Daily Archives: July 23, 2013

Essential Advice for the New Managing Partner

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A new generation takes over the corner office. Join the survey, get the results.

by Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

The same generational shift that has the accounting profession fretting about succession, mergers and millennials is also wreaking havoc in another sector of the firm: the office of managing partner.

By one CPA Trendlines study of a fairly typical global association of firms, roughly 25% of the managing partners now serving have held the job for two years or less. In a business that measures job longevity in decades, two years represents rookie status. Considering the advance of age and consolidation, we estimate that within another five years 80% of today’s firms will be under new management.

This new generation of managing partner is bringing new energy and new ideas to the profession. But that hardly makes up for the lack of executive leadership training and experience of the new class of CEO. Mistakes are sure to follow: making big decisions too quickly, or too slowly; misunderstanding the business drivers or looking at the wrong ones entirely; failing to make the right relationships with the right people, or maintaining bad relationships for too long.

CPA Trendlines is canvassing practitioners across the nation and in firms of all sizes to sift out some of the best advice we can find for the rookie managing partner. Join the survey, get the results.

And so far, we’re getting an earful. READ MORE →

Sage May Leave Traditional CPAs in the Dust

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By Rick Telberg As technology moves to the cloud and goes mobile, traditional accounting software sales and support businesses will be left behind by new business models built for subscriptions and high-end services. This could be bad news for the … Continued

Are You Creating a Sustainable Firm?

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Many CPA firms may be on the path to extinction.

By Gale Crosley, CPA

The world’s population is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability. For several decades we’ve developed an understanding of preserving our planet’s resources. The recent sustainability conversation has amped up the focus among corporate executives on their social responsibility to insure our world’s future.

It’s an especially relevant time, therefore, to discuss the sustainability of our firms. And that’s what this book is about. Managing partners spend significant time pondering their firm’s strategy. One of their greatest challenges is engaging their partners to be as committed as they are.

Adapted from the preface to “How to Engage Partners in the Firm’s Future: The Secrets Every Leader Needs to Know,” by August J. Aquila and Robert J. Lees

There are lots of reasons for the challenge. These include a “nose to the grindstone versus up to the wind” mentality, partners not spending enough time dedicated to the task, abdicating their leadership role, putting their own interests before the firm’s, or just plain apathy. It’s easy for a partner group to sit around a table and discuss their future. But talk is cheap.  After the strategic planning is done, leaders actually have to do something. It takes significant effort to develop as a leader, work as a team, subjugate one’s own interests for the greater good, learn new competencies, solve complex problems, and exhibit leadership behaviors. READ MORE →