Archive for the ‘Partner topics’ Category
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
“Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create raving fans.”―Ken Blanchard
I enjoy reading Jeffrey Gitomer’s thoughts, rants, and raves: books, articles and information on his website. If you are not familiar with him, he is a sales guy who has a whole lot to say about business and much of it strongly applies to CPAs.
Here’s some information, from Gitomer, about client service.
Are you having a fall retreat? Are you going to talk about client retention? It’s a big management concern for CPA firms. It is much more difficult to bring in a new client than it is to retain old ones.
Don’t use your valuable time at a retreat to talk about things you will never do (or live-up to). Focus on the absolute truths you are willing to commit to in relation to serving your clients. I agree with Gitomer in that most mission statements are B.S. Define your future actions on what you REALLY intend to do, not what you wish you could do.
As Gitomer states, “You might want to compare this list of commitments to what you are doing in your company with and to your customers. And you may want to TRASH your self-serving mission statement that NO ONE could recite even if someone was pointing a gun at them.”
Here are a few items from his customer promise and commitment list.
We will be friendly.
We will be professional.
We will have what clients want when they want it.
We will answer the phone on the second ring with a live person.
We will be easy to do business with.
We will keep you informed as we progress.
We will recover memorably when an error occurs.
We will kiss ass and we will do it with a smile.
We will lead by example – always walking our talk.
and on and on…..
Organize a lunch and learn session with your team and add to this list. What are you willing to do? Determine it and then DO THINGS!
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There is only one boss. The customer―and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
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Sam Walton
Tuesday, September 24th, 2019
“Understanding the value of time is understanding the true essence of life.” – Sunday Adelaja
If you bill based time, does everyone at your firm keep their time accurately?
Do partners play games with time? For example:
- That will put us over budget, just post your time to admin.
- Two managers were involved, let’s just record one manager’s time.
- I was helping Joe with some questions on XXXX client. I’ll just put my time in training.
Tell your people to record all time and that it doesn’t mean you will actually bill the client for all the time. Recording time and billing the client are two separate things.
If you are playing these games, why are you billing by time in the first place??
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Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
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Thomas A. Edison
Thursday, September 19th, 2019
“If in anything I have faith in something you could call the human spirit – I have faith it will always save itself at the last minute.” – Vashti Bunyan
There is a cast of characters working inside every CPA firm. You probably give them nicknames. Just maybe you are one of those famous characters yourself.
The nickname – Last Minute Larry or Last Minute Lisa might apply to more than one partner in your firm. They just simply seem to be unable to manage their clients who are also last-minute types.
Lighten-up, maybe this shirt would be a great gift!
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We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st.
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Carl Sagan
Tuesday, September 17th, 2019
“If you put good apples into a bad situation, you’ll get bad apples.” – Philip Zimbardo
I am continually amazed at how many accounting firm leaders tolerate toxic employees.
Over the years, it is one of the issues that I discover inside many firms both large and small. It is the classic case where someone’s work product is fine but almost all of their peers dislike them and even fear them. In some cases, the offender ignores firm guidelines and openly belittles people.
They seem to serve the clients okay, but do you know for sure? Have talented people left your firm because you continually protect the “Attila the Hun” personality type?
Now is the time to deal with it before you get into another busy season.
I have blogged about this topic often hoping it will inspire leaders to deal with bad apples. Yet, the situations still seems to flourish. Here’s an informative article from HBR that might convince you to take action – How One Corrupt Employee Can a Whole Team.
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Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
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Epicurus
Friday, September 13th, 2019
“If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.” – Rita Mae Brown
It’s Friday the 13th. The September extension due date is Monday because the 15th falls on Sunday.
In progressive, efficient and profitable firms, Friday is the final day, the due date. They won’t be delivering tax returns at the last minute on Monday.
Their valuable team will not be working this Saturday and Sunday.
If you are not in this group, you should strive to attain this practice when future due dates roll around.
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As you schedule individual tasks, give yourself a cushion. Mark the due date a few days ahead of the actual deadline so you have time to deal with changes or last-minute emergencies.
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Harvey Mackay
Monday, September 9th, 2019
“A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” – Dalai Lama
A couple of basics that your staff desires are inclusion and transparency. They want to know about and be included in what is discussed behind-closed-doors in the partner meetings.
To attract and keep top talent, you need to figure out how to inform and involve them.
Daniel Hood of Accounting Today recently wrote a very informative article – 10 Staff Questions Firms Should Answer Right Now.
Here are the 10 Questions – be sure to read the article to learn more about each one. These are IMPORTANT questions!
- How is the firm doing?
- What is the firm doing?
- What does this mean for me?
- What can I do here?
- Hoe do I do that
- What does a partner make?
- How long does it take to make partner?
- Will the firm be around in 10 years?
- What will it look like? Can I make a suggestion?
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Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.
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John Maxwell
Wednesday, September 4th, 2019
“The power of visibility can never be underestimated.” – Margaret Cho
You have heard it over and over in recent years, you have to be visible on social media to attract and retain clients.
Yes, I agree with that. But, I ask more of you!
Don’t forget the old fashioned way. You must be visible in your business community – up close and personal.
Each person working at your CPA firm helps build a reputation for the FIRM. Remember those elevator speeches (describing what you do in 30 seconds)? Are you still teaching your newest team members how to do that? Remember, when someone asks you where you work you don’t say, “I work for an accounting firm.” You say, “I work for Acme CPA firm, the fastest-growing, most knowledgeable and progressive CPA firm in town! I am on the tax team.” Each person crafts their own story.
