Tommye Barie, Author at CPA Trendlines

The Finance Side of Goals and Compensation

Remember the “one firm” concept is at the core of this discussion.

Previously we reviewed the goal-setting process, including which person or group should orchestrate which parts of it. Now we will conclude the discussion by walking through the financial side of assessing goal accomplishment and how it works when considering actual firm profits.

MORE: The Partner Comp Battleground | If You Don’t Eat What You Kill, What Do You Eat? | 3 Ways to Emphasize the One-Firm Concept | 8 Steps for a Successful Change Process | Building Competency on Every Level | Change Happens: How to Master It.
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Let’s start with some statistics from our latest Succession Planning survey, which we did in partnership with the AICPA’s PCPS. The following tables show information regarding compensation systems, broken down by size of firm (by full-time equivalent [FTEs] which includes everyone, from administrative to staff to partner): READ MORE →

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The Partner Comp Battleground

Who decides and how, including setting and monitoring goals.

By Tommye Barie
The Succession Insitute

Previously we reviewed the goal-setting process, introduced how the managing partner should orchestrate the partner goal-setting process and discussed why the goals should be based on normal expectations of any partner rather than on the exceptional performance of a specific partner. Now let’s discuss who is in charge of what parts of the compensation-setting process and more.

MORE: If You Don’t Eat What You Kill, What Do You Eat? | 3 Ways to Emphasize the One-Firm Concept | 8 Steps for a Successful Change Process | Building Competency on Every Level | Change Happens: How to Master It.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Who’s in charge of what parts of compensation?

Once the decision has been made to implement systemic changes to hold partners accountable to specific performance expectations rather just relying on everyone to put in a self-proclaimed “good day’s work,” the next battleground is how compensation is determined and who is responsible for which parts of the process.

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What Happens When You DON’T Push Work Down

“Stop defaulting to asking every talented person you have to work more hours doing stuff other people can and should be doing.”

By Tommye Barie
The Succession Insitute

As we said in our previous column, Why You Must Constantly Push Work Down, we are talking about how firms will need to alter their thinking regarding outsourcing, administrative support and the administrative time of partners and managers. We discuss how the lack of delegation impedes competency development, why partners working more hours end up creating a weaker bench, and more.

Outsourcing

In this case, we are talking about outsourcing offshore. For many years, firms turned away from this idea because of the fact that they need to inform their clients that the services they provide were not 100 percent made in America. And most of our firms would say something like, “Our clients won’t tolerate us shipping their data overseas” or “Our clients will leave us if we outsource some of our work to India or China.” Both of those statements continue to be proven wrong every day.
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Tommye Barie

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Tommye Barie is executive vice president of leadership development at The Succession Institute, where she drives results and collaboration through balanced inspirational and strategic leadership.

Barie is a recently retired partner of one of the 100 largest full-service accounting and consulting firms in the US. After more than thirty years as an audit and assurance partner, and as her last charge before retirement, she launched the firm’s client advisory services practice. She served on the firm’s audit and assurance committee and the firm’s FAST (forward and strategic thinking) committee.

Barie has a proven track record of leadership and visioning with various organizations. Her thought leadership on culture, strategy, and innovation led to Tommye being recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in the accounting profession, as published in Accounting Today. Additionally, the Michigan Society of CPAs recognized her with their Outstanding Visionary Award.

In addition to serving her former accounting firm, Barie is among the most well-known and highly respected leaders in the accounting profession. During 2014-2015 she served as Chair of the Board of the American Institute of CPAs, and she previously served as Chair of the Florida Institute of CPAs. She has also served on the board of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s Center for Public Trust.

Barie is actively involved in the international accounting profession and currently represents the United States as a board member of the International Federation of Accountants. She also chairs the governance committee and leads the organization’s constitutional review process.

Barie has always placed importance on leveraging her leadership skills and experiences to influence the lives of young professionals. Throughout her career, she has mentored and guided women and men in her own firm and in the many firms she has worked with throughout the United States. Additionally, she enjoys serving on the College of Business Advisory Boards for Stetson University and the University of South Florida.

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Outsourcing