outlook & analysis

how accountants get new clients

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angry young woman, blowing steam coming out of earswith client retention the top issue for firms, we go looking for the “secret sauce” for landing new business.
join the survey; get the results

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

if you want some real answers for how to avoid losing clients, just start asking cpas how they’ve managed to pick up new clients.

that’s exactly what we’ve been doing lately. some of the answers are startling. all of them are instructional. most of the time, accountants can blame the cpa that their new clients were abandoned. read more →

early data exchange vital to evaluate a merger

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three possible outcomes from trading numbers early.

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm mergers

i have always been a big believer in the buyer and seller exchanging financial and operating information as early in the process as possible.

more on cpa firm mergers: deciphering the current state of the cpa firm merger market | the law of attraction: 15 ways to romance a merger partner | the 14 keys to a successful merger | mergers: 11 lessons from done deals | the 21 steps in every merger deal | today’s 15 essential deal points in accounting firm mergers

numbers aren’t everything, but they do speak volumes. the data enable each firm to gain an understanding of the other in a manner that is not always possible in conversation.

the data is also a good way to corroborate things that are said verbally. here are some examples: read more →

partners have love-hate relationship with leadership

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aquila leadership context modelby robert j. lees, august j. aquila
and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

regardless of their ownership structure, most firms either operate as partnerships or would prefer to operate as partnerships.

the tensions between being a business and the loss of the values and ethics of being a partnership feature strongly in our research.

but accounting firms are different from their corporate counterparts in a number of ways, which impact their functioning and, therefore, their leadership. read more →

cpa firm mergers: 18 categories of data to divulge — carefully

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dices cubes with the words sell buy on financial downtrend chartby marc rosenberg
cpa firm mergers

think of it as a second date. the first meeting was simply a “getting-to-know-you” encounter. but now the prospective merger participants, buyer and seller, are getting serious. they need to take the next step and exchange key performance indicators and financial and operating metrics.

there are at least 18 categories of data that need to be considered, each with it’s own peculiar in’s and out’s.
read more →

5 ways gender bias plays out at cpa firms

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business meeting of a woman and two menthe harmful impact of gender bias on women’s careers.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

gender bias reflects entrenched beliefs and assumptions about women based on stereotypes about appropriate roles and behaviors for women.

unconscious thoughts about the kinds of work women are and are not suited for, especially if they are mothers, remove highly qualified women from consideration for leadership opportunities and positions.

ida o. abbott, sponsoring women
abbott

more on sponsoring women for leadership: 3 reasons why men don’t pick women protégées | men advance 2 to 1 over women without sponsors | 18 ways sponsors can help their protegees | the 6 market advantages of women-led firms | beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters

in the past, working women suffered overt discrimination and explicit bias. they were told outright they were not “fit” for certain jobs, were too emotional and unreliable to be given responsible roles, and were taking the place of men who needed to support families. sometimes the bias was ostensibly intended to “protect” women and occasionally it was hostile. but it was out in the open and women understood the barriers they faced. read more →

digital fax has benefits you may be ignoring

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fax machine in office on table closeup on a background of office cabinet3 ways to maximize your system.

by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless

accounting firms striving to capture all data in a digital format need to go beyond paper and include fax and voicemail systems as well.

at leading firms today, 66 percent of firms have a digital fax system that integrates with email for digital delivery, 37 percent are using video calling, and 27 percent use instant messaging.

kepczyk
kepczyk

more on tech spending: wireless is hot, and here’s how to handle it | how safe is your internet lifeline? | new tech tools for the 24/7 accounting firm | the single best defense against computer viruses | when to adopt microsoft’s new office apps | what windows 8 means for how accountants will work in the future | how to choose the right backup system | how to know it’s time to scrap your old server | where laptops rule at cpa firms today | step 1 in building the paperless firm: scanners | how many computer monitors do you need?

traditional inbound faxes are usually printed from a fax machine and then hand delivered to the recipient’s desk. in some cases this image is actually re-scanned and emailed to the recipient. while this is a step toward digital delivery, today’s digital fax systems deliver a digital image to the recipient via email so they can access them within their email.

to maximize your systems, consider: read more →

partner aging strikes smaller firms the hardest

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older man and younger man in meetingas partners work longer, average partner incomes decline.

the aging in the partner ranks of the cpa profession is by far most prominent at  smaller firms, according to the most recent edition “the national map survey of cpa firm statistics.”

at firms with less than $2 million in fees, the percentage of partners over the age of 50 has risen to a startling 73.3 percent, up from 65.4 percent last year.

and at firms with fees of $2 million to $10 million, the number has risen to 66 percent from 65.3 percent. read more →

when experience doesn’t add up

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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: i need to hire an experienced person and am looking for someone with two to three years’ experience. i know you don’t think this is advisable. why not?

response: if you hire people who already had their first job, the chances are they were not trained your way, and something happened that made them want to leave that is still in them and will be duplicated in some form in your firm.

read more →

before negotiations begin: 18-item checklist for a first meeting

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the “getting-to-know-you” stage for prospective buyer and seller

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm mergers

all merger discussions have to begin somewhere. after merger candidates have been identified, there obviously needs to be an initial meeting for the two firms to get acquainted.

everything is confidential and informal. no exchange of financial statements.  the two parties simply spend an hour or two – you guessed it – getting to know each other.

many firms like to convene this meeting over breakfast or lunch because meeting at a restaurant gives the encounter an air of informality and sociability.  other firms like to do this in the larger firm’s office so that the smaller firm can get a “house tour.” read more →

8 times when hourly billing trumps value pricing

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aand when it doesn’t.

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

question: i am trying to switching to value pricing and am having trouble getting completely away from time-based billing in certain situations.

response: value pricing is a great method and concept. i suggest reading, and thoroughly understanding ron baker’s “implementing value pricing: a radical business model for professional firms.” i like what he suggests, have used some of his techniques even before he started writing and speaking about them, and recommend it in many situations.

read more →

6 reasons cpa firms fail at succession planning

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plus: making the math work.

by marc rosenberg
retirements & buyouts

why are cpa firms deficient at succession planning?

it is abundantly clear that cpa firms have succession planning challenges. partners overwhelmingly prefer the exit strategy of passing on the firm to younger partners vs. merging out of existence. but history shows that the vast majority fail at moving their firms into the next generation. what holds them back?

the answer lies in the classic pogo cartoon line: “we’ve seen the enemy and the enemy is us.” read more →