July 2013 - Page 3 of 5 - CPA Trendlines

Six Reasons You’ll Wish You had a Partnership Agreement

July 18, 2013

With 18 key clauses and 24 essential ingredients.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Management & Governance

A partnership agreement contains clearly defined terms and conditions of the firm including, but not limited to, each partners’ responsibilities, their pay and their roles within the business. It also includes rules and regulations that are to be followed by the partners in the business. It is essential for a CPA firm to have a partnership agreement, regardless of how collegial and friendly the partners are with each other.

More CPA Firm Management & Governance: How The Structure of an Accounting Firm Changes through the Years | Congratulations! Your Firm Needs a Human Resources Director | The 19-Point Marketing Director Job Description | Checklist: How the Best Managing Partners and Firm Admins Work in Concert | 21 Questions for Managing the Managing Partner | No Partner Vote Needed: 17 Decisions Best Left to the Managing Partner Alone | New Rules: 13 Items that Should be in Your Managing Partner’s Job Description | When Is It Time to Shift Your Firm from Partnership-style to Corporate-style Governance? | Not Every Firm Needs a General Patton |

A partnership agreement can prevent potential future disagreements that could occur pertaining to the objectives and responsibilities of the firm.

A number of years ago, I was engaged by the managing partner of a firm to draft their first-ever partnership agreement. The firm had three partners: the 57 year old founder, who was a dominant, rainmaking managing partner, and two other younger partners who performed at a much lower level than the founder. READ MORE →

11 Questions You Should Be Asking

July 18, 2013

By CPA Trendlines

A few easy-to-ask, feel-good questions can get a client or prospect comfortable and talking. It’s up to you to know how to listen and how to find ways to help. From Bob Burg, Author, “Endless Referrals.” 1. How did you … Continued

Shocked? Most Wall Street Professionals Are Crooked

July 16, 2013

By Rick Telberg

Or, so say their own colleagues.

More than half of all professionals in the financial services industry say they know of crooks and cheaters in their business.

But what are they doing about it? Or, a better question: Why should they do anything about it?

“Wall Street needs to take the first step toward recovery and admit that it has a corporate ethics problem, or Main Street should brace itself for more scandals,” says Jordan Thomas, partner at the law firm that conducted the study.

See the 13 key findings, and get the full report in an instant download: READ MORE →

Eight New Metrics to Measure Managing Partner Performance and Potential

July 13, 2013

By Rick Telberg

Aquila

Essential duties currently missing from most job descriptions.

Most of the usual responsibilities of a managing partner can be captured in two paragraphs:

General responsibilities: Report directly to the governing committee and the firm. Responsible for the firm’s overall management and practice. Supervise overall marketing and business development effort. Manage the professional staff and provide guidance for the support staff.
Specific responsibilities: Coordinate the firm’s practices among the different offices and departments. Implement the partnership agreement. Appoint heads of various committees. Represent the firm in community and professional organizations. Supervise governing committee. Oversee standing and ad hoc committees. Provide guidance on financial policies and work with the governing committee to develop personal and administrative policies.

These are, without doubt, all good and necessary functions. But are they the ones managing partners should focus on?

August Aquila, doesn’t think so.

His studies, documented in “Leadership At Its Strongest” and “How to Engage Partners in the Firm’s Future,” show there are at least eight other areas that can make or break a managing partner and the firm.

– Rick Telberg

More for partnerships: The Six Challenges Crippling Progress in Today’s Multi-Partner Firms | The Debilitating Effects of Denial at Accounting Firms | The Five Psychological Hurdles that CPA Firms Must Confront Today | The Managing Partner’s Secret Weapon in Change Management | The 10 Basic Ways to Boost Profits at an Accounting Firm | 12 Must-Do Items for Your Partner Retreat Agenda | Seven Signs You’re Working in a Firm Where the Partners Don’t Trust Each Other | Seven Tactics to Stand Out from the Crowd | Achieving Partner Unity: The Competitive Advantage |

In this report: See how you or your managing partner might compare on a new eight-point questionnaire.

Providing Work Papers to New Accountant

July 13, 2013

By Edward Mendlowitz

When is it required?

Question:

A long time business client that owed me a large balance for unpaid fees sent a letter dropping me. He then wrote me a letter requesting me to send “his” papers to his new accountant. Can I insist on being paid first or do I have to send the papers? I made some notes on a worksheet adjusting his numbers that went on the tax return. Do I have to send this also and if so, do I have to write these up in proper journal entry form?

Answer:

Two Steps to Easy Cross-sells

July 13, 2013

By Sandi Smith Leyva

Start with a spreadsheet.

By Sandi Smith, CPA
Accountant’s Accelerator

Here’s a great spreadsheet exercise you can do to identify what I call “low-hanging fruit,” which means added revenue that will not take too much time or money to go after.

Open Excel, and start a worksheet from the sales numbers in your accounting system.

More at CPA Trendlines for soloists and small firms: The Hot New Tech Product for Automated Data Entry | Five Value-Add Service Areas to Take You Beyond Bookkeeping | Six Money-Making Strategies to Take You Beyond QuickBooks | 10 Ways to Add a “Money Maker” Hour to Your Day | 11 Sources of Wealth We Can Celebrate | Nine Value-Adds to Command a Higher Fee | How to Design Your Business Around Your Strengths

When Bad Things Happen to Good Accounting Marketers

July 13, 2013

By Bruce W. Marcus

The myth of ‘spin control.’

By Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

Every election campaign produces, among other things, media myths and bad language. During the elections of the last two decades, the language was infected by a new myth called spin control. The phrase implies that a good media relations practitioner can control the nature and texture of a story in the press – can put the right spin on it to get the journalist to tell it the spinner’s way.

In this report:

The three things to do first when your firms gets bad press
Five metrics for damage assessment
Three quick-response options
Six strategies to avoid making it worse

It’s just not so. For all that the myth implies, when it comes to the media, we propose — but others dispose. Thus it was, and thus it always shall be, so long as we have a free press. READ MORE →

Why Good Accounting Firms Make Bad Decisions

July 13, 2013

By Marc Rosenberg

The dysfunctional partner team and three ways to get them back on track.

You’ve tried management by committee. And by now, you know it doesn’t work. In a new analysis of CPA firm management practices, Marc Rosenberg finds, “Management by committee rarely works.”

There must be a better way. And, yes, there are a few. Here is a five-point spectrum of approaches that firms use to make decisions. One of them may work for your firm.

Monthly Archives: July 2013