Dom Esposito, Author at CPA Trendlines

Prune Your Firm: ‘Rightsize’ Managers and Partners

Benchmarks for measuring your firm, plus 5 ways that firms get upside down.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

Is rightsizing partners and managers that difficult? The simple answer is no!

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: 10 Roles of an Executive Committee | How Partners Fail | Is It Time to Manage Your Receivables Like a Real Business? | Mine Vs. Yours Vs. Ours | 22 Things Leaders Must Do | 21 Questions to Help Unlock Accelerated Growth | M&A Candidates: Valuations and Vetting
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While I acknowledge that it is not easy to rightsize your small or midsized CPA firm, I believe that many firm leaders can do (must do) a much better job when it comes to outplacing unproductive partners and managers.
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10 Roles of an Executive Committee

Plus who should serve and for how long.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

Every small and midsized CPA firm requires an executive committee that serves as the key corporate governance mechanism within a firm.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: How Partners Fail | Ineffective Management Is Hazardous to Your Firm’s Health | Profitability Requires Discipline | Pitching Vs. Pursuing | The Top 11 Reasons CPA Firm Mergers Fail | Growth: The Difference between the Disruptor and the Disrupted? | M&A: Sometimes Bigger Is Better | What a Value Proposition Truly Is (and Isn’t)
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Said simply, an effective executive committee keeps its nose in but its hands out. In other words, an effective executive committee has the responsibility to be the check and balance over a firm’s operations but isn’t responsible for running the day-to-day activities. That is the responsibility of the firm’s CEO and the firm’s operating or management committee.
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How Partners Fail

And why: The metrics every CPA needs to know.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

“Status quo, you know, is Latin for the mess we’re in.”

– Ronald Reagan

You have heard it many times before. Worse yet, you are living it today.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: Ineffective Management Is Hazardous to Your Firm’s Health | Why Do We Accept Poor New Business Results? | The Link Between Strategy and Winning on Value | Focus On an Enhanced Client Experience | 22 Things Leaders Must Do | 21 Questions to Help Unlock Accelerated Growth | M&A Candidates: Valuations and Vetting
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Today, many small and midsized CPA firms are being challenged by slow organic growth coupled with:

An unprecedented pace of technological change
Very intense margin pressure
Too many competitors
A shortage of qualified talent (particularly in the tax area)

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Ineffective Management Is Hazardous to Your Firm’s Health

9 warning signs, plus 4 things a managing partner should NOT be.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

Hard to believe but every year there are a number of small and midsized CPA firms that either “die on the vine,” break up or merge up as “damaged goods” if a well-run firm is willing to take them on.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: Why Do We Accept Poor New Business Results? | Is It Time to Manage Your Receivables Like a Real Business? | Mine Vs. Yours Vs. Ours | 22 Things Leaders Must Do | 21 Questions to Help Unlock Accelerated Growth | M&A Candidates: Valuations and Vetting | AI Likely to Accelerate Merger Mania
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Why is it that so many firms continue to spiral into a slow death? It’s because they are aware of the danger signals but little, if anything, is done about them or because they are not paying attention to the warning signs including the following:
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Why Do We Accept Poor New Business Results?

5 critical steps to turn things around.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

The question to ask is why do so many firms accept poor performance from so many of their partners relative to growth and generating revenue?

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: Is It Time to Manage Your Receivables Like a Real Business? | Profitability Requires Discipline | Pitching Vs. Pursuing | The Top 11 Reasons CPA Firm Mergers Fail | Growth: The Difference between the Disruptor and the Disrupted? | M&A: Sometimes Bigger Is Better | What a Value Proposition Truly Is (and Isn’t)
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There isn’t a firm in existence that does not depend on constant growth to be successful and to generate enough profit to pay its staff and partners well. Yet, so many firms accept the old bell-shaped curve argument that they are winning if just 20 percent of their partners are good at generating business.
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Is It Time to Manage Your Receivables Like a Real Business?

Consequences: Are there any?

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

It never ceases to amaze me how lax many small and midsized CPA firms are when it comes to managing their work-in-process and accounts receivable and optimizing their cash flows.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: Profitability Requires Discipline | The Link Between Strategy and Winning on Value | Focus On an Enhanced Client Experience | Solve the Partner Comp Problem | 6 Rocks in the Path to Growth | Use Compensation to Shape Partner Behavior | The Importance of M&A Culture Due Diligence
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Sloppy billing and collecting policies often result in lost billing opportunities (i.e., if you don’t bill it timely, clients forget the value you provided and resist receiving a bill 90 days after the work was performed) and for a need to have a relatively large line of credit. Sloppy policies also result in year-end fire drills with clients when partners “beg” clients for cash before the end of the firm’s fiscal year end.
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Profitability Requires Discipline

19 basic principles to improve operations … but don’t treat them like “flavor of the month.”

