Archive for the ‘Firm Administrator’ Category
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
Colorado AAA Chapter Members, is that you with Rita?
Yesterday, I had the honor to facilitate a full-day workshop for the members of the Colorado Chapter of the Association for Accounting Administration at the offices of the Colorado Society of CPAs.
We explored what it takes to be a great CPA firm from the inside out. We talked about all of the success skills that are needed to build a culture where people want to build their careers in public accounting and to build a brand that will attract and satisfy clients who are loyal, appreciative and fun.
A special thank-you to the wonderful folks at the Society who were not only wonderful hosts but also participated throughout the day: Mary Medley, CEO (who took the great pictures), Liz Julin, Deputy Director and Terry Cervi, Ex. Assistant and Liaison to Firm Administrators.
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All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.
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Martin Fischer
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
I was reading an article yesterday in the Aquila Global Advisors’ newsletter. It is titled, Ten Ways to Increase Profitability. While all ten are excellent (they are listed below and be sure to follow the link to read Aquila’s comments on each one) a couple really get me on my soap box.
- Align the firms objectives with those of the client
- Eliminate firm and individual incentives to simply bill more time
- Know your cost of service and eliminate back-room inefficiencies
- Find ways to communicate efficiently
- Reduce your costs of providing services
- Develop new staff quicker
- Focus on your core clients
- Implement internal engagement controls
- Use engagement letters
- Take advantage of new technology
#6 – Please challenge your younger, less experienced people by giving them tougher assignments. Ask them to stretch and to work outside their comfort zone. It is how they learn. DO NOT allow your long-term managers (and even partners) to cling to work that people at a lower billing rate can do and also learn from. Someone with lots of experience can review their work and give them lots of feedback to improve their technical skills – people learn from their mistakes.
#8 – How efficient is your internal administrative processes? Are you still processing work through your office the same way you did 10 years ago or even 5 years ago? Creating a one-firm culture, where everyone performs and processes the client engagements the same way is simply good business. Being able to train people on “the firm way” rather than each partners’ way will make you more profitable. Simple as that.
If you wonder about how efficiently work is really flowing through your office, ask your team – your younger team members and especially your administrative team members. The administrative team really sees the ugly under-belly of the firm. Just ask them – they want to help.
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While you can think in terms of efficiency in dealing with time, a principle-centered person thinks in terms of effectiveness in dealing with people.
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Stephen R. Covey
Friday, August 12th, 2011
If you are working in a CPA firm and you are a managing partner, firm administrator, HR Director, Marketing Director/Coordinator, Training & Development Manager, partner, administrative assistant, senior manager, manager, senior or associate you need information on best practices and how to propel your firm forward in 2011 and 2012. In other words, if you are working in a CPA firm and are breathing, you play a role in helping your firm Thrive in Challenging Times.
Join me and the Colorado Chapter of the Association for Accounting Administration for a day of lively discussion, learning and sharing on August 24th at the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants office in Denver.
We’ll talk about Marketing, Social Media, Managing, Mentoring and How to Develop and Keep Top Talent. Read more here.
You can register on the AAA website.
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Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline carrying it out.
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Stephen R. Covey
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
Periodically, I give you an update on where I will be speaking, making presentations and facilitating workshops. I really like to look you in the eye and talk to you face-to-face. My name for this update comes from the John Denver song, Come and Let Me Look In Your Eyes. Click, watch and listen…. it’s very soothing.
I would love to look into your eyes this year. It really does energize me and I try very hard to make my personal connection energize my audience as well.
August 24 – AAA Colorado Chapter in Denver at the Colorado Society Office.
September 21 – AAA Washington State Chapter & the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants in Bellevue.
September 28 – AAA New Jersey Chapter
October 6 – AICPA PCPS Human Capital Forum – New Orleans
October 7 – AAA Central Gulf Coast Chapter – New Orleans
October 19 – North Carolina Association of CPAs Professional Women’s Conference – Greensboro
October 27 – Accounting Today Growth & Profitability Summit – Las Vegas
November 14 – Minnesota Society of CPAs Tax Conference – Minneapolis
November 17-18 – New England MAP Conference – Mashantucket, CT
I’ll see several of you when I visit your firms this fall for planning sessions. And, in December, I’ll be visiting a client in…… guess where?…… Alaska! I think it’s pretty dark there in December. Wish me warmth and light.
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There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect.
