond to the internal and external challenges they face?

without exception, all of the partners we spoke to talked about the need to have a clear sense of direction that the partners, in particular, could coalesce around. but what they considered even more important is the translation of that direction into a compelling vision and the strategies for achieving it.

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6 ways to know what you don’t know

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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: occasionally i get a new client in an area i am unfamiliar with. how do i find out what i do not know?

response: this happens to everyone and probably more often than we expect. thankfully we will continue to get new business and getting clients in areas we are unfamiliar with enables us to grow.

more practice doctor q&a: 10 do’s and don’ts for making small business clients happy | client’s difficult daughter balks at bill | 6 simple steps to impress a prospect | 10 (nearly) painless ways to keep up to date with technology | when a staffer stops listening | 10 ways to get new 1040 clients | making meetings more productive | tax return reviewer ticking and tying

here is what i suggest: read more →

mergers: 11 lessons from done deals

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if they had it all to do over again…

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm mergers

as you might suspect, in 20 years of consulting to cpa firms, several dozen mergers of my clients have taken place.

from time to time, i meet with the managing partner of the firm that was my client and ask them how the merger went, what they would do differently and what advice they would give to firms contemplating a merger.

here are some choice morsels… read more →

six steps for a better tax season

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how some smart firms spent their summer vacations…

by hitendra patil
pransform inc. 

a new busy season is fast approaching and vacation season is coming to an end. but some firms haven’t been taking time off. they’ve been assessing the lessons from the 2014 busy season to apply to 2015.

more on the entrepreneurial accountant: 8 seconds into the future: meet generation z   •   5 reasons gen y will make or break your firm   •   3 ways amazon’s new fire phone hints at the future of accounting   •   the 8 traits creating the firm of the future today   •   get more done, make more money: stop doing these 17 things   •   what shopping habits reveal about accounting clients   •   create your “not-to-do’s” list   •   irs bitcoin rule: 5 things accountants need to know   •   tax season tips: train your brain to focus   •   what the bitcoin phenomenon means for accountants   •   overcoming your clients’ worst fears   •   5 tech tips for reigniting growth   •   a case study in using linkedin   •   accountants and six fundamental human needs   •   client satisfaction starts with ‘likeability’   •   why accounting? your clients want to know   •   what’s next: predictive accounting

here are six of the things that the most innovative firms have been doing. and no, they aren’t what you might necessarily expect. read more →

8 seconds into the future: meet generation z

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your new clients, new staff, new partners.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

have you ever watched a 5-year-old play on a tablet? it’s effortless. to them, it’s second nature.

born in 1995 or later, generation z makes up 26 percent of the united states population and is responsible for yearly spending of $44 billion.

but they may already be impacting the future of the accounting business in four important ways: read more →