1 in 6 firms have no formal, written exit plans in place.
by marc rosenberg
retirements & buyouts
despite the clear, substantial value of a cpa firm, roughly 15% of multi-owner cpa firms – mostly firms with up to four partners – do not have a formal, written partner retirement plan. why? read more →
by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor
question: most of my clients are either tax returns or small business clients. the number of individual tax returns grows each year, but i seem to be standing still with business clients. for every new one i get, i lose one. otherwise, i have about a 6 or 7 percent turnover. is there anything i can do to keep them?
response: i think small business clients need extra hand-holding from us because they are really alone.
what’s on accountants’ cpe agendas this year? join the survey; get the answers.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
attending and learning from conferences can be amazing opportunities for your career or your business. they can also be huge money drains. it’s easy to take a look at the conference registration and make a quick decision about whether we can afford it – or even worse – whether it will clear our credit card limit or not. read more →
profession adds 1,400 new jobs in latest month.
next question: who’s hiring; who’s not. join the survey; get the answers.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
with practitioners across the country reporting strong demand for new hires, the nation’s tax, accounting and bookkeeping industries added 1,400 new jobs last month, with some sectors marking new highs for 2014 and approaching the pre-crash peak six years ago.
jennifer dizon, an audit and advisory partner at hood & strong’s san jose, calif., office, tells 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 her firm is looking to hire.
“we need more staff to service business growth,” says dizon, who is also the newly elected state chapter president of the national association of women business owners.
in elkhart, kan., enrolled agent terri ryman at southwest tax & accounting says the office is “getting busier.” she “can’t keep up.”
in northridge, calif., gene wechsler at wechsler accountancy reports a similar trend. “the firm continues to grow at the rate of 1 to 2 new clients per week.”
needs vary though. “we need an additional tax preparer and accountant for small business monthly work,” says one of the owners of a seven-person firm in prescott, ariz., which is “currently advertising for an accountant/tax preparer.”
in bellevue, wash., managing partner marc hutchinson at the six-cpa bashey, hutchinson, & walter reports, “we need experienced accountants, and ones that can take over the firm’s clients over the next 10 years.”
in this study, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 reports on:
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 careers and hiring outlook
join the survey; get the results.
by marc rosenberg
cpa firm mergers
with 80 percent of first-generation firms never turning over to a second generation of owners, it’s no wonder that merger mania continues unabated. each year sees increased merger activity over the one previous.
“merger mania” is particularly prevalent among the top 10 to 25 firms in the largest 75 markets in the u.s. and canada, partly due to the “new normal” – an economy that remains too sluggish to satisfy the ambitious growth targets of these top performers. but acquiring talent and niches is equally as important a reason for mergers to these larger firms, as is increased revenue.
sellers, however, remain hesitant.
two strategies to minimize business risk from internet failure.
by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless
the internet has had a profound impact on accounting firm operations and communications. what if you lost your internet connection? on april 13? read more →
the lesson: even the best can make mistakes; talk it with peers.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
in his column client’s difficult daughter balks at bill, ed mendlowitz fielded a question about a client’s daughter who asked for help with her divorce proceedings, and did not want her father to know what was going on. the work was rushed and difficult, and when the cranky client called the bill highway robbery, the accountant wondered if he should call her father.
mendlowitz noted that an engagement letter and retainer should have been the starting point, then added, “i would tell your client that if she did not pay you in full, or work out a method of payment including automatically charging her credit card on a monthly basis, you will ask her father for payment and will lay out everything you did for her and the specific benefits she got because of your hard work.”
readers were swift to disagree. read more →
do it wrong and your firm could lose a pile of money.
by marc rosenberg
retirements & buyouts
partners have a natural tendency to view the firm’s partner retirement plan as a personal savings plan, but that’s not how these plans work. cpa firm retirement plans are quite different. read more →
and how to set bold new goals for the next year.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
think back to this day one year ago for just a minute. where were you in your business? what were your revenues, salary and profits at that time? what were your clients like? what were your biggest issues?
if we don’t occasionally look back to take a snapshot at a point in our history, we may not realize how much we’ve accomplished in such a short time. i’m not much for dwelling in the past, but this exercise is tremendously useful for a couple of reasons: read more →
and 17 ways to repel one.
after more than 20 years as a business adviser to cpa firms, marc rosenberg has seen his share of cpa firm mergers. each one is a little like a romance. there are turn-ons and turn-offs. every deal is different, but rosenberg says there are 15 rules of attraction (and 17 for repulsion) that apply to all types of mergers: read more →
new strategic ally, or competitive threat?
practitioners are actively debating the effects and impact of h&r block and liberty jumping into the bookkeeping business, as detailed by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间’ hitendra patil here.
“this is an opportunity to highlight quality,” says wesley middleton, head partner at middleton raines in houston. “the only person who has something to worry about are those that are only focused on price.”
not all practitioners agree in the discussion which began at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 and has spilled onto the 20,000-member 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 linkedin group. read more →
apparently, they’re worth it.
by marc rosenberg
retirements & buyouts
an ample supply of willing buyers is a critical factor that strengthens and confirms the value of any asset, let alone a cpa firm. virtually every firm, from sole practitioners to the top 100, is eager to acquire a smaller firm. why is this? read more →
do you talk to the dad?
by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor
question: i have a very good client who pays us to prepare his daughter’s tax return. the daughter was going through a divorce and asked us to assist her and her attorney and she said she would pay us herself, and we shouldn’t ask her father to pay us and she also asked us not to tell her father what was going on. we did a lot of work and because of what we did she got a much better settlement than if we did not help her. additionally a lot of what we did was rush on-demand work and some of it was quite difficult. also, she was not the most pleasant to deal with on many occasions. read more →