2 Search Results for aquila+"creating the effective partnership"

Eleven Possible Pitfalls of Mergers

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illustration of merger: four jigsaw puzzle pieces, each held by a different person's hand

What is driving the sale? Is your firm ready?

By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services

The trend for small and midsized CPA firms to merge is accelerating as the competitive environment becomes even more demanding. While hundreds of firms merge every year, history continually shows that at some point in the future, things don’t always work out. Like marriage, some mergers are successful while a great majority fail. Many of the reasons for failure can be avoided if firms do their homework at the front end before entering the merger.

MORE: Dodge the Four Curses of a Production Orientation | Clients Buy Solutions, Not Features | Make Sure You Know What You Will Get from Your Marketing | Three Pillars Support a Successful Accounting Firm | Clients Have Six Reasons for Needing You | Six Ways to Market Your Technology Consulting Practice | Sixteen Marketing Activities to Try | The Four Steps of Your Personal Marketing Process | How Does Your Firm Measure Up? | Six Questions Before Asking for All the Referrals You Deserve | Five Rules for a Marketing Orientation | Ten Keys to Marketing Success
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The merger and acquisition drivers are constantly changing. Some of the drivers we see today are a constantly changing marketplace, the creation of megafirms beyond the Big 4, the sophistication of clients, the high demand for qualified people, technology, the cost of acquiring new clients, and finally, the accounting industry being in a mature market.

As we will see, most mergers fail because of non-financial reasons. Unlike the sale of the manufacturing company, mergers of accounting firms are a lot more difficult to accomplish.
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Dodge the Four Curses of a Production Orientation

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BONUS: An illustration using two firms, one oriented to both production and marketing.

By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services

An emphasis on production (billable hours) can have negative consequences for an accounting firm. An emphasis on billable hours causes professionals to focus on internal measurements, i.e., the number of hours charged to a client, and not external measurements such as client satisfaction.

MORE: Clients Buy Solutions, Not Features | Six Ways to Expand Your Client Services Checklist | Ten Questions to Refine Your Successful Marketing Plan | Four Questions for Choosing Your Marketing Audit Strategies | Four Steps to a Successful Email Marketing Campaign | Five Reasons to Implement Change Orders | Make Your Practice Better | Eleven Marketing Strategies for Smaller Firms
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

It also emphasizes the technical aspect of accounting work and keeps professionals from developing a marketing mindset. Let’s look at the four negative consequences of a production orientation.
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