Today's Features
ADVISORY & CONSULTING

How to Keep Your Best Clients

Make a PE displacement window calendar work for you.

By Hitendra Patil

An East Coast firm owner reached out to me about a year after a private equity-backed competitor had acquired a smaller firm in her market. She had expected to lose clients to the newly expanded firm. What she had not expected was to gain three of theirs.

MORE by Hitendra Patil
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Those three clients had been with the acquired firm for years. They left within six months of the acquisition, and the reason had nothing to do with the quality of the work. The relationship had changed after the PE deal, not just new systems, new staff and new processes. The partner who had been their main contact for a decade was focused on transition and integration work and harder to reach. The clients had not been unhappy exactly, but they were back in the market. That is the part of the PE consolidation story that gets told less often. Acquisitions create client movement, and not all of it flows toward the acquiring firm.
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ABOUT US

Bissett Bullet: How Much is Too Much?

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “What level of detail should I go into during my first meeting with a prospective client?”

By Martin Bissett

There is no hard or fast rule and so the answer to this question is – it depends. The level of detail should be governed by how much the business is willing to discuss their situation with us. When it comes to talking about them, their business and what they find challenging, there is no such thing as too much detail. The more you discover, the better your understanding will be of how you can best help them and the stronger your proposal will be as a result.

Today’s To-Do:

In readiness for your next meeting, remember – the two things you don’t want to do are a) talk about price and b) bore them rigid with the ins and outs of YOUR firm. Arrive ready to talk about THEM.

See more Bissett Bullets here

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ACCOUNTING ARC

Why Relationships Still Drive Career Success | ARC

Connections create career opportunities, resilience, and leadership growth.

Sponsored by True Advisor: The Definitive Success Guide for Client Advisory Services by Hitendra Patil |
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The step-by-step operating guide for firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

In the accounting profession, technical excellence is expected. However, according to the latest episode of Accounting ARC, relationships — not just work product — often determine who grows, who leads, and who thrives. 

In a candid and deeply personal conversation, Liz Mason, CPA, and Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, explore how relationship-building shapes careers, creates opportunity, and provides stability in an unpredictable profession.  

MORE Accounting ARC: The Real Problem with AI in Accounting | AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich Generation | Built Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” Frontier | Why Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting |

Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting, opens the discussion by reflecting on how little emphasis the profession places on teaching interpersonal skills. Patrick, senior product manager for Karbon and co-founder and part-time educator for TB Academy, agrees. “You don’t learn it in college,” he says. “There’s no course on building relationships.”

That gap, they argue, becomes especially obvious early in a professional’s career. 

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MARKETING & SALES

Four Downsides of a Production Orientation

Hand moving triangle along beam to indicate balance between price and value

Where to focus instead.

By August Aquila
MAX: Maximize Productivity, Profitability and Client Retention

An emphasis on production (billable hours) can have negative consequences for an accounting firm. An emphasis on billable hours causes professionals to focus on internal measurements, i.e., the number of hours charged to a client, and not external measurements such as client satisfaction.

MORE by August J. Aquila
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They also emphasize the technical aspect of accounting work and keep professionals from developing a marketing mindset. Let’s look at the four negative consequences of a production orientation.
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CHECKLIST

What Happens to Your Firm If You Die? Seriously.


Get the free practice-continuation toolkit.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

One morning, my wife and I were having breakfast, and she asked me, “What do I do if you and Peter get killed?”

DOWNLOAD: Practice Continuation in Event of a Death or Disability Sample Agreement and Letter of Instruction, Prepared by Ed Mendlowitz

This was a Friday, and Peter Weitsen and I were flying together on Sunday to a conference in Palm Springs. My response to these questions was typical: “Don’t bother me. Nothing will happen!”
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