3 Ways to Raise the Bar for Your Business
Stop allowing your business bar to maintain the status quo–or worse, lower.
By Seth Fineberg
At Large
Stop allowing your business bar to maintain the status quo–or worse, lower.
By Seth Fineberg
At Large
Taking steps “little and often” works, but you have to get started.
By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership
A big concern in recent years has been how the incoming partners will purchase equity or fund the capital account and exit of a retiring partner.
Much has been written that examines the mathematical complexities of this topic but the bottom line is simple. Would-be partners in the age demographic of 28-42 are part of a generation who are already heavily borrowed in the form of credit card debt, mortgage debt and other forms of personal loans.
Their capacity to borrow in the current economy is extremely limited and it would appear that this will be the environment for the foreseeable future. In turn, banks’ willingness to lend has also been largely withdrawn in recent years.
This has produced a cash impasse that has forced partners to consider gifting equity, especially on the basis of time served in the firm. There is not scope within this piece to give full examination of best practice within this area except to highlight that 72 percent of partners surveyed highlighted that a senior manager’s ability to “buy in” to the firm and assume responsibility for funding the retirement plans of exiting partners was among their top three concerns about passing their practice on to existing employees.
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Twelve things to do before you get busy again.
By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice
Question: Do you have any suggestions for the New Year?
Answer: Checklist of things to do in the New Year:
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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The causative difference? Look at the amount of work delegated downward.
By CPA Trendlines Research
The AICPA’s 2023 National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) survey has detected some of what distinguishes firms that stand out as top performers.
The survey defines top performers as the top 25 percent of firms based on net remaining per partner.
MORE: Business Booming, but Not as Much as Last Year | Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously | FTC Nails TurboTax for ‘Free Filing’ Scam | Can’t IRS Online Accounts Be More Useful? | Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better | Tax Pros Are Expanding and Earning More
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More, More, More
What makes a CPA firm a top performer? In a nutshell, more:
Or else you’ll turn into a pumpkin – or something.
By Bruce Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0
EDITOR’S NOTE: CPA Trendlines was privileged to have a long relationship with Bruce W. Marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. We are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.
Your mother raised you to be nice to everyone, and you’ve always been taught to be nice to journalists. Answer their questions. Tell them everything. Stop what you’re doing and cooperate. Be polite.
That’s the conventional wisdom. You’ve even read that in The Marcus Letter. But are there ever times to tell the press to bug off, and leave you alone? Maybe.
MORE: When There’s a Leak in Your Firm | Creating the Perfect Ad | How Hard Do You Work to Keep Your Clients? | When Clients Think They Know Marketing | How to Put Target Marketing into Context | Everyone in Your Firm Is Marketing | Accountants vs. Lawyers: Who Wins the Marketing Battle? | Professional Services Marketing Requires Flexibility | How to Set Marketing Objectives | How Marketing in Accounting Has Evolved | Accountants Don’t Sell Soap.
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On the face of it, the media seems to have all the power. They speak to a lot more people than you do, and they do it with what the general public accepts, usually unquestioningly and with little reason, as objectivity.
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Hourly billing on the decline but still holding on.
By CPA Trendlines Research
By all indications, CPA firms are outperforming the general economy by a very satisfying margin.
But are they charging enough?
MORE: ChatGPT for the Reluctant CPA | CPAs Needed to Help Small Biz Adopt AI | Revenue Growth Is Top Priority for Small Firms | Survey Shows Challenges, Priorities Shifting | Survey Shows That Tech Remains the Great Divide | Is the CPA Business Model the Clog in the Pipeline? | Can Big Data Spot Financial Fraud? | Will Unclogging the Accounting Pro Pipeline Kill Mobility? | Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS | Accountants Torn Over 2024 Economy, Offer Advice | Accountants Bullish on Income
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All categories of median net fees show substantial increases from 2021 to 2023 in the latest AICPA National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey: