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.
“To the old, the new is usually bad news.” – Eric Hofer
I often get requests from my clients (and others) for samples of various types of letters. I have observed that CPAs are much more open to new ideas, processes, etc. if they can see samples.
I am sure there are many instances where you must turn someone down. You know, let them down gently. I believe it is the proper thing to to when you have interviewed a job candidate and decided they were not the best fit for the job. It can often be an unpleansant task so do not put it off!
Keep in mind that you don’t have write a long or detailed explanation. The article suggests four steps:
Say thanks.
Deliver the news.
Give the main reason.
Offer hope.
Read the entire article. The samples are very helpful.
“If our true intent is to differentiate CAS from our previous bookkeeping services, we need to offer unique services that tie people directly to our firm and create loyalty.” – Bill Reeb
The growth and success of CAS makes me very happy.
I can remember when accounting services (or bookkeeping as some partners always called it), was the very bottom level of the client services menu. Many firms even quit providing these services because they were simply not profitable enough (and new CPAs thought this work was below them). In addition to that, qualified, skilled bookkeepers were more difficult to find than accounting grads.
There is a good article via the Journal of Accountancy featuring Bill Reeb and his observations about the success of CAS. He identified issues that can prevent CAS from becoming successful.
The CAS service line leader and their manager are not in alignment.
Partners haven’t bought in.
The CAS practice is inadequately staffed.
One other problem is that in many firms the entire CAS operation is on the shoulders of just one highly motivated individual.
How is your CAS division doing? Are you giving it enough support? Are you bragging about it to all your clients?
A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
“Never take your eyes off the cash flow because it’s the life blood of business.” – Richard Branson
Billing clients should be routine. It should be a well- established habit. It’s not difficult so don’t make it so.
Document your billing guidelines and then live by them. Much of the task of billing clients can be automated now. Your admin team can assist in making the process easier.
Billing clients was a recent discussion on the CPAFMA discussion board. If you are not a member, the discussion board by itself is worth the annual dues.
Victoria LeStrange, is the firm administrator for Heymann, Suissa & Stone P.C. of Rockville, MD. The process she shared is very similar to what I recommend. Teach your partners how to use the software! In this day and age, partners must be computer proficient.
Here’s Ms. LeStrange’s firm’s process:
Each partner does their own billing from soup to nuts. It’s all done onscreen with CCH AXCESS…we typically bill business clients on the 16th of each month and most all bills are done and emailed by the end of the day. Individual tax returns are often billed upon completion.
Many firms bill weekly, especially during busy season. Again, the software and the admin team facilitate the process. Individual tax returns should be billed immediately upon delivery.
An efficient billing and collection process speeds up cash flow. That should be very important to your partner group.
Entrepreneurs believe that profit is what matters most in a new enterprise. But profit is secondary. Cash flow matters most.
“People who coddle you don’t believe in you.” – Dan Rockwell
Today’s quotation is meaningful for those of you (us) working in the CPA profession.
It takes a lot of effort and hard work to succeed in public accounting. Yes, you gain knowledge and experience through hard work. But, another ingredient will almost certainly assure that you reach your potential.
That ingredient is not a thing, it’s a person. You need someone who cares about your success and pushes you to do things that you never previously imagined you could.
Personally, I believe the success I achieved over the years is because specific individuals pushed, coaxed, and urged me to do more, learn more and accomplish more. It meant that I tackled some uncomfortable challenges that turned out to be very beneficial to my career success.
In my early years, I learned that I really enjoyed working for/with someone who had high expectations. I guess my own self-motivation just wasn’t quite enough.
Find a mentor, boss, coach, or even a peer who is not afraid to push you and help you set some lofty goals. Stay away from those that make it easy for you.
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.
“That leadership is influence, nothing more nothing less”. – John Maxwell
In the CPA firm world, if you are a support professional such as a firm administrator/practice manager, COO, HR director, marketing director, or chief information officer, you are not a partner in the firm.
Yet, you are a leader and although you might not have the power that goes along with being a partner, you have something that is just as powerful. You have influence. You gain influence by being a role model.
You can accomplish just as much, and probably more, with influence as the partners can with power. You use positive affirmation and encouragement to get people to do things and to buy-in to change.
You lead with influence by getting to know people. You are the one who knows everyone’s name, their spouse’s name, and even their kids’ names. You always have a positive attitude. You are a mentor to others, officially and unofficially. Recognizing people is something you continually do.
