Steven Sacks, Author at CPA Trendlines

What Sets Your Firm Apart … If Anything?

How to be different in a changing market.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Your firm conducts audits, prepares tax returns and offers some consulting services. Yours is one of 42,000 non-Big 4 firms in this country, a large majority of which offer the same three packages. Firms in the same geographic market may not serve the same slate of industries, but through hiring niche expertise or merging in a firm can make inroads into the same markets.

MORE: Why Deadlines Get Missed | Too Busy? You May Need to Reprioritize | Who Needs Another Meeting? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations
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This happens frequently, making a competitive market even more crowded. The challenge that your firm faces is how do you show a real value-added distinction from the firms you compete against? Differentiation does not mean a relaxed dress-code policy.
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Why Deadlines Get Missed

You might have to rethink how they’re established.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Distractions, distractions and more distractions, coupled with deadlines. Ah, deadlines! Those are the bête noire of executives, journalists, record producers, book authors and anyone else in the workforce whose deliverables are expected by a certain date.

MORE: Too Busy? You May Need to Reprioritize | Is It Time to Outsource? | Five Reasons You’re Not SWOT-Ready | Who Needs Another Meeting? | 4 Questions for CPA Firm Boards | Are You Productive or Just Busy? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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And what about those dates? Are they arbitrary or do they have the real urgency of, say, a court order?
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Too Busy? You May Need to Reprioritize

Five steps to better time management.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Some firms encourage expanding workloads, creating questionable tasks or keeping people occupied under the pretense that their actual activities provide real value. What is the meaning of busy, really? And how are outcomes from efforts measured for value?

MORE: Is It Time to Outsource? | Five Reasons You’re Not SWOT-Ready | Who Needs Another Meeting? | 4 Questions for CPA Firm Boards | Are You Productive or Just Busy? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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Part of the illusion of being busy is that you can master many things at the same time. It certainly would keep you busy (or occupied) but you won’t nurture new skills and discover what your real aptitude is to help yourself and/or your firm.
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Is It Time to Outsource?

A swiftly changing environment demands flexibility.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

One of the revelations arising from the Great Recession was that CPA firms found they could do more with less human resources, or at least maintain the same level of productivity. We are now operating in what is referred to as the gig economy, in which important functions can be outsourced and firms and companies can still focus on core competencies that impact growth and profitability.

ROUND 3: Five Reasons You’re Not SWOT-Ready | Who Needs Another Meeting? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations
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Because it is increasingly challenging to maintain high standards in all functions while still focusing on core competencies that drive growth, seeking outside help is becoming an attractive option. So, when should you outsource services?
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Determining Your Firm’s Social Contract

It starts and ends with people.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

You read about companies every day: those that separate themselves from the competition by disrupting the norms and those that remain steadfast, much to their detriment. For the former, think about Amazon, Uber, Netflix and other “change agents.” Now, think about the latter: JCPenney, Kmart and Sears.

MORE: Five Reasons You’re Not SWOT-Ready | Who Needs Another Meeting? | 4 Questions for CPA Firm Boards | Are You Productive or Just Busy? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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As the late chairman and CEO of Intel, Andy Grove said, “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”
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Five Reasons You’re Not SWOT-Ready

The tool works. But you need the prerequisites.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

CPA firms that seek to position themselves for the future must be brutally honest and self-aware. They might normally start with a top-down or bottom-up analysis of their operations. One tool that has been around forever is the SWOT analysis.

MORE: Who Needs Another Meeting? | 4 Questions for CPA Firm Boards | Are You Productive or Just Busy? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. There are benefits to this tool because it serves as a motivator to examine a situation (e.g., operational, cultural, financial), assess core competencies and capabilities, identify the need to (and key drivers of) change and enable – if conducted correctly – an organizational cross-section of input and insight.
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Who Needs Another Meeting?

Better question: Why?

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

When in doubt, call a meeting. Jeez! How many hours in the U.S. are cumulatively wasted on a daily basis with meetings?

MORE: 4 Questions for CPA Firm Boards | Are You Productive or Just Busy? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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Are they really necessary?

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4 Questions for CPA Firm Boards

Do members know their role?

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

The purpose behind an organization creating a board is not to micromanage, design a company logo or address human resource issues. Neither is its role to sit around and smoke Cohiba Esplendido cigars and sip Louis XIII de Remy Martin Grande cognac.

MORE: Are You Productive or Just Busy? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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This glad-handing, back-slapping culture led to the financial breakdowns in the early 2000s and probably still is happening at this writing.
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Is Your Mission Statement Really a Wish List?

3 questions it should answer.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Do you think your staff knows what your company’s or firm’s mission statement is?

Wait. Let me back up. Does your staff even know that such a mission statement exists?

MORE: Are You Productive or Just Busy? | The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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My guess is no and no. Does your organization explain to everyone what actually defines success and the framework for achieving it?
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Are You Productive or Just Busy?

Your firm may need to change its culture.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Did you ever notice when you call an associate or a friend or a business of any type, more often than not he or she will always respond with “I’m really busy” or “I’ve been jammed up”? It does not matter the time of the year, much less the time of week or day.

MORE: The Five Big Rules for PowerPoint Presentations | How Aging Boomers Impact the Accounting Profession | Accounting Is a Profession, Not an Industry
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Has busy become too colloquial or just a throwaway line? What is actually meant by “busy”? Or, more specifically, what is the condition of “busyness”?

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Steven Sacks

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Steven Sacks, CPA, CGMA, ABC, has been at the forefront of the accounting profession for 30 years.

He is the author of
"The NEW Fundamentals: Practical Guidance for Today’s Accounting Firms,"
available here from CPA Trendlines.

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His involvement included the development of the first set of consulting standards, the creation of the Accredited in Business Valuation credential, the publication of practice management guides and award-winning newsletters, and addressing business development and organizational management in both the public and private sectors. He has served professional service firms and membership associations through the deliverance of leading-edge conferences, presented to colleges and universities on careers in accounting, and created workshops, webinars, and webcasts on a variety of accounting and consulting topics.

As the CEO and founder of Solutions to Results LLC, Steven assists professional service firms and organizations to solve the challenges of human capital development, workplace culture, and developing effective internal and external communication strategies and techniques. Previously, as executive director of Moore Stephens North America, he served CPA firms with conferences, webinars, workshops, various communication vehicles (including a multi-year, award-winning association newsletter), and a skills database for the development of domestic and international engagement referrals. At the AICPA, he developed strategies and business plans for growing the consulting services membership section; published technical service and practice management guides; participated in the creation of the first set of standards for consulting services; led the creation of the Accredited in Business Valuation credential; developed niche conferences in valuation, litigation support and forensic services; and presented to colleges and universities about CPA consulting careers.

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