Monthly Archives: August 2013

The Politics of an Accounting Firm Partnership

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How one managing partner learned the hard way.

by August J. Aquila and Robert J. Lees
Creating the Effective Partnership

While many managing partners understand the value of a vision statement to focus their partner team’s energies, too few get it right.

Creating the Effective Partnership: Two-Volume Set
Creating the Effective Partnership

A vision is more than a simple statement. When we talk about having a compelling vision, we don’t mean just a well-crafted vision. We mean the vision with a clear destination, the strategies for getting there (the “how to”), the way progress will be measured and the benefits to the partners of going on the journey.

More on partnership management:  Nine Rules to Creating Highly Effective Partnership Teams   |   Audacious Vision and Grand Purpose Prove Essential to CPA Success | Are You Creating a Sustainable Firm? | The Debilitating Effects of Denial at Accounting Firms | The Five Psychological Hurdles that CPA Firms Must Confront Today

Let’s look at an example of what can happen when all the elements (vision, journey, milestones and a positive answer to what’s in it for me) aren’t in place. READ MORE →

3 Steps to Business Clarity Amid the Sea Change in Accounting

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By Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA
Accountant’s Accelerator

With Labor Day closing in, it’s a good time to take stock of where we stand for the year, plus re-group as needed before the 2014 busy season is upon us.  With so many changes in software, politics, tax laws, and global standards, it’s pretty easy to feel a little disorganized.

More for soloists and small firms:  The Five Essential Skills Accountants Need Today  | The Seven Essential Components of a Simple Marketing Plan for Accountants  | Take Six Big Steps to Go Beyond Compliance Services     |     When Your Business Needs to Be Rebooted  |   Two Steps to Easy Cross-sells   |   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   |   Proactive Ways to Get More Referrals   |   The Three Biggest Money Leaks in Your Practice   |   New Client Opportunities with Mobile Apps   |   Six Questions to Launch Your Summer Strategy Sessions   |   What Most Accountants Miss in the Five Simple Steps to Get More Clients   |   Accountants, Do You Know Your Opportunity Number? | Five Ideas to Reduce Client Price-Sensitivity | Rise to the Top with a Fresh Elevator Speech | Four Ways to Practice Entrepreneurial Perseverance | 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

Here are three steps to help us take stock of our foundational business goals, re-evaluate our big picture, and get us centered as we enter the next quarter. READ MORE →

CPA Career Advice Changes with Age

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“Get along with people” is the wisdom of age. But apparently it takes a lifetime to learn that. Retired CPAs are virtually unanimous: The ability to relate to people, get along and communicate are the most important ingredients to a … Continued

27 Tough Questions for Evaluating the Performance of a Managing Partner

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Including: Managing Partner Evaluation Forms, Parts 1 and 2.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Management & Governance

This is really an upward evaluation.  Like all upward evaluations, people evaluating the managing partner should be limited to those in a position to offer informed input.  This means that at firms of fewer than 10 to 15 partners all the partners will probably want to participate.  But once a firm gets beyond 10 to 15 partners, an increasing number of partners may not be in a position to respond to the evaluation factors listed in the form.

More CPA Firm Management & Governance:  18 Things Partners Owe their Firms – And Each Other   |  17 Ways to Measure a Partner  |  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    |

Firms with management or executive committees may wish to limit the evaluation to the partners on those committees.

Once you have decided who will be allowed to participate in the evaluation, each partner should complete the evaluation forms.  READ MORE →

The Five Essential Skills Accountants Need Today

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Above and beyond accounting, you need business know-how.

By Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA
Accountant’s Accelerator

We’ve worked super-hard on gaining our accounting, tax, and auditing skills.  Those skills alone will keep us working as employees for someone else, but what if we want to go out on our own or grow our business beyond what we have now?

More for soloists and small firms: The Seven Essential Components of a Simple Marketing Plan for Accountants  | Take Six Big Steps to Go Beyond Compliance Services     |     When Your Business Needs to Be Rebooted  |   Two Steps to Easy Cross-sells   |   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   |   Proactive Ways to Get More Referrals   |   The Three Biggest Money Leaks in Your Practice   |   New Client Opportunities with Mobile Apps   |   Six Questions to Launch Your Summer Strategy Sessions   |   What Most Accountants Miss in the Five Simple Steps to Get More Clients   |   Accountants, Do You Know Your Opportunity Number? | Five Ideas to Reduce Client Price-Sensitivity | Rise to the Top with a Fresh Elevator Speech | Four Ways to Practice Entrepreneurial Perseverance | 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

Here are five skills to consider adding to your toolbox so you can get ahead faster. How do you rate in each of these areas?

READ MORE →

Collecting Past Due Fees

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Ed Mendlowitz, CPA, ABV, PFS
Author of “Implementing Fee Increases“

Question: Client didn’t pay his bills to me, doesn’t return my phone calls, and his secretary keeps sending me the tax notices he gets with notes of “when are you going to take care of them?”  I tell her that I need the client to call me before I can do any more work and she ignores this and keeps sending me the notices and other tax correspondence he gets. I don’t want to tell him I am dropping him because then I don’t think I’ll ever be paid.  Every year he goes on extension and he usually pays me half of what he owes when he sends me his tax info, but the past due amount has really accumulated to about three year’s fees.  What should I do about getting paid? READ MORE →