outlook & analysis

nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams

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buy the report – $165. free shipping.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

managing partners always ask us what it takes to achieve sustained, consistent partner performance.

more on partnership management:   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success   | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

while the answer is easy, maybe simplistic, the implementation is difficult in most firms. read more →

is more publicity better?

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or is better publicity better? by bruce w. marcus professional services marketing 3.0 in the early days of publicity, when it was low-down press agentry and not high-blown public relations, the idea was to get your client’s name in the … continued

audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success

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plain-vanilla goal-setting may be the single biggest problem plaguing today’s cpa partnerships.

also in this report: the 11 traits of “one-firm” firms.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

more firms now have a vision and a strategy in the hope of engaging partners and employees, according to our research.

but the partners aren’t always involved in their creation and often don’t buy in to the vision.

more on partnership management:  are you creating a sustainable firm?  |  the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

this can be because the vision just isn’t compelling enough or because the partners are more interested in their own practice rather than creating a real firm. this type of accounting firm is usually referred to as a “siloed” firm and never succeeds in bringing the full capabilities of the firm to bear. read more →

take six big steps to go beyond compliance services

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beat the billable hour by doing more than just taxes or quickbooks.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

as compliance services become more commoditized and automated, accountants are faced with how this affects their practice and their bottom line. they can:

  1. serve a higher level client that requires greater complexity, making themselves fairly immune to these changes
  2. serve a larger number of clients to offset a drop in revenue per client averages
  3. add new services to their practice to boost revenue per client

those are pretty much the options available to keep profits from shrinking. but today i want to focus on the third point above, adding new services, and provide you with some ideas on how you may be able to serve your tax compliance clients in new ways.

more for soloists and small firms:  when your business needs to be rebooted  |   two steps to easy cross-sells   |   the hot new tech product for automated data entry   |   five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping   |   six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks   |   proactive ways to get more referrals   |   the three biggest money leaks in your practice   |   new client opportunities with mobile apps   |   six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions   |   what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients   |   accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients  | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients

even if you don’t do taxes, you will find some ideas for new related services you can think about offering to your clients. (remember, it’s easier to sell to existing clients than to acquire new ones.) read more →

nine reasons you don’t want to launch a niche

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if you’re thinking about getting into financial planning or business valuation, think again.

ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aby ed mendlowitz
author of the tax season opportunity guide and how to increase your billing rates

question: can you recommend a specialty i can get involved in to generate more revenue for my practice?

response: my discussion with the cpa indicated that his practice consisted of a large individual tax return practice and many monthly business clients.  he thought financial planning or business valuations would be a way to expand his services and make more money.  it did not seem he had an intellectual interest in these areas. read more →

17 important ways to measure a partner

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by marc rosenberg
cpa firm management & governance

one of the most common agenda items at partner retreats is the question of what it means to be a partner in the firm.

more cpa firm management & governance:  17 ways to measure a partner  |  how the structure of an accounting firm changes through the years    |    congratulations! your firm needs a human resources director    |    the 19-point marketing director job description    |    checklist: how the best managing partners and firm admins work in concert     |    21 questions for managing the managing partner    |    no partner vote needed: 17 decisions best left to the managing partner alone    |    new rules: 13 items that should be in your managing partner’s job description    |    when is it time to shift your firm from partnership-style to corporate-style governance?    |    not every firm needs a general patton    |

so, what is a partner? here are 17 metrics. read more →

today’s top trends in deals and valuations for cpa firm mergers and sales

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the eight most important facts in settling on a multiple.

with the merger-and-acquisitions frenzy showing no signs of slowing down, practice owners seem to be checking almost daily: what’s my practice worth?

“one thing is for sure,” says gary adamson, former ceo of brady ware, a top 200 firm, now providing advisory services for firms across the country, “baby boomers are selling at a rate that the profession has never seen before.”

it’s still a sellers’ market, he says. but that could change soon, he says, citing “the demographics and the thousands of practices that will soon come onto the market.”

in this report, adamson addresses:

  • the question of valuing a practice
  • two basic types of deals
  • the value of a multiple
  • eight critical components to making a deal
  • the effect of size of practice on valuation
  • profitability
  • down payment
  • transitions read more →

how the “why” wins new business for a wine country cpa firm

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hoisted from comments

responding to “why accounting? your clients want to know,” geni whitehouse comments:

great article. we’ve been using the why with our clients for years and have changed all of our messaging around it. our cpa firm’s managing partner talks about the ways the why discussion has changed our firm in a video on our homepage.

here’s the video: read more →

essential advice for the new managing partner

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a new generation takes over the corner office. join the survey, get the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the same generational shift that has the accounting profession fretting about succession, mergers and millennials is also wreaking havoc in another sector of the firm: the office of managing partner.

by one 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 study of a fairly typical global association of firms, roughly 25% of the managing partners now serving have held the job for two years or less. in a business that measures job longevity in decades, two years represents rookie status. considering the advance of age and consolidation, we estimate that within another five years 80% of today’s firms will be under new management.

this new generation of managing partner is bringing new energy and new ideas to the profession. but that hardly makes up for the lack of executive leadership training and experience of the new class of ceo. mistakes are sure to follow: making big decisions too quickly, or too slowly; misunderstanding the business drivers or looking at the wrong ones entirely; failing to make the right relationships with the right people, or maintaining bad relationships for too long.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 is canvassing practitioners across the nation and in firms of all sizes to sift out some of the best advice we can find for the rookie managing partner. join the survey, get the results.

and so far, we’re getting an earful. read more →