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G. K. Chesterton
Monday, June 20th, 2011
There are few national conferences solely devoted to MAP – Managing an Accounting Practice.
That’s why AAA’s National MAP Conference is not only awesome, but also unique. The AAA national conference and the Indiana and Ohio Chapter meetings is where I learned so much about CPA firm practice management….. marketing, administration, technology, human resources, training, financial performance AND more.
This year’s conference begins tomorrow (in Louisville) with pre-conference sessions. Arlis Esnough and I will be conducting the annual First Timers’ Session. If this is your first AAA conference, you don’t want to miss the fun and practical tips at this annual session – Tuesday, at 4:45.
In case you are not attending, after you read the following list of CPA firm experts who will be speaking, I just know you will be in attendance next year.
No where else will you see a line-up of MAP experts like this:
- Sam Allred, Upstream Academy
- Tom Hood, Maryland Society
- Charles Hylan, The Growth Partnership
- Rita Keller, Keller Advisors, LLC
- Roman Kepczyk, Xcentric
- Bill Leach, Katz Sapper Miller
- Bill Reeb, Succession Institute, LLC
- Sandra Wiley, Boomer Consulting
- Jennifer Wilson, Convergence Coaching
- and more – see full schedule.
There will be keynotes by Don Yeager, Sports Writer and Author and by Andy Andrews, New York Times Best Selling Author.
My session is on Thursday at 10:30 – if you are in attendance, I hope you’ll join me and your peers to talk about, The Firm Administrator and Succession – What Really Happens and Why You Should Care.
- Last week it was cowboys, cowgirls and Elvis at the fantastic AICPA PractitionersTech Symposium.
- This week it is horses and finishing in the Winners’ Circle – a visit to Louisville and the legendary Churchill Downs. I can wear a cowgirl outfit but not real sure about jockey garb!
See you there (or see you there next year for sure). Not there? Follow me on Twitter.
I bet all of you hardworking firm administrators can relate to today’s quote.
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The wagon rests in winter, the sleigh in summer, the horse never.
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Yiddish Proverb
Friday, May 6th, 2011
Those of you who have heard me speak within the last year or so know that I stress “two words.”
What two words describe your firm? I receive a wide variety of answers from seminar participants. Here are a few examples. See if they match any of the words you would use to describe your firm.
- Organized – Chaos
- Caring – Challenged
- Need – Help
- Growing – Pains
- Fun – growing
- Continually – Frustrated
- Plateaued – Trying
- Fiefdoms – Abound
- For – Sale
Check out this video of me explaining how you can use Two Words to aid in your role as a mentor – mentoring isn’t difficult, it’s as easy as “two words.”
Now, here’s my two words for you today: What’s next?
What plan do you have in place for 2011? What does your Action Plan look like for the remainder of the year? What’s the plan for improving client service? What does your pipeline look like? What programs are you offering to KEEP GOOD PEOPLE?
What’s your plan, what’s next?
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Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now
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Alan Lakein
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
When I visit firms and we work on firm governance, administrative alignment, strategic planning, etc., I find that the firm would operate SO much smoother if they had better, more frequent, and honest internal communication.
A few months ago, I urged managing partners to Tweet, privately, just for the people inside the firm. Then, a month or so later, I was talking with Roy Keely, Director of Marketing at Xcentric. Roy told me about a special tool they use inside Xcentric to enhance communication. It’s called Socialcast.
You can read all about it on one of Roy’s recent blog posts: Using Social Media Internally: Flatten Your Org Charg + Squash the Pride.
Roy notes (and I agree) that a firm needs an org chart to define roles, create urgency around different actions items and ultimately hold people accountable. But a firm also needs a Communication Chart that is looked at as a cultural mandate. It would be the visible representation of the linking between groups/individuals within a firm and this would be the culture shaping document and gives access to all.
This means change. Keely says when someone resists change the root of it is pride. They either know better, are above such antics/tactics, or are unwilling to try someone’s idea, etc.
Be sure to follow the link, above, and read Keely’s comments on how social media is truly an enabler of organizations to finally capture their DNA. Hours upon hours, manuals upon manuals have been used by your HR dept. or firm administrator attempting to distill the organization into paper, an email, or a series of electronic documents. Once they make it to the printer or PDF they are already dead. Stale. Decomposing.
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Communication works for those who work at it.
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John Powell
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
I am reading Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin. I find it fascinating. I recommend it highly.