You also use your great power of influence in an upward manner. You might not be able TO MAKE partners change but you can apply constant, gentle, pressure to influence them to change. It works!
So, don’t worry about power. Utilize the influence you have and use it to your advantage and to move your firm and its people forward.
Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.
“Let us be more simple and less vain.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I recently read an eye-opening article via HBR titled, “Working with People Who Aren’t Self-Aware.” Guess what? It describes many people I have met in the CPA profession!
How many of your partners are not self-aware? HBR discovered that although 95% of people think they are self-aware, only 10 to 15% actually are.
A staff person in a client firm described a partner as being un-self-aware. The partner talked too much, just constant chatter about his ideas and opinions that were more important than anyone else’s. In a two-person conversation with this partner, you could turn your back, go back to work on your computer and the partner would simply continue to talk, talk, talk, never realizing that you had heard enough!
Some of your un-self-aware team members can be helped. First, find out how others feel so you can determine if they are really unaware.
Here’s a list from the article:
They won’t listen to, or accept, critical feedback.
They cannot empathize with, or take perspective of, others.
They have difficulty “reading a room” and tailoring their message to their audience.
They possess an inflated opinion of their contributions and performance.
They are hurtful to others without realizing it.
They take credit for successes and blame other for failures.
There is a big difference between the unaware and the Aware-Don’t-Care individuals. Read the entire article to see if you can help the people in your firm who are not self-aware. You might not cure them but you can minimize their impact.
I believe most CPAs are self-aware and care about others. The people who are Aware-Don’t-Care people usually don’t last long in an accounting firm.
Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying.
“May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.” – Peter Marshall
You and your team have been working so hard and tax season has certainly been a long one and it’s not over yet.
I hope you can take time off and enjoy this 3-day weekend!
Have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July.
The essence of America—that which really unites us—is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion—it is an idea—and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.
Every time you open your mouth to speak in public, you are representing yourself and displaying your character. Choose words carefully. Say what you mean… Mean what you say. Be clear and concise.
You are a CPA (Certified PUBLIC Accountant). You are not a CPA but you work in a CPA firm (not certified yet, accountants, administrative, HR, marketing, sales, training, etc.). Never forget that you are in the public eye. People listen to you when you talk, especially when you talk about your firm. They repeat things they hear about you and your firm.
If you whine to your golf group about your work or the firm, they will tell others. If you complain about a project you were assigned to your parents/spouse or other relatives, they will form an opinion about your firm and repeat it.
Never casually talk about a client to anyone outside your firm. What you say becomes public and people will repeat it and it will probably get back to your client.
CPAs and their team members are held to a higher standard than most. No matter what your role in a firm, you are a professional.
Warn your employees, the ones who frequently go out to lunch together, that they should not discuss a client in a public place where others might overhear what they say.
I like this definition of a professional: To most people, acting like a professional means working and behaving in such a way that others think of them as competent, reliable, and respectful. Professionals are a credit not only to themselves but also to others.
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
ConvergenceCoaching is offering participants the summary results along with best practices and strategies to implement these programs and maintain a competitive advantage. They’re requesting only one entry per firm, so be sure you coordinate with other leaders in your organization.
Here is the link to participate: https://bit.ly/2020ATAWW. The survey is open through July 31st. We encourage you to participate in this important study!
Dream more than others think practical…Expect more than others think possible.
“Engaged employees are the name of the game if your firm wants to hold on to talent.” – Sandra Wiley
Not that long ago, it was very important to CPA owners (partners) to be able to SEE people working. I always called it the “butts in seats” mentality. If a seat was empty in a cubicle or a manager didn’t appear in their office on a certain day, they were not working!
We have seen gradual change in that thinking in recent years and then in 2020 the big game-changer happened.
Now, partner and managers are faced with the never-before task of Normalizing Remote Work. That is the title of a recent article by Sandra Wiley, President of Boomer Consulting.
Per Wiley:
As many firms have learned over the past couple of months, working with remote teams isn’t as simple as handing everyone a laptop. If having your employees working from home recently was challenging, the problem was likely a failure to set expectations rather than remote work itself.
With a remote team, you’re forced to set objectives and establish key performance indicators and communication frameworks. You can’t measure an employee’s productivity by the fact that you’ve seen them working long hours in the office. It’s easy to feel like your on-site team has accountability for just showing up, but directions are less tangible when people are working off-site.
Be sure to read Wiley’s entire article to learn some strategies and tools you should consider when establishing your remote work policies.
Accomplishing the impossible means only the boss will add it to your regular duties.
