Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow

We need the machines to do as much of this as we can.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

When Scott Scarano lost a few good people at his firm, he had an epiphany that he needed to change things. Instead of continuing to grow for the sake of growth, he overhauled his management approach.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS:  Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right PricesMarie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining YouMegan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than ComplianceClayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for LifeRandy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik 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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“And things are better now at the firm, because we’re not focused on growth,” but instead on “growing everybody,” including himself, Scarano said. By building better habits and finding better ways to do things, his team is growing its bottom line, and a few of the people who left earlier have now returned. “That’s the growth I like to see.” READ MORE →

Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance

Flip the org chart and put staff at the top.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
for CPA Trendlines

Megan Genest Tarnow is well-known in accounting circles as the go-to expert in using QuickBooks for the fund accounting required by nonprofit entities.  

MORE: Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for LifeRandy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik 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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Many of the best accountants she knows have come from non-traditional backgrounds like dance or philosophy. Megan herself worked in theater for several years before she was thrust into a finance role. Like her, these non-traditional accountants apply their native curiosity to understand how the pieces fit together. By leaning into the work and asking questions, they uncover an unknown aptitude for accounting, suggesting that perhaps we should hire for curiosity rather than compliance knowledge.  

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Five Ways to Put Success into Succession Planning

A robust mentoring program can be critical.

Three climbers helping each other up a hill

By Bill Penczak

Legendary General Electric CEO Jack Welch is reported to have lamented the choice he’d made in his successor, choosing someone based on their personality and ability to navigate the politics of the position instead of someone who could successfully lead the company into a brighter future. Welch was correct. Today, GE is a shell of its former self because of its leadership choice.

MORE: O.D. Lanier: Stepping Into Advisory | Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset | Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift |The Great Resignation: Five Reasons Accountants Are Quitting | Five Global CPA Leaders: Four Survival Strategies | Planning for Success in 2021 | Do You Have the Guts to Beat the Covid Crisis?
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Welch’s one gaping failure as an otherwise stellar executive started me thinking about the current state of baby boomer-led and owned CPA firms, and how many of them are likely to commit the succession errors of GE. Or worse, do nothing at all in terms of creating and sustaining a CPA firm into its next iteration.

As firms are giddy with the prospect of a new year and with COVID in our rear-view mirrors, here are five considerations for generational succession of a middle market firm:

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Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset

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.”

READ MORE →

6 Focuses for Managing Partners

Businessman giving instructions to his colleaguesPlus 37 specific traits for evaluation.

By August J. Aquila
What Makes a Great Partnership

According to Marc Rosenberg, managing partners should focus on the following six areas*:

MORE ON GREAT PARTNERSHIPS: 13 Points of a Good Compensation Plan | How MPs Can Make a Real Difference | 5 Reasons That Leaders Fail | 11 Things All Partners Must Do | Why Partners Need Written Goals | The 6-Step Plan for Transitioning Clients | Fighting Restraining Forces | Chemistry and Mutual Respect Matter | Great CPA Firm Partnerships Begin with Trust | The 4 Best Ways to Use Pre-Retirement Partners | Work Together Better in 11 Steps | Drop Politics, Be Accountable | What Makes a Successful Strategic Plan?
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  • Leadership
  • Profitability
  • Strategic planning
  • Team building
  • Learning/Training
  • Asset protection

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Common Leadership Traps

Businessman writing on paperAnd how the author led his own firm.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

Being a CPA firm leader requires you to “walk the talk,” make tough decisions and avoid common traps or errors that are attributable to a failure of providing persistent and consistent leadership.

MORE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING: Leadership Must Be Persistent and Consistent | Time Running Out for Succession Planning | The Benefits of a Client Situation Review | Capital Markets 101 | How to Implement Industry Practice Groups | 6 Measures of Partner Performance | Is Your Pyramid Upside Down?
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In addition to “walking the talk” personally, a CEO must drive action and change.
READ MORE →

10 Winning Traits of Accounting Firm Leaders

Businesswoman sitting in front of business meetingBONUS: 3 partners talk about what they learned on the way up.

By Marc Rosenberg
On Staffing

Let’s examine the look and feel of leadership at CPA firms.

MORE ON STAFFING: What Staff Mentoring Is and Isn’t | Staff Need Meaningful Recognition | The Importance of Great Bosses | Do Flexible Hours Help or Hurt Us? | Why Flexibility for Staff Works (and How) | The 12 Reasons Your Staff Hates Your Firm | 8 Keys to Keeping Staff Engaged | How to Create a Talent Management Strategy | What Happened to the Relevancy of the CPA Profession? | Staffing: What CPA Firms Are Learning the Hard Way
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I’m probably the millionth person to form a list of important leadership qualities, but I want to share what I have learned from working with CPA firms for over 20 years.
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The Toughest Job in the World: Managing an Accounting Practice

5 arrows curving upward5 tips for better firm management.

By August J. Aquila
What Makes a Great Partnership

Wanted: Managing Partner

Requirements: Unique individual who can lead a group of independent-minded professionals; keep some semblance of normality; deal with super egos, unproductive partners and dysfunctional partners; grow the business, stay competitive in a rapidly changing and unfriendly environment, and figure out how to compensate everyone fairly. Interested parties should send resume and salary requirements to Box AA.

Why would you want this job?

MORE ON GREAT PARTNERSHIPS: Do Your Partners Pay Their Own Way? | 7 Keys to Becoming an Equity Partner | How and Why to Achieve Partner Unity | How You Can Get Partners to Change | Are You Driving Your Best Partners Crazy? | 7 Warning Signs for Your Firm | Don’t Weed Out the Roses | Back to Basics: 25 Ways to Grow Your Practice | 3 Ways to Halt a Poor Leader | 8 Financial Ducks to Line Up Now
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Managing a practice today has never been more difficult, but it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible or not rewarding. It all depends on your focus and your willingness to solve the important problems at hand.
READ MORE →