I read a chapter this morning and immediately thought of CPA firm administrators. It’s a tough job. I bet you often feel unappreciated, over-worked and simply exhausted. Many tell me they feel like a fire fighter, an EMT or a psychologist.
I believe Godin’s brief chapter, below, could apply to anyone working inside a CPA firm. See what you think:
Getting a New Job Without Leaving
One day, Binny Thomas stood up.
She stood up, spoke up, and started doing a new job. She didn’t leave her organization, didn’t even get a new title or new responsibilities. Instead, she started doing her old job in a new way. Binny stopped going to meetings with the goal of finding deniability or problems to avoid. Instead, she started leaning in and seeking out projects where she could make a difference.
Suddenly, Binny was inspired. She was looking for opportunities instead of hiding from blame. She was putting herself on the line, pushing through the dip, and making things happen. The fascinating (and universal) truth is that the opportunities came after she was inspired – she wasn’t inspired by the opportunities.
Binny’s old job was just fine. She did it extremely well. She followed the map, followed instructions, did what she was told and got paid what she was worth. Binny wasn’t in danger of losing her job, but she had already given up her soul. She had plateaued, this was the end. Then she changed her mind.
Six weeks later, she got a huge promotion and another, even better new job than the new job she had given herself. Binny is now running a worldwide program of motivated scholars. All it took was a choice. Binny didn’t ask for permission to do her job better; she merely decided to.
Are you looking to others to make your job better, more enjoyable? Are you sometimes in denial? Are you doing an adequate job but feel like you have plateaued? Read the last sentence of the chapter, above, again.
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If you have a job without any aggravations, you don't have a job.
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Malcolm Forbes
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
If you are in the financial area of a CPA firm, taking care of all the firm’s financial information, I bet you find it difficult to find someone who really understands the challenges and frustrations you face daily.
The Association for Accounting Administration has come to the rescue! For the first time ever the Association is hosting a Financial Fly-In designed just for you. No matter what your exact title, if you are responsible for the day-to-day financial operation of a CPA firm, this session is for you.
Participants will be able to take advantage of advanced training in Excel for practical use in a CPA firm, learn about new applications and share knowledge with those in similar positions in accounting firms. Finding and meeting people who do exactly what you do is the best part…. they really understand what you are facing.
The Finance Fly-In is held concurrently with the AAA Technology Fly-In. Click here for more information on the Financial Fly-In.
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Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
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Woody Allen
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Attention human resources directors, firm administrators, managing partners, partners with recruiting responsibilities. The people issues are once again becoming a major area of concern for firms that want to grow, prosper and survive the transition to the next generation of firm leaders.
If you are responsible for HR in your firm, no matter what the size:
- Do you often feel isolated because of your unique responsibilities inside your own firm?
- Do you sometimes feel like others at your firm simply do not understand what you face on a daily basis?
- Do you sometimes have a line of people outside your office door waiting for their chance to ask a question or get routine advice?
- Do you search the web or read discussion boards to get ideas on how to keep your firm competitive in finding, hiring, developing and keeping good people?
For years, managing partners have been reaching out to their peers in firms across the country (and the world) to learn how they are running their firms, how they respond to similar situations, how they are becoming more profitable, how they are dealing with non-performing partners and the list could go on and on. They do this via firm association meetings, state society involvement and AICPA management conferences. They are building a network of professional friends who they can go to for advice and guidance on a regular basis.
The AICPA/PCPS is offering you the opportunity to build such a network of friends from across the country. People inside CPA firms who are doing what you are doing when it comes to facing the people issues inside your firm and people you can continue to connect with via regular meetings of the PCPS HR Forums.
This is not a conference – it is the first meeting, the first step in establishing a small networking group, facilitated by PCPS, to help you and your firm address HR issues. Click here to register.
PCPS Human Capital Forum
March 3-4, 2011 – Orlando, FL
As soon as our economy shows significant signs of improvement, the issue of retaining clients will be replaced by the critical issue of attracting and retaining top talent within CPA firms.
The PCPS team is creating a Human Capital Network to address the specific challenges faced by human resources of staff attraction and retention, succession planning and training personnel in accounting firms. The HC Forum format is intended to facilitate discussions within the CPA firms’ community through roundtable discussions and networking opportunities. Please join our PCPS Human Capital Forum opened for HR personnel and others with HR responsibilities within CPA firms.
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In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people. They no longer can lead solely based on positional power.
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Ken Blanchard
