Excuses, excuses, excuses.
QUESTION: I always have large amounts owed to me from clients. Is there anything I can do about this?
Here at CPA Trendlines, Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below.
– Rick Telberg
President / CEO
ED’S RESPONSE:
Absolutely! My feelings are that large A/R balances are your fault. Accounting fees are almost never material to a business’ cost structure, but letting fees pile up can make them somewhat material.
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Charlie Tate
Firm finds many non-profits lag in adopting IRS recommended practices.
Tate & Tryon, one of the leading firms in Washington, D.C.’s, bustling non-profits market, says in a new study that many NFPs are failing to fully embrace the good governance practices that the IRS is looking for.
The firm extracted data from 400 Form 990s to compile the three-year trend study, which is being pushed to prospects and clients as part of the firm’s branding efforts.
But the findings could be relevant to many accounting firms with 990 clients, as well.
Managing partner Charlie Tate, who for 25 years has run the namesake firm of now 10 partners, says the study is more than a marketing tool. It’s an advisory tool with benchmark indicators for NFP boards and executives. “Anytime you have a board member who sees something and says something like ‘everybody is doing it this way,’ well, now, you have a way of saying, yes, maybe many boards do it that way, but a lot do it another way,” Tate says.
Tate says the firm chose those “metrics that tended to be topics that were most frequently discussed during client board meetings that we attended.”
For example:
- Do all exempt organizations have unrelated business income?
- How would our operating and investment performance compare were we a for-profit?
- Should we provide a copy of the Form 990 to the full board?
- Should our CEO’s compensation be reviewed by an independent body based on comparability data?
- Should we use the same review process for other officers or key employees?
- Should we post our Form 990 on our website?
The firm reports it’s findings:
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Five tough questions and five good tips to take your firm and your personal effectiveness to the next level.
Adamson
Gary Adamson, former managing partner of Brady Ware CPAs, has become a living legend in the profession for taking his firm from a small, local player to a regional contender. But he’s the first to admit he didn’t do it alone. Coaching helped. In fact, during his career at the firm, he used two business coaches.
More from Gary Adamson at CPA Trendlines: How to Balance the Six Jobs of Managing Partner | The Partner Compensation Checklist | How CPA Firms Make Money in Turbulent Times
He learned a lot, and now he’s sharing what he learned with CPA Trendlines.
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…And what they’re NOT entitled to.
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 CPA Trendlines affiliate, lists what every partner – especially new and wanna-be partners – need to understand.
More from Marc Rosenberg: How to Make Partner? | Why Accounting Firm Partners Are “Popping Prozac like M&M’s” | The 15-Item Checklist for Your Next Partner Retreat | Five Key Responsibilities for a New Partner | Planning a Partner Retreat for Real Results | 6 Steps to Get Your Business to the Next Level | The 10 Biggest Mistakes in Reading MAP Statistics | Re-Engineering Partner Accountability | Marc Rosenberg: Why CPAs Aren’t Making More Money [VIDEO] | Marc Rosenberg: Slow Learners Need Not Apply | 10 To-Do’s for a Partner Buyout
A partner IS entitled to:
1. Attend partner meetings and retreats.
2. Have access to all confidential firm financial data.
3. Receive a return on capital; repayment of capital when he/she leaves the firm. READ MORE →
Are you shocked?
A new report raises anew red flags for auditors and compliance officers, and brings into sharp focus the tough environment these days for honesty and integrity. And it suggests that the SEC whistle-blower protections put in place since 2008 are an abject failure.
But should we be surprised?
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