Monthly Archives: October 2012

Deloitte Drives 9% Revenue Increase, to $31.3 Billion

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Should the world worry about mixing audit and consulting?

Amid concerns among lawmakers worldwide that the audit function was being diluted by consulting, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is reporting $31.3 billion in worldwide revenue for the  year ended in May, an 8.6% advance for the year and the firm’s strongest increase since 2008.

The revelations drew some sharp reactions. “It is hardly news that the Big Four accounting firms get bigger nearly every year,” says The Economist. “But where they are growing says a lot about how they will look like in a decade, and the prospects worry some regulators and lawmakers.” READ MORE →

The Nine Hallmarks of a Marketing Culture

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Marching to the same drummer.

by Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

Firms may have their rainmakers – the partner who could go into a revolving door alone and come out arm in arm with a new client. But in today’s competitive marketplace, one or two rainmakers are not enough – if only because the competitive firms have three or more rainmakers going after the same prospective clients that you want.

Bruce W. Marcus
Bruce W. Marcus

More on marketing strategy for large and mid-size firms:  Getting the Client is Only Half the Battle  |  Practice Development: It’s Not Rocket Science  |  Nine Fundamentals for a Healthy Marketing Culture in an Accounting Firm   |  What Accounting Firms Need to Understand to Grapple with Radical Change   |   Six Reasonable Goals for CPA Firm Marketing 

The firms that want to grow and thrive must be turned into marketing machines – to have a culture that understands and supports a marketing effort.

READ MORE →

What You Need to Know before Expanding into Business Valuation

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Here are at least 47 great money-making opportunities, but don’t overlook the difficulties in getting started.

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.

Browse more from Ed here:   Asking an Attorney for a Referral Fee  |  Are Partner Retreats Really Worth the Cost?   |   Audit Reports Without Doing the Work?  | Should I Really Spend the Time Making Checklists?   |  What’s a Tax Practice Worth Today? |  Preparing to Sell Your Practice in a Few Years? 13 Things You Need to Know Today     |    10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Decide to Add Financial Services to Your Practice   |  Why Selling Your Practice Is Not a Retirement Strategy | Congratulations! You Bought a Tax Practice. Now What? | How Accountants Can Keep the Business When a Client Wants to Sell Theirs | 10 Reasons Clients Don’t Pay, and What To Do about It | 13 Reasons Timesheets Will Never Die

— Rick Telberg
President / CEO

QUESTION: I am exploring the business valuation credential as a way to expand our practice. I’m still (relatively) young to the profession and would (I think) love to expand into this niche area.

A few things: READ MORE →

The Four Cornerstones to Building A Marketing Culture

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What it takes to win in a Professional Services Marketing 3.0 world.

by Bruce W. Marcus

Building a marketing culture is a process that requires….

  1. Top management support
  2. Good marketing professionals
  3. Marketing education of appropriate firm professionals
  4. A sound and professional marketing structure within the firm

Let’s look at each. READ MORE →

The First Nine Questions Your Partner Team Needs to Embrace for Optimal Profitability

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And six rules for keeping partners happy and productive.

by Marc Rosenberg, CPA
Special to CPA Trendlines

“When a corporation says move left, everybody takes a step left. In a partnership, when you say move left, three people go to the bathroom, four people move right, and five people leave the firm.” — Richard Ungaretti, Ungaretti & Harris

Related: Compensation Issues for the New Managing Partner | 20 Decisions for Your Firm’s New Partner Compensation Committee | Three Ways to Break Partner Gridlock in an Accounting Firm | What Partners Are Entitled To, and What They’re NOT Entitled To | How to Make Partner? | Why Accounting Firm Partners Are “Popping Prozac like M&M’s” | More…

In CPA firms, as the partners go, so goes the firm. The partners bring in most of the business, manage most of the client relationships and engagements, develop and mentor the staff and manage the firm. If the partners don’t perform these functions effectively, it is virtually impossible to be profitable and successful. READ MORE →

The Missing Ingredient in Your Marketing That Will Make All the Difference

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Even after years of training, learning and succeeding, it doesn’t come easy.

By Sandi Smith, CPA
Accountant’s Accelerator

In school, during both my undergraduate courses and my MBA classes, I took Marketing 101, or something close to that. I learned the four P’s: product, price, place, and promotion. I aced the class.

Sandi Smith

More for soloists and small firms from Sandi Smith at CPA Trendlines:  3 Steps to Start Running on Millionaire Time •  5 Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking New Clients •  The Top 12 Business Card Blunders Accountants Make •  Seven Tips to Keep the Clients You Have • How to Attract Clients Like a Magnet • Eleven Easy Ways to Deliver More Value to Clients • Five Things Accountants Take for Granted That Costs Them Revenue• What’s in Your New Client Funnel? • What’s In Your Welcome Kit for New Prospects? • Five Fun and Easy Ways to Wow Your Clients • Six Ways to Give Yourself a Raise • Strategies to Stop Losing Business to Competitors

When I started my first business at age 13, I ran an ad and was able to get clients. It was no big deal. When I wanted to earn some part-time money during college doing bookkeeping (before I passed my CPA exam), I answered an ad and found clients. It was no big deal. When I started a part-time photography studio in the 1980s, I sent out press releases and direct mail and got clients. It was no big deal. I was doing all of this on the side while I had full time jobs paying the rent and everything else. READ MORE →

Four New Checklists for Succession Planning

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Start with the four goals you need to start working on today.

by August Aquila
Aquila Global Advisors

True succession planning is a really a lifelong process.

Its primary purpose is to ensure the continuity of the practice from one generation of leaders to another. Ultimately it’s the founder admitting and accepting that he or she won’t live forever. That’s a very difficult and emotional fact to come to accept, especially after spending a lifetime building and running a practice.

August Aquila

More August Aquila on CPA Trendlines:  Partner Accountability: Seven Signs Your Firm May Be in Trouble | 12 Steps to a Foolproof Merger |  Seven Steps to Building a Great Partnership  |  5 Success Tips for Tax Season  |  Managing Partner Job #1: How to Get Buy-In  |  The 10 Basic Ways to Boost Profits at an Accounting Firm  |  The War for Clients: Aquila’s Top Three Strategies   |  Can You Really Change a Partner?  |  11 Weekly Self-Assessment Questions for Professionals  Seven Keys to a Successful Merger  – Click here for the Pre-Merger Data Gathering Checklist for an Accounting Practice (PDF, 4 pages)  |  Seven Steps to Enforcing Accountability among Your Firm’s Partners  |  Five Steps to Achieving Partner Unity  |  Eight Essentials for Measuring Client Service  |  Partner Accountability: Seven Signs Your Firm May Be in Trouble  |  Integration: Seven Keys to a Successful Merger  |  12 Things that Should NOT Be on Your Partner Retreat Agenda  |  Five Ways How NOT to Implement a System of Partner Accountability  |  Seven Reasons Why It’s Time to Start Holding the Partners Accountable  |  25 Ways to Grow Your Practice  |  Are Bad Clients Driving You Crazy?  |  Herding Cats: Change Management for CPA Firms

In this article, we’ll address four stages, each with a checklist:

  1. For the managing partner who is thinking about succession, there are four primary goals that he or she should be working on during the next few years.
  2. The next area to address is whether the current managing partner plans to remain with the firm.
  3. Once you get some answers to these questions, then it’s time to start focusing on the successor and his/her goals for the future of the firm.
  4. While there are many other areas that need to be covered, let me just end by mentioning a 10-step process that you may want to consider. READ MORE →