Today's Features
LEADERSHIP

Megan Robinson: Leadership Isn’t a Promotion; It’s a Skill Firms Need to Build | MOVE Like This

“We’re expecting engagement without creating an environment people actually want to engage in.”

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Megan Robinson, founder and CEO of E Leader Experience, joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to talk about one of the most common and costly mistakes firms make: assuming strong performers will naturally become strong leaders.

MORE MOVE Like This | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

At the center of the conversation is a clear distinction. Technical excellence and leadership effectiveness are not the same skill set. Yet in many firms, top producers are promoted into management roles without the training or support needed to succeed. The result is frustration on both sides: leaders who feel unprepared and teams that don’t feel supported. READ MORE →

PRO Member Exclusive

Innovate to Create Your Firm’s Vision

flip chart with sticky notes on it; people in background

Break out the sticky notes.

By Matt Rampe

The satisfaction of a robust shared vision is often short-lived.

MORE by Matt Rampe
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I often know it’s time to move to the next stage when a partner anxiously asks, “How are we going to do all that?” To answer that question, we move into the Innovate stage, where we will lay out the major strategies that need to happen to make our dreams into reality.
READ MORE →

PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

Standardized Service Makes You More Profitable

Six steps to take.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

The accounting profession will never resemble an automotive production line, perhaps for no other reason than we don’t look good in steel-toed boots. We’ll never be widget producers and, from my viewpoint, that’s a good thing. However, our position among the professional class shouldn’t blind us to the benefits of standardizing many of our services.

MORE by Jody Padar
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Anyone who has been an accountant for any length of time has certainly seen enough to eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel every time they start a new engagement. An entire firm has even more institutional knowledge to draw from. You can develop reliable and repeatable recipes for different services and deliverables by capturing this institutional knowledge. This is standardization, and it makes your service offerings more efficient, cheaper, consistent and predictable – all good business practices. You’ll be able to predict with better accuracy the time frames required for new projects, and you’ll be able to scope out exactly what will be required to bring the project to a successful conclusion. READ MORE →

SPECIAL

What Young Accounting Pros Need to Make Partner

older woman showing young woman something on office computer screen

Four experts provide their insights.

By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership

The skill in producing financial reports is limited by the quality of the information presented to the CPA by the client. The motivation of the client to influence that financial information comes in many forms, some intentional and some unintentional. Competence comes first in being able to resist pressure and present a true and accurate position of the client’s organization.

MORE by Martin Bissett
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Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But there’s a twist.

Competence didn’t actually rank highly in the majority of partner requirements when interviewed in our study at all.
READ MORE →

MARKETING & SALES

Four Ways to Identify Candidates for Cross-Selling

https://cpatrendlines.com/2016/06/11/adopt-a-marketing-mindset/

Adopt a marketing mindset.

By Ed Mendlowitz

The average tax return client thinks of accountants as being mainly involved in taxes. Also, an accounting firm’s largest volume of clients is usually for tax return services. Therefore, a good part of the public image of your firm must come from the tax department.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
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The tax department must be involved in:

  • strengthening the firm’s brand and name recognition,
  • getting publicity and
  • introducing tax return clients to additional services.

Unfortunately, many accounting firms provide very little guidance or training in this area.

READ MORE →