and five ways how not to implement a system of partner accountability.
august j. aquila
august aquila, a veteran practice management consultant, works globally with accounting firms on leadership and management issues. if you’re thinking about the quality of leadership at your firm, think on this.
five wrong ways to make partners more accountable:
let’s make it into a checklist. one thing you can count on – accountants love checklists. it seems that a checklist is the answer to all our problems. read more →
david maister in “strategy and the fat smoker” notes that there are two elements needed in order for us to change. the first is a willingness to do it. the second is determination. but alas, we know the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
there are a multitude of platitudes about change. but unless we change we don’t grow and the skills that got us to where we are, won’t get us to the next level. none of us can achieve more unless we become more. if i fail to change, i will not produce different or better results, but only the same thing. this is extremely dangerous because the world around us – our clients, our employees, the market place continue to change.
take a quick acid test. what do you know today that you did not know five years ago? ten years ago? if your list is short, you haven’t changed much. if your list is long, congratulations! the longer the list, the better.
is there a change process?
the quick answer to the question is yes. read more →
sometimes a parting of ways is best because the partners are simply incompatible. people change. their values change. their priorities change. when these changes become so huge as to produce constant conflict, it may be best to shake hands and part ways.
eight good tips for getting everyone on board when change is scary.
change is inevitable. but with a crashing a crashing economy, it is also treacherous, which makes these suggestion from august aquila all the more urgent.
1. know where you want to go. what are you trying to achieve as a firm and a partner group? while it’s always difficult to address the elephant in the room, now is the time to take advantage of the economic turmoil and bring all issues to the table.
2. get others involved. if you are the only one in the firm who is pushing for the change, you might as well forget about it. when others get involved they also get committed. they provide you with feedback so that you can develop the best steps in the change process. read more →
partners talk about the firm’s core values all the time, pointing out instances when someone’s behavior has clearly been impacted by them. these values are incorporated in processes throughout the firm, such as in the development and evaluation process, in the way income is allocated to partners, and in what raises are given to staff.
when identifying your firm’s core values, consider: read more →
cpa firms are increasingly turning to the use of formal compensation committees for a number of reasons. chief among them: it’s the best way to achieve a balance between recognizing traditional production accomplishments and rewarding intangibles.
the convergence of three aspects of cpa firm management
the compensation committee approach aligns the firm’s (1) strategic plan and core values with how partners are (2) evaluated and how they are (3) compensated. it motivates partners to produce what the firm needs them to produce.
“unintended,” maybe. but not altogether unforeseeable.
with a new generation of cpas taking over as managing partners comes a host of new questions and issues. marc rosenberg addresses some of the concerns in compensation issues for the new managing partner, which inspires gary zeune, managing director at the pros & the cons llc, to weigh in on the kind of comp issues that he sees all too often as a fraud-fighter.
zeune comments:
gary zeune
don’t tell anyone but the problem with cpa firms is they’re run by accountants who don’t understand the unintended consequences of decisions.
baby boomer partners are rapidly approaching retirement age, creating a huge demographic shift. one result of this is a dramatic increase in new managing partners at firms.
many firms are skipping a generation and turning the reins over to “younger” partners. firms are also asking their new mps to divest themselves of a significant part of their client base to enable them to focus more on managing the firm.
partners are entitled to a lot. at some firms, they are virtually royalty. but that’s no way to run a firm these days.
here, marc rosenberg, cpa, and author of how to bring in new partners and a 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 affiliate, lists what every partner – especially new and wanna-be partners – need to understand.
