Edward Mendlowitz, Author at CPA Trendlines

Hold Staff Accountable If You Want Them to Listen to You

Concrete steps for effective staff management.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

Question: My staff doesn’t listen to me. To be able to manage and control my business, I need them to prepare a monthly schedule of what they plan on doing that month. I further need to know each morning if they did what they were supposed to do the previous day, and whether there was anything not done, or anything extra that wasn’t planned on.

MORE: When Selling a Firm to Staffers Is Tricky | Want to Merge? Six Steps to Take | How to Start Providing Family Office Services | Every Accounting Firm Needs Quality Control | No One Listens to You? Change How You Talk | 47 Types of Business Valuation to Provide | Thirteen Things to Consider Before You Sell Your Practice
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My problem is that they don’t give me the schedule and then don’t call or email me to tell me what they did. I really need to know this stuff and can’t figure out how to get them to do it. What can you suggest?
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MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

When Selling a Firm to Staffers Is Tricky

Two writers have similar problems.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

I received two related questions, which I’ll answer together.

First Question: I am nearing retirement and want to sell my practice to two longtime staff people, but they don’t get along, and I’m afraid to sell to them. What should I do?

MORE: Want to Merge? Six Steps to Take | How to Raise Your Rates | Higher Fees to Start: Ten Ways to Make Your Tax Season Better | Three Ways to Start an Accounting Practice | Free Consultation? Not Always | Referral Fee? Forget It | How Much Is Your Tax Practice Worth? | Merge in Lower-Priced Work without Losing Out
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Second Question: I have a large individual tax practice, but also have an audit practice that is handled by different staff in my firm. How do I sell this practice? None of the larger buyers want the tax clients and none of the smaller buyers want the audit clients.

PRO Member Exclusive

Letting Staff Go After Tax Season? Bad Idea

Eight reasons they might be more valuable than you think.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

QUESTION: I am planning on letting go of some staff after April 15 and will hire replacements at a higher level. Any suggestions?

MORE ON TAX SEASON: Ten Tax Prep Questions That People Forget to Ask | Try This Clean Slate Exercise | Offer Your Tax Clients Other Services | Can Your Tax Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | The Top 12 Mistakes in Tax Return Preparation | Six Types of Person: Which Are You? | Answer These Two Questions First | Help Your Tax Clients, Help Yourself | What’s Your Value to Your Tax Clients? | Are You Excited About Tax Season?
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

RESPONSE: 1) Your implication is that you will hire replacements at a higher level.

I do not like that. I like hiring out of school and training internally. I’ve written about this many times and shared my ideas ad infinitum and will not repeat that here because you can search back to previous Q&As (or read my 30:30 Training Method book).
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MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Want to Merge? Six Steps to Take

BONUS: Key considerations in evaluating a practice continuation agreement.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

Question: What I should do about merging? I need a specific answer.

MORE: How to Raise Your Rates | Courting a Client? Don’t Give Too Much Away for Free | Nine Tips for a Healthier Tax Season | Fifteen Strategies for First-Time Supervisors | Measure Knowledge Gaps (Then Close Them) | Should You Offer Financial Services? | Ready to Retire? Selling Your Practice Is No Strategy | 20 Things You Need for a Business Valuation
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Response: I can’t give you an easy answer. I can give you a process to follow that should provide an answer. Actually, this works pretty well and I’ve gotten good feedback from many colleagues. I’ve also rethought it many times, and still think this is the way to go about it.

PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

How to Raise Your Rates

Clients who complain aren’t walking away, just haggling.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

Question: I haven’t raised my fees in three years. How do I suddenly go about it now and how much should I raise them?

MORE: Courting a Client? Don’t Give Too Much Away for Free | How to Start Providing Family Office Services | Every Accounting Firm Needs Quality Control | No One Listens to You? Change How You Talk | 47 Types of Business Valuation to Provide | Thirteen Things to Consider Before You Sell Your Practice | Uncooperative Partner Might Not be the Problem
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Also, I have many business clients where the individual returns are done as part of the yearly service with extra billing. How can I start charging for this?
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Why Exceptional Service Matters

And why it has to come from EVERYONE.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

This time, I have a question for you. But I’ll start with a story.