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

We all know that improving profitability on a sustained basis generally is a long-term play that requires significant planning, discipline, accountability, implementation and patience.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: The Link Between Strategy and Winning on Value | Mine Vs. Yours Vs. Ours | 22 Things Leaders Must Do | 21 Questions to Help Unlock Accelerated Growth | Quality Work, Quality Service Not the Same Thing
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Unfortunately, the senior partners at many small and mid-sized CPA firms do not possess all of these attributes and therefore are unable to make significant strides in their bottom-line distributions to their partners. While it’s an uncomfortable scenario, it’s reality and almost understandable as many small and midsized CPA firms are thinly managed and do not have the leadership that is necessary to change the inevitable path of merging up.
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GROWTH STRATEGIES

The Link Between Strategy and Winning on Value

One is a tool, not an end itself.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

There is a wide chasm between talking about value and making your firm a value-based-firm (“VBF”). The first step in transforming your firm from just another accounting firm to a VBF is to develop the strategic framework that will consistently deliver value to your clients.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: Mine Vs. Yours Vs. Ours | Pitching Vs. Pursuing | The Top 11 Reasons CPA Firm Mergers Fail | Growth: The Difference between the Disruptor and the Disrupted? | M&A: Sometimes Bigger Is Better | What a Value Proposition Truly Is (and Isn’t) | Does Your Firm Need an Independent Executive Committee Member? | 10 Ways to Link Compensation and Strategy
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

There have been tons of articles written about strategy, its importance and multiple “how-to” models. In many articles, the discussion focuses on creating that “killer” strategy that will propel your firm to stardom and unlimited profits.
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Dom Esposito

MORE AT STORE.CPATRENDLINES.COM

Domenick J. Esposito was the CEO of Grant Thornton, vice-chair of BDO, and national growth director at CohnReznick.

He is the author of "8 Steps to Great: The Eight Essential Strategies Driving Success at the World's Largest CPA Firms. And How to Apply the Lessons at Firms of All Sizes," published by CPA Trendlines.

A Life in Public Accounting

In 2016, Esposito, then a former CEO of BDO, moved from a 46-year career in public accounting into the next phase of his professional life – consulting to CPA firms, launching a boutique advisory firm, Esposito CEO2CEO, that provides advice to CEOs, managing partners and other senior partners of CPA firms focused on the mid-market throughout the U.S.

With the launch, Esposito authored “8 Steps to Great," a guide for CEOs, managing partners, and other senior partners on how to move their firm to the next level.

CohnReznick National Growth Director

Esposito was one of the most qualified individuals in the country to advise CPA firms on growth and profitability. Through 2015, he was National Practice & Growth Director and an Executive Board member of CohnReznick, LLP, a mid-market sustainable brand and the tenth-largest CPA firm in the United States. He oversaw CohnReznick’s go-to-market industry specialization and consulting and advisory service lines. He was also intimately involved in the firm’s mergers and acquisitions and strategic and tactical activities for its public company and capital markets initiatives. Dom joined the predecessor firm of J.H. Cohn in 2002 as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Board member.

Dom was also an independent director of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. For several years (through 2014), Dom was a member of the NASDAQ Listing and Qualifications Committee to the organization’s Board of Directors. He formerly served as the leader of the New York State Society of CPAs Committee for Large and Medium-Sized Firms Practice Management. He also was an Adjunct Accounting Professor at C.W. Post/Long Island University.

BDO and Grant Thornton

Through October 2002, Dom was Vice Chairman at BDO, a mid-market sustainable brand and the seventh-largest international accounting and consulting firm in the U.S., with almost 50 offices and 3,400 employees. During his brief time with BDO, he was responsible for the Alliance Distribution Network (at the time consisting of over 80 CPA firms, 10 law firms, and 25 consulting firms). He was also responsible for attracting and servicing a number of clients.

From 1979 through 2001, Dom was with Grant Thornton, another mid-market sustainable brand and the sixth-largest international accounting and consulting firm in the U.S., with over 50 offices and 4,500 employees. He joined Grant as an audit manager, became a partner in 1981, led the Long Island Office from 1984 to 1986, became assistant managing partner of the New York Office in 1986, and from 1988 to 1999, led the New York Office. In 1999, Esposito became a regional managing partner and for two years, through 2001, was the firm’s Chief Executive Officer.

CPA, Partner, MBA, Leader, Influencer, Media Celebrity

Between 1996 and 1998, and while he was CEO, Esposito was on the Partner Board and was also on the Board of Grant Thornton International – the worldwide umbrella organization. In these capacities, he developed strong experience in strategic thinking and execution, international relationships, corporate governance, partnership matters, branding, expense control, client relationships, and new business development.

As CEO, he took Grant Thornton to record earnings, consummated the largest line-of-business sale in the firm’s history, developed a major joint venture with AXA Financial, and made the largest practice acquisition in the firm’s history. From 1969 to 1979, Esposito was with Price Waterhouse (now PwC), servicing IBM when he was promoted to manager in 1976.

Dom was a CPA, has been quoted in national and local media, and has appeared on radio and cable TV.

Esposito also testified before the Securities and Exchange Commission.

He received his M.B.A. from St. John’s University and his B.S. from Ferris State University. AccountingToday, one of the leading trade journals for the accounting profession, named Esposito one of the most influential people in the profession for two consecutive years.

He passed away in 2021 at the age of 74.

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