with more firms adopting a compensation committee system to sort out a partnership’s touchiest issues, marc rosenberg provides a 12-item checklist of best practices.
the list covers how to frame the committee’s mandate (“full reign”) to how its decisions should be treated (“no appeals. no approval needed.”). read more →
the post of marketing director is fast evolving in the accounting business. it is becoming more essential and more professionalized. but few firms have experience in marketing and so find it challenging to determine exactly what they need and want – and what to expect. here marc rosenberg, cpa, author of “cpa firm management and governance,” provides a checklist of the duties that the best firms in the business routinely consider. read more →
from personal assistant to true coo: how firms are delineating the job.
sophisticated cpa firms are adding the position of firm administrator at an increasing rate. but there is still little consistency in what that entails. some firm administrators have the authority and responsibility of a chief financial officer or chief operating officer. others may be little more than personal assistants to the managing partner.
after years of study at hundreds of cpa firms, practice management consultant marc rosenberg has formulated a 16-item checklist by which to gauge an fa’s role within a firm. in “cpa firm management and governance,” where his findings are spelled out, he plots the 16 criteria along a three-point scale of authority, showing how an fa’s duties evolve from the lowest level of authority to the highest level.
some things are predictable. it’s clear that one key measure of an fa’s role is the relationship to the managing partner (mp). at the lowest level, he or she is an aide de camp. at the highest, she operates as a coo alongside the mp as ceo.
but other things are less predictable, and this is where rosenberg’s study breaks new ground. rosenberg, for instance, has been able to chart the evolution of the fa role using more subtle criteria, such as their activities in mergers, partner meetings, budgeting and strategic planning.
here is his analysis, plotted on a grid: read more →
in a 43-item checklist based on surveys of the best-run firms in the nation, marc rosenberg, author of “cpa firm management and governance: the managing partner’s guide to running a cpa firm like a business,” details the allocation of duties and responsibilities that distinguish the separate roles of the managing partner as ceo and firm administrator as coo.
it’s easy to see why the managing partner should be the executive most responsible for holding partners accountable. but other questions are not so clear: who manages the banking relationships? who works with partners to set goals? who’s responsible for profitability?
the answers may surprise you. if they don’t, then you’re already doing everything right.
here’s the checklist:
by marc rosenberg
author of what really makes cpa firms profitable?
at a monthly roundtable of 25 managing partners from most of chicago’s largest local firms, several highlights emerged, including insights into: