A Lesson in Customer Service and Reputation

Manager standing in front of wall of TVsWho needs to see you lead?

By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership

In order to become a commercially aware practice leader, we need to understand the DNA of leadership.

MORE: 10 Questions for Reconsidering Your Prices | Five Reasons Firms Don’t Thrive | Four Biz Dev Tasks to Start the New Year | What the Next Generation of Practice Leaders Faces | Five Ways to Show Commitment | Selling Isn’t Hard | Do You Make Your Firm Look Good?
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Any woman or man leading an accounting firm, who chooses to overcome each operational or client challenge as it if their future depended on it, will not only succeed in practice but will become capable of delivering advisory value to their clients unmatched by their competitors, thus achieving true differentiation.
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Randy Crabtree: Follow These 3 Rules to Keep Employees Happy

Randy Crabtree: Allow your employees freedom in two critical areas to win talent wars.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr for CPA Trendlines

Randy Crabtree talks to a lot of other accountants and admits that he “steals ideas from everybody else.” Imitation, after all, is the sincerest form of flattery.

MORE: Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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One topic he’s been talking about a lot lately is the issue of mental health in the profession, which he feels is largely self-induced. Although he’s been asked to talk about mental health without mentioning burnout–don’t be a downer–Crabtree says it’s impossible. “I’m like, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. It doesn’t go away if I don’t talk about it,” he said.  

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Make Fewer Mistakes, Increase Revenue and Capacity

Businessman horrified by what he sees on computer screenTackle the four error categories.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

Determining the workflow harm that errors cause should be second nature now. Errors cause rework. Rework adds to work in progress (WIP) and, thus, increases turnaround time.

This happens in two ways: As WIP increases, capacity decreases. It’s a double whammy.

MORE: How Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | Easy Ways to Avoid ‘Done But’ Tax Returns | Six Ways to Create a Millennial-Friendly Firm | Do You Know Your Turnaround Time?
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When a reviewer spots errors on a tax return and sends it back to the preparer, the preparer wastes at least 15 minutes, and probably more like 30 minutes, fixing the errors. The return then goes back to the reviewer, who spends another 15 minutes re-reviewing the return. We have added 30 to 45 minutes to the WIP for this tax return. We know that adding to our WIP numerator increases turnaround time.

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Leadership Must Focus on Talent, Talent, Talent

red rocket rising above white hot air balloonsAcquisition vs. recruitment.

By Anthony Zecca
Leading From the Edge

In my recently published book, “Leading From the Edge – Creating a Standout, High-Performing Organization,” I focus on the leadership accounting firms need to succeed in a future driven by seismic disruptors.

MORE: Teamwork Drives Firm Success | The Two Sides of the Culture Coin | Four Accountability Steps for Firm Success | How to Build a Standout Team | Five Keys to Becoming a High-Performing Firm | Assessing Your Firm | The 4 Traits of Great CPA Leaders
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Leadership has a responsibility and impact on creating the standout, high-performing talent necessary to drive the firm’s long-term strategy. We all understand and believe that at the end of each day, the firm’s greatest asset walks out the door (or in today’s world, disconnects). The quality of a firm’s talent directly relates to the success and performance of the firm.
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How Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars

Three young people working in an officeGetting creative can bring in better talent and better clients.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

One afternoon, the partner group of our outsourced accounting practice met for a state of the practice meeting conducted by our director of outsourced accounting. Our prior director left and we were looking for someone when one of our newbies asked if he could be considered.

MORE: Easy Ways to Avoid ‘Done But’ Tax Returns | Six Ways to Create a Millennial-Friendly Firm | Do You Know Your Turnaround Time? | Why Hiring Out of School Works | Leadership Growth is a Two-Way Street | Quiet Quitting: Are Employers Culturally Aware? | How to Guide Students into Accounting | Three Strategies to Keep Emerging Leaders Engaged
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The 25-year-old had one year of experience, and we were chasing a controller-type person. The whole outsourced practice was in shambles. Revenue was nil and any clients we had were unsatisfied.
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Facing Busy Season ’23: 99% of Accountants Suffer Burnout

Webinar set to help yourself and your team.

By CPA Trendlines
via The Center for Transformation

Finding qualified talent has long plagued the accounting profession. However, with COVID-19 and remote work, the past three years have ushered in a new age of attrition and burnout.

The Value of Personal Resilience: What Accountants Need to Know

Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, 12 pm ET.

Cost: $10 for CPE/Free for no CPE

Click here to register or learn more

A July 2022 article in Accountancy Age explored a survey that showed 99% of accountants suffer from burnout, with 24% reporting medium-high to high levels of burnout.  Further, that burnout is generally listed as why many CPAs leave public accounting.

The survey, conducted by FloQast, a provider of accounting workflow automation software, and the University of Georgia, used the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)—the leading measure of burnout and validated by more than 35 years of research—in an accounting setting for the first time. Using a 100-point scale, the survey covered three major areas of burnout: Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), and low sense of Personal Accomplishment (PA).

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