Gary Adamson, Author at CPA Trendlines

Today’s Top Trends in Deals and Valuations for CPA Firm Mergers and Sales

The eight most important facts in settling on a multiple.

With the merger-and-acquisitions frenzy showing no signs of slowing down, practice owners seem to be checking almost daily: What’s my practice worth?

“One thing is for sure,” says Gary Adamson, former CEO of Brady Ware, a top 200 firm, now providing advisory services for firms across the country, “Baby Boomers are selling at a rate that the profession has never seen before.”

It’s still a sellers’ market, he says. But that could change soon, he says, citing “the demographics and the thousands of practices that will soon come onto the market.”

In this report, Adamson addresses:

the question of valuing a practice
two basic types of deals
the value of a multiple
eight critical components to making a deal
the effect of size of practice on valuation
profitability
down payment
transitions READ MORE →

OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

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. READ MORE →

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Why Solo CPAs Won’t Sell Out

And what to do about it if you want to buy their practice. What is it about the sole practitioner that prevents them from doing something that seems to make so much sense? They need to do something soon about … Continued

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Valuing Your Practice for Partner Retirements

How to brace yourself for the “Baby Boomer Bubble.”

By Gary Adamson, CPA

I think about the BBB a lot. No, this BBB is not the Better Business Bureau; it is the Baby Boomer Bubble. There is constant reference by the news media about the aging of the Baby Boomers but I for one did not know exactly what it meant. Until I Googled it.

What I found is not good news for the accounting profession. The BBB is 76 million of us born in the United States between 1946 and 1964 and we are fairly evenly spread through those 19 years. That means the oldest of this huge bubble are 4 million folks who turned 65 last year. And, we have another 18 years to go! READ MORE →

MANAGEMENT

How to Create a No-Equity Partner Position in Your Firm

It may be the answer to keeping talented people.

by Gary Adamson, CPA

Most firms are faced with the dilemma of keeping long term managers who are major contributors to the firm but for whatever reason are not ready to be equity partners (or who perhaps never will have what it takes to be equity partners).

Here is a seven-point outline of what the no-equity position looks like, how it differs from the normal equity partner spot and some considerations to implement it in your firm.

OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Seven Pearls of Wisdom for the New Managing Partner

A thankless job: Divide, conquer and delegate.

Most CPAs are thrust into the managing partner role with little or no training or coaching. Who teaches you to be an effective managing partner? How do you know if you’re performing well?

Your partners won’t tell you. If you’re new to the job, do you just do it the same way as your predecessor? Is that the best approach for the firm? Who will mentor you?

Gary Adamason, longtime managing partner of Dayton, Ohio-based, BradyWare, has been there, done that, and come back with a few wise words:

More at CPA Trendlines: What a Coach Can Do for You | How to Balance the Six Jobs of Managing Partner | The Partner Compensation Checklist | How CPA Firms Make Money in Turbulent Times

There are not too many places to turn for help. Whether you are new or a veteran, here is an approach to organizing the job with a focus on dividing and conquering and delegating when necessary. READ MORE →

LEADERSHIP

What a Coach Can Do for You – and Your Firm

Five tough questions and five good tips to take your firm and your personal effectiveness to the next level.

Gary Adamson, former managing partner of Brady Ware CPAs, has become a living legend in the profession for taking his firm from a small, local player to a regional contender. But he’s the first to admit he didn’t do it alone. Coaching helped. In fact, during his career at the firm, he used two business coaches.

He learned a lot, and now he’s sharing what he learned with CPA Trendlines.

LEADERSHIP

How to Balance the Six Jobs of Managing Partner

You run the job, or it runs you over.

by Gary Adamson
Adamson Advisory

Most of us are thrust into the managing partner role in our firms with little or no training or coaching. Who teaches you to be an effective MP? How do you know if you’re performing well?

Your partners won’t tell you. If you’re new to the job, do you just do it the same way as your predecessor? Is that the best approach for the firm? Who will mentor you?

As I can attest from experience in running my firm for over 20 years, it is a thankless job. I just took a deep breath and jumped in. The best feedback that most of us get is from other managing partners and from benchmarking ourselves against other firms. There are not too many places to turn for help.

Whether you are new at the job or a veteran, here is an approach to organizing the job into six buckets that will help you. It is how I approached the responsibilities and it lends itself to dividing and conquering with the ability to delegate some responsibilities.

Here are my six buckets: READ MORE →

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