Partner Succession: It’s All About Client Transition and Retention

By Gary Adamson, CPA
Adamson Advisory

CPA firms are wrestling their way through partner retirements and the accompanying succession issues in numbers that the profession has never seen before. It’s the Baby Boomer Bubble, up close and personal.

Our succession planning should focus on replacing that retiring partner’s contribution on several fronts. Depending on the role of the retiring partner in the firm we will experience varying levels of pain surrounding things like replacing significant knowledge or technical expertise, back-filling a block of hours to get the work done and shoring up voids left in firm leadership. These are all significant issues and deserve a plan of their own.

But the biggie is the transition of client relationships.

Posted on June 30, 2013

Gary Adamson

About the Author

Gary Adamson, CPA, is the CEO of Adamson Advisory, a CPA practice management consulting firm. Bringing both his managing partner and consulting experience to the table, he specializes in succession planning and strategies, firm governance and management, merger and acquisition assistance, strategic planning and firm retreats, partner compensation systems, partner agreements and retirement, partner coaching. Gary is one of the few CPA firm consultants with Managing Partner on his résumé. He led a top 200 CPA firm for over twenty years growing it from a small local practice to a regional four office firm. His experience goes deep with personal first-hand knowledge of the challenges you face in your firm, each day. Adding to that, he has consulted with over 60 firms, bringing that broader knowledge and best practices into every engagement. Gary is a frequent speaker at professional conferences including state societies, associations and the AICPA. His articles have been published in over 40 professional publications. Gary’s professional background includes: Graduate of Indiana University, School of Business, Graduate of the Leading Professional Service Firms curriculum at Harvard University Business School, Indiana CPA Society Board member and Audit Committee Chairman, Ohio Society of CPA’s Council of Leaders, AICPA MAP Committee member, AICPA G400 Steering Committee member, and Member of CPA Consultants’ Alliance.

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