Marketing Directors Take Over Succession Planning

Or, isn’t this really the partners’ job?

Lisa Tierney

Accounting firm marketers – already tasked with landing new clients and adding new revenue, in addition to recruiting new staffers – are getting a new job: Succession planning.

A new survey of 100 marketers shows 35% cite “the identification and development of potential successors for retiring managing partners as their top priority over the next 12 months.”

The new data suggests turnover among managing partners in the next 12 months will be far greater than anyone now imagines and it speaks to the critical inadequacy of incumbent partner teams to deal with the crisis on their own.

The survey was conducted among members of the BKR International network of firms by Tierney Coaching & Consulting. Here, Lisa Tierney reports on the results and the implications.

Her report includes data and commentary on:

  • Leadership as a top concern for firms
  • Five challenges to be considered over the next 10 years
  • How a firm’s success is integral to the effective leadership of its professionals
  • The definition of effective leadership as it applies to the successful firm
  • Six key leadership characteristics defined
  • The distinct roles
    • for partners,
    • for seniors and managers, and
    • for supervisors and associates
  • Leadership and team building strategies

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Accountants Chop Prices for Schedule C’s

But most other rates are increasing.

In another sign that the profession is pushing through at least some price increases in a highly fee-pressured environment, a new survey reports that professional tax preparers this year will be charging an average of $246, up 6%, for a typical 1040 with a Schedule A and a state return. Still, the survey finds price pressure for Schedule C’s.

The survey shows pricing for the bread-and-butter forms delivered by local independent tax professionals, including:

  • Form 1040 Schedule C (business)
  • Form 1065 (partnership)
  • Form 1120 (corporation)
  • Form 1120S (S corporation)
  • Form 1041 (fiduciary)
  • Form 990 (tax exempt)
  • Form 940 (Federal unemployment)
  • Schedule D (gains and losses)
  • Schedule E (rental), and
  • Schedule F (farm)

The survey also breaks down pricing patterns by region, and adds data on client payment options.

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