the partnership

leader training is time well spent

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leader addresses co-workersfour questions to test your leadership culture.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn

being a good coach is just one of the expectations firms must have of their partners. they are expected to be leaders, as well.

more on leadership: managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

while most of the partners we know understand and accept that need, not everyone does, and not everyone understands what being an effective leader means.

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successful strategy execution requires focus on people

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business people working in group in the officeby robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn

momentum is critical in driving change, so it is no surprise that the initiation of activities that drive and support the strategy is key.

more on leadership: managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

it is also one of the reasons why focus is critical. and yet one of the mistakes we see are initiatives having too much time between them.

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managing partners must remember partners’ needs

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a businessman with some jigsaw puzzle pieces in his handand 4 questions to consider.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

professionals loathe anything bureaucratic. but we know of many firms who ask their partners to account, in detail, for every minute of their time.

to ask high-need-for-achievement professionals at the top of their field to provide what, to them, is bureaucratic data immediately implies a complete lack of trust and respect for their expertise and their position. it is simply a motivational disaster, which distances the partners from the firm. partners know that they have to account for their time but we know too many firms that, often at the behest of the finance function, ask for a level of specificity that drives the partners to distraction.

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like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

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businessman hand holding puzzle pieces

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

in our work with managing partners, we always talk about the importance of the partners “walking together,” of sharing that common vision.

but if the partners are to share the vision, they have to play an active part in determining the firm’s direction – and, critically, how it’s going to get there.

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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 →

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 →

mirror, mirror on the wall

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11 weekly self-assessment questions for successful professionals.h

by august aquila
the effective partnership

when’s the last time you talked to your partners about the “mirror questions”? we all know that it’s easy to kid ourselves about how well we’re doing. but when we have to look ourselves in the mirror, well, it’s another story.

rather than giving the partners the questions they should answer, we suggested that they come up with their own self-assessment. specifically, we wanted them to devise questions they could ask themselves each week to evaluate how well they had performed. in the end, we came up with 11. read more →

6 simple steps to impress a prospect

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and ahow to walk in with head start.

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

question: how do you make a presentation to get a new client when you do not know everything you should about the client’s business?

response: no one can know everything about everything. smaller firms have a harder time but they can reach out to others in their firm, or even partners in similar firms who have the knowledge to assist in the proposal, or friends in larger firms.

here are six simple steps to learn as much as you can about a prospect and their industry.  read more →

eight key goal areas for partners

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aquila
aquila

getting specific with leadership duties and partner accountability.

by auqust aquila
creating the effective partnership

as leaders of a firm, partners need to do more than pay for themselves and contribute to overhead expenses. their duties to the firm and to each other extend to bringing in new business, improving their own skills as well as developing skills in others, contributing to strategy and a passion for continuous improvement in all things.

more partner issues: are bad clients driving you crazy?  |  6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger  |  new times call for new cpa firm metrics  |  why cpa firms fail in innovation  |  when the deal is done: a 24-point checklist for the morning after  |  7 signs your firm is headed for an implosion  |  why some partners should not retire  |  why is it always about partner compensation?

most firms don’t take enough time to develop meaningful partner goals because it is a very time-consuming process. but, if you want to get better results in this highly competitive environment, this is the road you need to take.

here are eight key areas where partners can and should provide leadership in a firm. read more →

6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation

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the compensation trap that turns winners into losers.

by august aquila
creating the effective partnership

the focus on most cpa firms is on billable hours. while there is nothing inherently wrong with this focus, it has become the overriding focus of firms.

there is nothing wrong with making money today, but what about building for the future? with “today” being the dominant focus, what is the encouragement to cpas to innovate?  in most firms there is no alignment with innovation and compensation.

you will never have innovation unless you allocate some time and reward to making it happen. read more →

6 reasons to keep partners from retiring

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aquila
aquila

and 4 ways to put them to good use.

by august j. aquila
creating the effective partnership

there may be some senior partners who want to spend their remaining years basking in the sun or playing golf. but, given the negative and low returns of the stock market the last few years, more senior partners will be concerned about their economic future and will want to stay involved in the profession. this can be a win-win situation for both parties or it can be a lose-lose.

senior partners have a wealth of knowledge that you don’t want to lose. for example, they possess: read more →