leadership

what’s in a title?

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plus a cautionary tale.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: my top staff person wants a better title than manager, or senior manager. any suggestions?

more practice doctor q&a: when staff don’t want to supervise | the 44-point staff performance evaluation checklist | how to choose the right cpe | do you want to keep this employee? | how to know everything | i made partner, now what? | why gross is the method for pricing a practice | why more firms are trashing timesheets | make collecting easier

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

answer: in larger firms senior manager is one step below partner.
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why the partner agreement matters

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illuminated glass pyramid at the louvre, paris at nightmany agreements have long outlived a reasonable foundation for the firm’s current success level and size.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

most of the time when we are called in to work with firms, it is to help them plan for or implement significant change. the dialogue may start out with a general firm retreat, or it might simply be a session devoted to solving a few specific problems.

more on performance management: younger partners see succession differently | how to compensate your managing partner | the job of managing partner: empowered or emasculated? | how the best managing partners turn ideas into reality | make accountability a process | accountability requires clear expectations | base retirement on today’s operations

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

visionary firms are always looking to make changes long before their operating environment forces them to, from enhancing their ability to compete, making changes to improve profitability, building infrastructure to support succession, upgrading their people development, modifying the compensation process, increasing revenues and more.
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should managing partners drop their books of business?

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your firm deserves a full-time leader.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: about a year ago i became the managing partner of my 50-person, six-partner firm. we gross about $7 million. i still maintain my book of business, which is about $1 million, and have 1,000 chargeable hours.

more practice doctor q&a: do you want to keep this employee? | how to know everything | the six rules to get the most out of cpe | everyone needs strategic planning | 19 ways to stop wasting reviewer time | no go on pro bono | why your clients need annual minutes – and how you can help | how much overhead is too much?

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

needless to say, i have been working very hard, about 2,700 total hours, yet my partners are complaining i do not have enough chargeable time and i tend to agree with them, but do not know how i can increase these hours.
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more merger questions than you imagined

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business group of two women and two men shaking handsthere’s a lot to consider whether merging up, down or laterally.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

although we find that an internal ownership transition often can be your best bet, a merger makes sense in many cases. so, if this is the direction you are heading, we’ve highlighted some of the issues below that we think you ought to consider, with the first one being to really take a close and hard look at the compatibility of the organizations courting each other.

more on performance management: how to compensate your managing partner | the job of managing partner: empowered or emasculated? | how the best managing partners turn ideas into reality | make accountability a process | accountability requires clear expectations | base retirement on today’s operations

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

who is a likely candidate for a merger?

if you are going to consider a merger, which firms would seemingly be a good fit for your practice – i.e., your clients and your employees and if, applicable, partners?  the better the fit, the more likely you will be able to retain clients and employees, and the greater the chance for overall success of the merged firms.
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rule #1 for how to get everything done

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question markssay ‘no.’

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: i do not seem to be able to get everything done that needs to be done and still have time for extras, which i like to do, like marketing and doing new things for clients. any tips?

more practice doctor q&a: too much paper, too many drives | do you want to keep this employee? | how to know everything | hate meeting people? try improv (no joke) | everyone needs strategic planning | 14 ways to use timesheet data | there’s more to growth than marketing

answer: this is a recurring theme, and an issue we all have. it seems that we all have the same amount of time but some use it more wisely than others.
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merging for all the wrong reasons

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jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing and word "incomplete" in gapfirst: get your house in order; don’t expect someone else to do it for you.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

for at least the past 10 years, the merger market among cpa firms has been pretty active. while the market volume has waxed and waned a little several times during this period, mergers have been a topic in almost every strategic planning retreat we have facilitated.

more on performance management: how to compensate your managing partner | mps: how to elect them … and fire them | partners as role models: the good, bad & ugly | managing the managing partner | pay varies when performance varies | accountability is for everyone | who decides what?

 

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

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how to fire a client

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big businessman foot on spring kicking three businesspeoplebonus: sample client disengagement letter.

by sandi leyva and michelle long

how many clients have you fired?

more small firm growth strategies: what to do when a client doesn’t pay | the dreaded ‘quick question’ | how to handle referrals – and how not to | why clients need dashboards | 3 ways to raise your prices | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

let’s talk about firing a client because sometimes you do need to fire your client. maybe they’re difficult to work with, or a guy is belligerent and loud and yells, and you don’t want to work for him. maybe there are ethical issues.
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paying the managing partner: today’s trends and best practices

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businesswoman holding giant dollar symbolhow firms are balancing base salaries against billable hours.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

the managing partner should have a compensation plan unique to that position focused on carrying out the strategic and tactical objectives of the firm.

more on performance management: how to elect a managing partner … and how to fire them | why accountability falls to managing partners | how to implement strategy, step by step | how to decide who decides pay | accountability includes partners | succession plan requirements | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | 4 ways to create more capacity | partner retirement and the war for clients | succession: the questions to care about | hazards of not reallocating equity

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

while there can be some individual performance goals assessed, the bulk of the managing partner’s incentive package and focus should be on overall firm performance. the key here is that you don’t want an incentive system for the managing partner that is overly focused on individual goals because the real value of this position is in driving firmwide change.
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managing partners: how to elect them… and fire them

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midsection of businessman moving out with cardboard box from officeand why a five-year term is ideal.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

often, firms elect a managing partner with a majority vote, but to dismiss a managing partner within their elected term requires a higher vote, commonly two-thirds of the equity vote. in some larger firms, the people running for managing partner might not be eligible to vote in this process, but in many others, everyone can vote.

more on performance management: the job of managing partner: empowered or emasculated? | how the best managing partners turn ideas into reality | make accountability a process | accountability requires clear expectations | base retirement on today’s operations | how involved should retired owners be? | how to find a partner’s replacement

the reason why everyone should be allowed to vote is simply that the smaller the firm, the more likely that removing the candidates being considered for the position puts too much control in the minority ownership of the firm. for example, consider the following six-partner firm scenario:
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too much paper, too many drives

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and akeep track of client documents without drowning in them.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: we are in an era of paperless procedures and files, but many times clients send in paper documents, cds or stick drives, besides emailing their information or using our portal.

more practice doctor q&a: do you want to keep this employee? | not the mp, still a ‘managing’ partner | checklist for running a practice | hate meeting people? try improv (no joke) | help clients, increase revenue: make sure everyone on staff knows your firm’s full menu of services | how to sell your practice

how can this be handled? we seem to always be tripping on the information.
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how committees kill firms

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businesswoman working at deskwhy managing partners need to be accountable.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

as we have said so many times before, everyone likes the idea that “i” will hold “me” accountable. but few like the idea of “anyone else” holding “them” accountable.

more on performance management: the job of managing partner: empowered or emasculated? | partners as role models: the good, bad & ugly | managing the managing partner | pay varies when performance varies | accountability is for everyone | who decides what? | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions

so, once it is decided that accountability is important and someone needs to be responsible for implementation, the discussion quickly shifts to “let’s form a group of people, like an executive committee or a compensation committee to hold us accountable.”
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