Today's Features
MANAGEMENT

Realign Partners with Monthly Meetings

Happy business professionals giving high five hand slap

Everyone needs to be on the same page. Here’s how.

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

Question: There seems to be disagreement among our partners on important issues in running our practice and we never seem to have time to discuss it or work things out. We are a three-partner firm with 15 employees and no one is designated as managing partner.

MORE: I’m 76. Should I Slow Down? How? | Who to Hire When It’s Time to Grow | The Top Tip for Reviewing Tax Returns | You Can’t Win with Lowballing | Yes, You Have to Share Work Papers | Should You Merge? Here’s How to Chart Your Path | Hold Staff Accountable If You Want Them to Listen to You | 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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Answer: A suggestion is to have monthly partner meetings out of the office and an annual retreat. Both of these have been covered previously but I will add some new ideas here.
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SPECIAL

1 in 4 Accounting Professionals Want More DEI

Two in three workplaces do no DEI.

From the Center for Accounting Transformation

About one-fourth of accounting professionals would like to increase their activity in DEI programs, according to new research from the Center for Accounting Transformation. However, only about 30 percent of accounting organizations implement DEI initiatives.

Findings reported during the webinar, “The DEI Journey of Accounting Professionals – A Research Study Analysis.” See the webinar here.

Use the CPA Trendlines code “CPATransform-50” for 50 percent off at the Center for Accounting Transformation

Featured panelists included:

  • Jina Etienne, CPA, CGMA, CDE; Founder & Principal Consultant, Etienne Consulting
  • Mary Bennett, MBA, CIA, CEC; CEO, MLBennett Consulting LLC
  • Stephani Mason, CPA, Ph.D.; Associate Professor, School of Accountancy & MIS, DePaul Driehaus College of Business & Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
  • Claire Costin, CPA, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor, University of Portland

Underscoring the importance of linking DEI efforts to business strategies to secure executive support, Costin said, “Many executives self-identified as bystanders in the DEI journey, indicating a need for greater engagement at the top levels of organizations.”

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PRO Member Exclusive

How Remote Work Is Impacting Accounting Firms

remote worker at computer types on phone with dog nearby

Question: Can remote employees become partners?

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Staff: Managing Your #1 Asset

Remote work is undeniably changing how the CPA industry works. It’s been incredibly challenging for firms – from grappling with how to handle staff onboarding, training and mentoring to trying to maintain pre-pandemic client relationships and business development levels.

MORE: Make Work Flexibility Work for Everyone | Why Staff Leave CPA Firms … and How to Stop Them | How to Solve the Big Disconnect in Talent Management | What Relevance Means for Staffing in Accounting | How Accounting Staffing Has Changed
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

In light of the pandemic that began in 2020, Rosenberg Associates surveyed more than 130 firms in 2022 asking them a multitude of questions about what options they are offering their staff (remote, hybrid, in-person) and how remote work has impacted various aspects of their business, including business development, client relationships and staff development. Our findings were enlightening in many ways and provided great insights. Here are some of the results from that survey as they pertain to flexible work options and the effects on their staff:

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STREAMING NETWORK

Joe Kovacs: Why the Digital Brand Experience is Essential | Capstone Conversations

Capstone Conversations
Informal and informative discussions with leading growth strategists from the nation’s most dynamic CPA firms.

Stream, listen, download, and subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS

Capstone Conversations
By Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

The greatest challenge in marketing CPA firms is understanding the role of technology and how different generations of clients and prospects want to engage, Joe Kovacs, marketing and biz dev director at Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell, tells Jean Caragher in this episode of Capstone Conversations.

Follow Jean Caragher on CPA Trendlines here. | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | Catch Jean Caragher’s other show, Gear Up for Growth, on Fridays here. | And browse all the shows in the CPA Trendlines broadcast network here

“We need to stay current, not just in knowing the technology, but how consumers are using it and making decisions,” Kovacs says. “Especially since the pandemic, the digital brand experience has become essential. Understanding that digital brand experience is essential. “It’s a never-ending challenge. It’s exciting but also a little terrifying sometimes.”

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