Last Sunday evening my wife and I went into a reasonably upscale restaurant and we had terrible service from everyone we interacted with.

MORE: Courting a Client? Don’t Give Too Much Away for Free | How to Start Providing Family Office Services | Every Accounting Firm Needs Quality Control | No One Listens to You? Change How You Talk | 47 Types of Business Valuation to Provide | Thirteen Things to Consider Before You Sell Your Practice | Uncooperative Partner Might Not be the Problem
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

When we were seated, the table wobbled and we asked if they could do something or move us to another table. Ten minutes later someone showed up with a wad of napkins that made it worse. Five minutes later they asked if we were okay, and put us at another table. Ten minutes after that they took our order, but we asked for some drinks right away, which we only got after we complained to the manager.
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Ten Tax Prep Questions That People Forget to Ask

Your clients will appreciate the attention to detail.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Many professionals fail to systematically ask clients some basic and important questions. Here’s my top 10 list of key questions to ask this year. What would you add?

MORE ON TAX SEASON: Try This Clean Slate Exercise | Offer Your Tax Clients Other Services | Can Your Tax Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | The Top 12 Mistakes in Tax Return Preparation | Six Types of Person: Which Are You? | Answer These Two Questions First | Help Your Tax Clients, Help Yourself | What’s Your Value to Your Tax Clients? | Are You Excited About Tax Season?
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

1. Foreign bank accounts: Make certain you ask every client if they have a foreign account and if they do, report the income and file the proper forms. The penalties are too great if it is wrong.

MANAGEMENT

Courting a Client? Don’t Give Too Much Away for Free

What to say instead.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

Question: I usually give away too much info at a meeting to get a new client.

MORE: How to Start Providing Family Office Services | Higher Fees to Start: Ten Ways to Make Your Tax Season Better | Three Ways to Start an Accounting Practice | Free Consultation? Not Always | Referral Fee? Forget It | How Much Is Your Tax Practice Worth? | Merge in Lower-Priced Work without Losing Out
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

We simply answer too many of their questions during the initial meeting. We don’t know how much info to give away so the possible new client will get hooked and not take the information and run to somebody else.
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Edward Mendlowitz

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Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, ABV, PFS, is a partner at Withum, a forward-thinking, technology-driven advisory, and accounting firm. Ed has over 40 years of public accounting experience, is recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today, and is the CPA Trendlines "Practice Doctor."

His latest handbook is 77 Ways to Wow! The Handbook for Small-Business Advisory Services.

Click here to send Ed your toughest questions and comments.

Ed Mendlowitz in the CPA Trendlines Store:

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He is a licensed certified public accountant in the states of New Jersey and New York and is accredited by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in business valuation (ABV), certified in financial forensics (CFF) and as a personal financial specialist (PFS). Ed is also admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and has testified as an expert witness in federal and state court regarding business valuations, and twice at the House Ways and Means Committee on tax reform, fairness, and reduction. A graduate of City College of New York, Ed earned his bachelor of business administration degree.

He is a member of the AICPA, the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA). In addition, Ed was a founding partner of Mendlowitz Weitsen, LLP, CPAs, which merged with Withum in 2005. Currently, he serves on the NYSSCPA Estate Planning Committee and was chairman of the committee that planned the NYSSCPA’s 100th Anniversary. The author of 19 books, Ed has also written hundreds of articles for business and professional journals and newsletters.

He is the contributing editor to the Practitioners Publishing Company’s 706/709 Deskbook, and the AICPA’s Management of an Accounting Practice Handbook, Corporate Controller’s Handbook and Wiley’s Handbook on Budgeting and is on the editorial board of Bottom Line/Personal newsletter and the Journal of Accountancy Member Panel on Business Valuation. Appearing regularly on television news programs, Ed has also been quoted in numerous major newspapers and periodicals in the United States. He is the recipient of the Lawler Award for the best article published during 2001 in the Journal of Accountancy.

Ed is a frequent speaker to many professional and business groups, including the AICPA, NJSCPA, NYSSCPA, American Management Association, the National Committee for Monetary Reform, University of Medicine and Dentistry in N.J., and many more. For 11 years, he taught courses on financial analysis, corporate financial policy and theory, monetary and fiscal policy, and managerial accounting in the MBA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

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