3 Questions to Evaluate Your Firm Culture

Silhouettes of three business partners talking against a window in an officeYou have to gauge this to effectively move toward partnership.

By Martin Bissett

This second C is a stormy and choppy one, often fraught with political icebergs but navigated diplomatically and with maturity, will lead you through.

MORE ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: Learn to Read Your Firm’s Culture | 5 Ways to Get Buy-In for Firm Culture | Competence: More Than Technical Skills | Partnership: Competence Is Just the Foot in the Door | Are You Partner Material? Maybe Not

Case study on culture

Deborah had done well. She was bridging the firm’s culture gap and fulfilling its desire to be seen as an equal opportunities employer by becoming the practice’s standout rising star.
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Learn to Read Your Firm’s Culture

Four young business people chatting outside office buildingBonus: 3 outlooks from our exclusive expert council.

By Martin Bissett

The Passport to Partnership study collated a number of responses from existing partners of accounting practices in a conversational style.

 

MORE ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: 5 Ways to Get Buy-In for Firm Culture | Competence: More Than Technical Skills | Partnership: Competence Is Just the Foot in the Door | Are You Partner Material? Maybe Not

Examples that really stood out on the realities of individual variances in firm culture are showcased below.

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5 Ways to Get Buy-In for Firm Culture

Industrial metal number 5Change management is one of the keys.

By Martin Bissett

Cultural issues are dynamic, very broad and unique in each firm. As such it is a challenge to summarize them accurately and comprehensively.

MORE ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: Competence: More Than Technical Skills | Experts Advise What Partnership Takes | Partnership: Competence Is Just the Foot in the Door | Are You Partner Material? Maybe Not

From our research, however, the wise choice for anyone wishing to get their passport to partnership appears to be to study

  • their firm’s existing culture,
  • that of its senior individuals and
  • that of those who have the ear of those senior individuals

to understand not only the route to partnership, but the terrain that they need to cross too.
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Competence: More Than Technical Skills

Businessman correcting an underling12 ways to determine your competence.

By Martin Bissett

The Passport to Partnership study collated a number of responses in a conversational style. Two brief but succinct examples that really stood out on the realities of how a firm assesses an individual’s “competence” to lead are showcased below.

MORE ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: Experts Advise What Partnership Takes | Partnership: Competence Is Just the Foot in the Door | Are You Partner Material? Maybe Not

  1. They need to explain technical data to me in a way that I know they understand it.
  2. What kind of lifestyle does this person have outside of work? We’ll be looking at Facebook, Twitter and Google to find out.

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Experts Advise What Partnership Takes

back view of a businessman holding a briefcase and walking forward on white backgroundDefining what competence means for partners.

By Martin Bissett

The skill in producing financial reports is limited by the quality of the information presented to the CPA by the client. 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 ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: Are You Partner Material? Maybe Not | Communication: Putting It All Together | What Does the Next Generation of Practice Leaders Face? | Businesses Place Value on Expertise

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But there’s a twist.
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Randy Myeroff at Cohen & Co.: Winning the Youth Movement

Myeroff
Myeroff

“Whoever can connect with today’s youth movement and invest in it the right way is going to win.”

By CPA Trendlines Staff

Attracting and retaining high-caliber, younger workers is far and away the most pressing concern at Cohen & Co. in Cleveland, Ohio.

MORE from THE CORNER OFFICE: Rick Dreher Innovates Wipfli for Clients, Younger Workers | How Blain Heckaman Drives Value at Kaufman Rossin | WeiserMazars MP Blake Charts U.S. Expansion | Frank Longobardi: CohnReznick’s Battle for Top Talent | The Robo-CPA: Jim Sikich Prepares for Disruptive Technologies |  Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The CPA firm, which ranks among the nation’s 100 largest, is reaching out to young talent via means that include offering one of the top-ranked internship programs in its northeastern Ohio region, and by simply increasing its hiring of new college graduates.
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Partnership: Competence Is Just the Foot in the Door

Businessman in an umbrella sails in storm in the nightSailing through the 7 C’s to partnership may be harder than you think.

By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership

Staffers aspiring to be partners must learn the key characteristics of successful partners. They also must learn how to develop their own personal plans to achieve partnership. Firms and staffers alike need a clear set of procedures, processes and milestones for turning top talent into the next generation of firm leadership.

MORE ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: Key Advice for Potential Partners | Surviving Vs. Thriving | What Does the Next Generation of Practice Leaders Face? | Commitment: A Cautionary Tale | How to Build Your Pipeline | 6 Keys to the Perfect Proposal | Communication: It’s Not About You

There are seven critically important criteria by which partners assess partners-to-be. I call them:

The Seven C’s
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Are You Partner Material? Maybe Not

Businessman holding hand upResearch shows wide gap between partners and partners-to-be.

By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership

Have you ever wondered what the partners of your firm are looking for from you, beyond your technical abilities?

MORE ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: 9 Things to Stop Doing Now | The DNA of a Practice Leader | Why Hitting Your Numbers Isn’t Enough | What Do Your True Colors Say About Your Commitment? | What Commitment Really Means for Partners | How Well Do You Represent Your Firm? | Communication: Putting It All Together | The 4 Winning Communications Habits of Top Accountants

For full disclosure, I am not an accountant, but I have spent decades working with accounting firms of all shapes and sizes in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe.
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