LEADERSHIP

The 12 Big Questions for 2023

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The questions aren’t new, but the answers should direct your strategy.

By CPA Trendlines Research
The Rosenberg MAP Survey: National Study of CPA Firm Statistics

As Gale Crosley, of Crosley+Consulting, notes in the 2022 Rosenberg Survey, we are in the midst of “an unusual year of high uncertainty, unpredictability and sapped energy among our profession’s leaders.”

MORE OUTLOOK 2023: The 12 Winning Traits of a Great CPA Firm | What Accounting Firm Start-Ups Are Doing Right | Workflow Is a Problem. So Why Aren’t Firms Buying Solutions? | Top Five Trends | Compensation Gets Creative | CPA Partners Rejoice on Surging Fee Growth | The Office Is Over | The Great Resignation or a Reshuffling? | Accounting Firms Face Down Private Equity |

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Gale Crosley
Crosley

The profession, once characterized as staid and stable, has been hit by a confluence of what Crosley calls “major thunderbolts,” to wit:

  • disruptive technologies
  • shifting economic conditions
  • non-traditional competition
  • fast-moving regulation
  • extensive talent constraints
  • work-from-anywhere options
  • unexpected market demand
  • private equities investing in firms
  • baby boomer retirements

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The 12 Winning Traits of a Great CPA Firm

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They don’t get there by accident.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The 2022 Karbon Practice Excellence Report takes a good look at, well, practice excellency. It finds that excellency stands on four pillars:

  1. Strategy
  2. Efficiency
  3. Management
  4. Growth

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The strength of those pillars – and thus the performance of a given accounting firm – is determined by 12 competencies:
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What’s the Why?

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How do you view the answers of others?

By Gary Adamson

The very human tendency to assume that others think as we do can lead to great misunderstanding. In truth, the things that drive individuals – what makes it all worth it – vary widely. Discovering what makes each team member tick and what he or she most desires and values is an important step toward creating a cohesive partnership and bridging the gap, not just between generations but among all members of the firm.

MORE: Three Strategies to Keep Emerging Leaders Energized | Marketing: Not Just for Partners Anymore | Leadership Growth Is a Two-Way Street | Each Generation Must Change
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As firms wrestle with Baby Boomer succession, the differences in attitudes, thinking and motivators between current and future leaders can sometimes be great. More often than not those differences or gaps are major contributors to the absence of future leaders who are on deck and ready to step into the shoes of the retiring partners.
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The Great Resignation or a Reshuffling?

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How many in-person days make sense for your firm… and who decides?

By Steven E. Sacks

The concept of “quiet quitting” is now mainstream thought. Summer 2022 is over, and with it, for many companies and their workers, their remote work arrangements.

MORE: 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 | Why Leaders Must Ensure Clarity | Incremental Vs. Exceptional Success
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Many recognizable companies have sought to get back to some normality. Some want workers to return to the office full-time, some have asked for a two- to three-day in-office arrangement, and some have viewed remote work as successful and see no reason to change anything for the foreseeable future.

Workers will not easily accept these changes.

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Learn How to Let Go and Let Someone Else Step Up

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Young businesswoman talking to her client and using tabletThree ways for leaders to draw in more.

By Sarah Johnson Dobek

Encouraging new leaders and creating smooth transitions are easy goals to identify. Honing in on specific tactics to accomplish these broad objectives can be much more difficult. This post offers practical suggestions from current leaders at firms that are finding success at developing the leadership capabilities of younger team members.

MORE: Three Strategies to Keep Emerging Leaders Energized | Marketing: Not Just for Partners Anymore | Leadership Growth Is a Two-Way Street | Win with an Intentional Culture
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Leadership is one of the top issues facing accounting firms today. We often hear firms say they can’t find or don’t have good leaders in their organization.
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CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient

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`Transformation Talks: It all starts with transparency.

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Center for Accounting Transformation
Center for Accounting Transformation

Transformation Talks
With Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA
Center for Accounting Transformation

Accountants have the power to change the world, according to James Ross, the corporate responsibility and sustainability executive for Buzzacott, one of the largest accounting firms in the United Kingdom, in this interview with Donny Shimamoto.

MORE: Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset | O.D. Lanier: Stepping Into Advisory | From Tax to Transformation | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory | Four Strategies for a Future Ready Firm
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“We want to walk the walk before we talk to talk,” Ross says. “We don’t want to necessarily be delivering to clients something or an expectation that we’re not actually able to do ourselves. It’s just about being really honest about where you are in that process and continuing to take the next steps to improve more widely across the organization.”

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The Two Sides of the Culture Coin

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Three business colleagues arguing while seated at tableAnd how they relate to strategy.

By Anthony Zecca
Leading From the Edge

As we focus on the leadership of accounting firms need to succeed in a future driven by seismic disruptors, we must address leadership’s responsibility, and impact on creating a culture that results in an environment that motivates every single team member to their highest level of performance.

MORE: 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 | Why Leaders Must Ensure Clarity | Incremental Vs. Exceptional Success | Do You Lead or Just Manage? | Managing Vs. Leading | Is Your Leadership Team at the Edge? | 6 Leadership Challenges Through COVID and Beyond | Edge Leaders Share 7 Strengths | Leadership Must Drive Culture | Leading from the Edge
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There are two great quotes that I would like to start with to frame this discussion. The first is from Bryan Walker (partner and managing director at Ideo), who stated that “Culture is like the wind. It is invisible; yet its effect can be seen and felt” in every single organization that exists from the family to the biggest company on the planet. The second quote is from author Tanya Mann: “Your organization’s culture is either an asset or a liability; either helping business performance or hurting it.”
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Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset

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Transformation Talks: Mike Maksymiw, CPA, CGMA, says the secret to success and transformation in accounting is to be willing to learn, believe there’s enough work for everyone…and allow yourself to be vulnerable.

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Transformation Talks
With Bill Penczak
Center for Accounting Transformation

Center for Accounting Transformation
Center for Accounting Transformation

After 16 years of working in firms, Mike Maksymiw, CPA, CGMA, was done.

He went to his employer with his concerns about wanting to do something else. Instead of encouragement to pursue another area in the firm, he was persuaded to remain on the partner track he was on. Maksymiw decided he’d rather move on.

MORE on Aprio: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be Free | The FinTechFlood: Accounting Will Never Be the Same | Top Issues for 2022: Talent, Time and Transformation | What’s in a (Firm) Name?

MORE: Five Lead Generation Mistakes to Avoid | Five Post-Tax Season Growth Ideas | Five Better Ways to Say No | Are You Solving Your Clients’ Problems? | Five Ways to Grow: Talent New Service Lines | Business Development and Sales Aren’t Scary
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“I didn’t have anywhere to go when I left. I just knew I needed to go,” he said. “So, after, you know, a couple pandemic busy seasons, learning about the Cares Act, being a national leader at the firm at that, like I was toast. So, my family and I just went to Hawaii stayed there for two weeks.”

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