Rita Keller, an award-winning and widely respected voice to CPA firm management, is uniquely positioned to help CPAs and their teams face rapid and significant change.
“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.” – Albert Einstein
I have observed that many CPAs wait for other CPA firms to go first and then they will follow that new idea, software, process, or procedure.
So many partners, over many years, have asked me, “What are other firms doing?” I urge you to enlist your entire team in being more creative. What suggestion does that 2-year person have that might save everyone a lot of time? What has your firm administrator been urging the firm to try for a couple of years? So what if it doesn’t work. Try something else.
Once again, I offer a complete blog post from Seth Godin.
EVERYONE ELSE IS
Well, not everyone. Just most people.
When you do something that everyone else is doing, you’re likely to get what everyone else is getting.
But in almost every population, “everyone” leaves out the people who go first, who change things, who are weird and who challenge the status quo. That’s an option, even when it doesn’t seem that way.
Mass culture gets us more mass culture. It’s not the only choice.
A creative life is an amplified life. It's a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.
“I am not a committee.” —Princess Leia, The Empire Strikes Back
As May the 4th was yesterday, the above quote via Princess Leia caught my attention. Can you believe that Star Wars was released 45 years ago on May 25?
Anyway, back on topic. When I hear the word “Committee” in a CPA firm, I cringe. Please keep in mind that your firm is a business, not a non-profit. Trying to manage by committee will just slow you down and create confusion and power struggles.
Establish a management structure with a qualified, inspired Managing Partner and a professional, skilled, efficient Firm Administrator (Practice Manager) to carry out the routine duties of managing the business.
Occasionally, you might need to establish a Task Force to focus on one specific area or initiative. The best thing about a task force is that it is not ongoing. It completes its duty and disbands. Also, keep in mind how much non-productive time many partners spend if you have them on various committees. The pandemic has shown us just how much people hate meetings!
Major issues such as mergers or firing a partner would, of course, require full participation by the ownership group but day-to-day the “other” partners need to be bringing in business, serving clients, and mentoring staff.
If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.
“Do not listen to those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious.” Og Mandino
The team and partners have been very busy. Now, they have more time to think about what is going on around them. You might hear comments like:
I have a lot more charge hours than Joe. I wonder if I am paid more than Joe?
How can the firm expect us to do our best work when it is always so hot in the office?
How can the firm expect us to do our best work when it is always so cold in the office?
I mostly work from home, I miss out on the treats people bring into the office.
Sally is always late and then she eats breakfast in the lunchroom before she starts to work.
Ted actually exits out the rear entrance at 3:00 when the partners are away from the office.
The people working in the office get a lot more training than I do.
Why do I have to come into the office two days per week?
Susie and Joyce Admin chat at the front desk for a half-hour every morning!
The firm does so much for people with families. I am single. What special stuff do I get?
Joe Partner always leaves such a mess around the coffee machine.
Tax season is over (for now). It is the Dealing With People Season. It always makes me think of Seinfeld:
Elaine: I will NEVER understand people.
Jerry: They’re the worst.
Some of these complaints might seem extreme to you but I bet you can tell me even better “stories” about people complaining. Good luck with Dealing With People Season!
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most do.
I actually like the title because I think one of my strengths is that I have lived in and observed CPA firms for forty years! I have written about it and been interviewed about it for probably thirty years. I am in my 17th year daily blogging about the inside workings of CPA firms.
I really enjoyed talking with Scott Scanaro and Jason Ackerman, two gentlemen who happen to be sons of CPAs. We had a long conversation so you might want to listen in smaller bites. My interview begins at about 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the podcast.
“I think that technology is much more mysterious to the people using it than, say, the automobile was. This isn’t an original observation, but a lot of the smart devices people rely on now really do feel like magic to a lot of us.” – Author: Charlie Jane Anders
Firms are finally beginning to see some progress in clients adapting to technology. Clients are (although it has been slow) finally accepting a copy of their tax return via SafeSend and other digital methods.
My clients and other firms I know are still often offering a paper copy if a client requests it. Maybe it is time to stop this practice. The world is becoming more digital.
If your firm is to grow and prosper, it has to have some standards and reap the benefits of the expense they spend on technology. In these times of difficulty finding workers, technology helps you get more done with fewer people. Give your clients a “next year warning.” Something like, “Next year we will not be furnishing paper copies.”
As with almost everything inside a CPA firm, there will be some exceptions – but PLEASE limit the exceptions. If a client is elderly, ask permission to send their return to a relative who can assist with printing. Most computer-adverse older people have someone who helps them navigate technology.
Will you lose a few clients? Probably. But when they go to another CPA firm they will find that firm also delivers only digital copies. (That’s my dream, anyway!)
“I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.” – Lou Holtz
You expended a lot of effort in establishing the firm’s paperless processes/procedures. Most of your partners follow the rules. For some partners, you do this and that – print things off, provide paper, etc. How will you get ahead by making so many exceptions to the rules?
