protect minority interests and strengthen your partnership.
by august aquila
what makes a great partnership
with busy season just around the corner, it’s a good time now to tweak your firm’s financials and partner performance.
start by reviewing your billing rates, billing and collection policies, type of work partners are doing, how you reward performers and your leadership.
more on leadership for pro members: 5 questions about your firm’s direction | 6 reasons to keep partners from retiring | 6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation | 6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger | 7 signs your firm is headed for an implosion | it’s not always about money: 16 tweaks for your comp system | eight key goal areas for partners | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’ | managing partners must remember partners’ needs | new times call for new cpa firm metrics | partners have love-hate relationship with leadership | 6 things leaders must do | three ways to run a firm: but only one is sustainable | partnership is about persuasion
take the time to focus on what drives the bottom line. it’s time well spent.
here are eight issues you shouldn’t miss:
why failure is a value proposition.
by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute
i want to start by talking about the phrase “having your employees’ backs.” so what does this mean? simply that, as the boss, you will take the bullets publicly for your people’s mistakes. this is such a rare phenomenon that many of you have never experienced what i am referring to – a boss taking the heat for his or her people.
more growth & succesion: 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? | job 1 for the practice owner: client management
most of the time, when problems are uncovered, company cultures are “at the ready” to quickly identify someone to blame regardless of the situation. in these organizations, those with exceptional cya skills are the most highly valued. no, i did not misspell this acronym as it was not meant to be cia (as in the government intelligence agency or certified internal auditors), but rather those good at covering their butts (i guess i should have referred to it as cyb).
plus a tip for increasing revenue if needed.
by ed mendlowitz
question: are there any rules of thumb for a cpa firm’s overhead and salary costs?
more practice doctor q&a: when partners stop growing | clear billing procedures make collecting easier | before you even think about selling your practice | are you managing knowledge or wasting it? | 7 ways to lose a client’s trust | 12 must-knows for niche markets | when fees don’t keep up with cost increases | when is it time to merge? | 18 ways to blow a partnership opportunity | 6 ways to know what you don’t know | 6 simple steps to impress a prospect |tax return reviewer ticking and tying |23 reasons clients really need you for taxes |complaining client? no wonder! | running an accounting business
answer: the rosenberg survey has excellent metrics and is highly recommended. on a less scientific basis you can use as a general rule of thumb 1/3 for salaries, 1/3 overhead, 1/3 partners salary.
being a partner means convincing people to join you in building a better firm.
bonus checklist: 5 questions to consider.
by august aquila
more creating the effective partnership in the store
just as the partners need to engage with the firm’s vision so do the firm’s people. but, like everyone, they actually engage with people not words. so, effective partners continually engage with their people, regardless of their level and role. they go out of their way to create a personal bond, sharing personal information and operating with honesty and integrity in all of their interactions.
more on leadership for pro members: 5 questions about your firm’s direction | 6 reasons to keep partners from retiring | 6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation | 6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger | 7 signs your firm is headed for an implosion | it’s not always about money: 16 tweaks for your comp system | eight key goal areas for partners | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’ | managing partners must remember partners’ needs | new times call for new cpa firm metrics | partners have love-hate relationship with leadership | 6 things leaders must do | the 8-point financial tune-up for your accounting firm | three ways to run a firm: but only one is sustainable
one of the great truisms is that you can’t be a leader if you don’t have followers and effective partners create strong relationships with their people. they are accessible and have highly tuned antennae that enable them to know where their people “are” and how and when to act to ensure they remain committed to the firm.
five questions to consider:
… unless you want to grow your business.
by wesley middleton
middleton raines llp
this is not only directed at the profession of cpas of which i am a proud member, but to the clients we serve. i see so many posts on how we need to change and evolve that i am almost disgusted. we have what everyone wants: trust. the absolute trust of our clients. more than doctors, more than lawyers, more than any profession that i can think of. and we need to evolve? what we should do is not lose it!
related: why my people take 5 days off (yes, in a row) | four major misconceptions about millennials
well, yes, we do need to evolve. but not from the perspective of being more to our clients than what we are. it is our business model that must evolve as cpas.
read more →