My grandson, Sam, when he was at that pre-school age always had a question. That question was, “Is that a rule?” For example – Grandma says, “Sam, please put your shoes in the closet.” Sam asked, “Is that a rule?” When I say yes, it was a rule. He mildly said, okay and put his shoes in the closet. Evidently, his mom and dad stressed that there were certain rules for behavior.
There are certain rules for behavior in CPA firms, too. Is it a rule that we review on screen? Yes, it is a rule. Is it a rule that we have our time in by 9:00 am the following day? Yes, it is a rule. Is it a rule that we have our billings done by the 5th of the month? Yes, it is a rule. You get the drift.
Firms make too many exceptions. Once my IT Manager said something that has stuck with me over the years. He said, “We are governed by rules but we operate by exception.” Oh, my! Don’t operate your firm by exception.
I advise my clients to not establish rules if they are going to break them. Partners will agree in a meeting to a specific process/procedure/guideline and then some leave the meeting with no intention of following that “rule.” A prime example is: We will stop work at 90 days if a client has not paid our fee. If partners cannot truly agree don’t establish the rule – policy – procedure.
I love the quote, above, by Lou Holtz. I had the wonderful experience of hearing him speak several years ago. It was one of the most motivating speeches I have ever heard.
If you obey all the rules you'll miss all the fun.
“The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it.” – Alan Sporta
One of the most educational and helpful activities I have experienced in building my knowledge of CPA firm management was the opportunity to meet with groups of managing partners from various firms across the country and listen to them discuss their biggest concerns. I did this when my firm was a member of a CPA firm association and also when I spoke at many of the various CPA firm association meetings. If your firm is not a member of a firm association, you should explore the opportunity.
Experienced managing partners (and firm administrators) have the best insight into what makes a CPA firm tick; what makes it successful and what doesn’t work so well. They also always have a list of concerns. Right now, of course, for most firms finding and hiring talent is at the top of most lists.
Here are some other concerns that I often hear about:
Succession
Efficiency and inefficiency in processes
Partner burn-out
Identifying future leaders
Training future leaders
Losing people to other firms
Women’s issues and other diversity issues
Dealing with cultural issues after a merger
The rapid evolution of technology and funding it
Deciding whether to stay independent or merge-up
I am sure you can add to this list. For now, keep a list like this and gather your partners immediately after tax season, discuss the issues, prioritize the issues and, get busy solving the issues.
You aren't famous until my mother has hear of you.
“He who stops being better stops being good.” – Oliver Cromwell
I know so many excellent firm administrators (practice managers, office managers, COO’s, etc.) who really care about their CPA firm. Notice I say “their” because most of them really think and act like they are owners in the firm. By the way, most of them are not owners. I will also include HR Directors and marketing directors in this group. They are all professionals supporting other professionals.
These key players in the firm want the firm, and its people, to continually improve. They read about or hear about a new way of doing something, they research, weigh the pros and cons, and then recommend the new process to the partners. The partners agree and the new process is announced to the entire staff. The firm provides an adequate amount of training and the new system is embraced. Well, almost.
One, maybe two, partners or managers simply refuse to follow the new procedure. They are comfortable with the old way and cling to it desperately.
Then the firm administrator and/or the managing partner also becomes desperate and begins to nag the offenders. This goes on for a while. To the firm administrator, one or two people are breaking the law. They are criminals. They don’t support the team or the firm. Nagging stops and significant frustration sets in. After all, they are only trying to introduce efficiencies that will result in less stress and in the firm making more profit. They believe the new way will improve everyone’s work life.
A quote from Agatha Christie is what I am offering today to those of you who are very frustrated and disappointed in a situation like this.
“You might be wanting to improve everyone’s life for them. But nobody can do that. If people want to improve their life, they have to do it themselves.”
Rather than suggest and nag, you have to prove to them how it will benefit them, personally. Evidently, they do not care how it helps the firm. Early in my consulting career, I suggested that “you have to get all your partners on board.” I soon came to realize that it is rare to be able to get ALL your partners on board. Keep working with the healthy part of your firm and wait for the slow adapters to eventually drag themselves along.
To succeed in this world, you have to change all the time.
“Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement, and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent.” – Bob Keeshan
In a public accounting firm, there are a lot of young people, new college graduates, just beginning their work life.
“Partners are the ultimate role models for new college accounting graduates just entering the workforce. Every word, movement, and action has an effect. No other people or outside force has a greater influence on a new hire than the partners.” – Rita Keller
You can see what came to mind when I read the quote by Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo).
It is true. I have observed that interns, within two weeks, can tell you the way this partner wants something and the way that partner wants something. I have seen, first-hand, how skilled interns are at doing personal imitations of certain partners for the entertainment of their peers.
When in discussions with CPA firm team members, talking about the importance of clearly defined policies and procedures, I always ask, “Who doesn’t follow the firm’s procedures?” The immediate answer is always the same, “The partners!”
If you are a partner, a manager or other leader in a firm never forget that you are being watched with a magnifying glass. Yes, you are the ultimate role model.
Each person must live their life as a role model for others.