All your partners and managers should be involved in a charitable or community organization and eventually take a leadership position in that organization.
A basic visibility activity that partners sometimes forget – you eat lunch outside the office every day. Eat lunch with a client, a banker, an attorney or with another person from the firm. Dine at the most popular business lunch place in town where you will be seen by clients, bankers, and attorneys.
An on-going motto for the firm – “Let’s get visible!”
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A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.
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Victor Hugo
Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019
“Every business is having to transform today, no matter the size,” Melancon explained. “It’s up to us to transform to meet those expectations.” – Barry Melancon, CEO AICPA
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have noticed that the future of the CPA profession means if you haven’t refocused your practice on consulting you won’t be successful in the future.
I don’t really believe that the move to significantly more consulting is happening (or will happen) as rapidly as the leaders of the profession predict. From my years of experience with CPAs, the majority always proceed with caution.
It is true that public accounting firms are hiring more non-CPAs and that is a current trend that will definitely continue. These non-CPAs will bring more consulting opportunities and skills into firms.
The current pyramid model in most firms will move to more of a diamond shape. The base-level tasks will be automated or outsourced. The middle level of experts an consultants will grow and the ownership group, at the top of the diamond, will still be the smaller elite.
A different kind of hiring is just one change. Another major change lies in technology. Firm leaders must be willing to invest more than ever in technology. They must also invest time in learning and relearning to keep pace with the technology available.
Read more about all this in this informative article by Danielle Lee via Accounting Today.
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The ability to learn will be one of the most important skills for accountants going forward.
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Barry Melancon
Wednesday, August 28th, 2019
“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
If you work in an accounting firm it is almost certain that you are very BUSY. Usually, busier than you want to be. However, what are you busy doing? If you are a partner doing manager work or a manager doing staff work, that does not count as being busy.
I occasionally repost a blog from Seth Godin in its entirety. Here’s one that is right on target for CPAs!
ASK A BUSY PERSON
You might know one.
The busy person has a bias for action, the ability to ship, and a willingness to contribute more than is required. The busy person is wrong more than most people (if you get up to bat more often, you’re going to have more hits and more strikeouts, right?). Those errors are dwarfed by the impact they create.
Being a busy person is a choice.
It might not work for you, but you could try it out for a while.
We need more busy people.
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I am so busy doing nothing that the idea of doing anything which as you know, always leads to something cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.
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Jerry Seinfeld
Thursday, August 22nd, 2019
“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.” – Sigmund Freud
The following is a press release I received from the AICPA. It is much longer than my normal post but I think it is important for firm leaders to read. Read it, then think about it and begin making plans.
Public Accounting Firm Hiring Model Shifts: AICPA ‘Trends Report’
- Undergraduate accounting enrollments were second highest on record in 2017-2018
- AICPA is working with key stakeholders on programs to strengthen pipeline of talent entering the profession
NEW YORK (Aug. 12, 2019) – Rapid advances in technology continue to impact the accounting profession. As CPA firms shift their hiring models to focus more on technology skills, non-accounting graduates now comprise 31 percent of all new graduate hires in public accounting. That’s an increase of 11 percentage points from 2016 to 2018, according to the “2019 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits,” released today by the AICPA.
The biennial report, published since 1971, provides statistical projections and expectations based upon university responses for the 2017-2018 academic year and firm responses for the 2018 calendar year. This data provides a snapshot of the profession, set against the current economy, and the ability to forecast future trends.
“Increased demand for technology skills is shifting the accounting firm hiring model. This is leading to more non-accounting graduates being hired, particularly in the audit function,” said Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, AICPA president and CEO, and CEO of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. “CPAs have an unmatched reputation for trust and integrity, earned through decades of working in the public interest. However, to play this vital role in the future will require an increased focus on technology. It is incumbent upon the profession to ensure accounting graduates and newly licensed CPAs have these skills and expertise needed to support the evolution of the audit.”
One of the ways AICPA is seeking to address this trend is through the CPA Evolution project, in partnership with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. This project strives to ensure that CPAs continue to have the competencies needed to support an accounting profession that plays a critical role in protecting the public interest.
The percentage of new accounting graduate hires assigned to audit-related work is increasing. This area now comprises 56 percent of new accounting graduate hires. That’s up four percentage points from 2016 and nine percentage points from 2014.
Overall CPA firms hired about 11 percent fewer accounting graduates in 2018 than they did in 2016, and nearly 30 percent fewer than in 2014. As firms continue to embrace technology and evolve their approach to the audit, they are seeking employees with data science and data analytics skills. They are largely filling those needs with non-accounting graduates, though there is anecdotal evidence from firms to suggest that some of this technology-specific hiring is occurring at the experienced hire level.
On the supply side, enrollments in undergraduate accounting programs stand at the second highest level on record after pulling back slightly from their all-time high in 2015-2016.
Nearly 208,000 projected students were enrolled in undergraduate accounting programs during the 2017-2018 school year, topping 200,000 for the fourth Trends report in a row. More than 33,000 projected students were enrolled in master’s programs in 2017-2018. This reflects a six percent decline from 2015-2016 but remains comfortably above any level pre-recession. Declines in graduate student enrollment is due largely to more students opting to enter the workforce in lieu of pursuing an advanced accounting degree.
There were nearly 55,000 projected bachelor’s and more than 21,000 projected master’s degrees earned in 2017-2018. This reflects a decline of four percent each from the previous report. However, the combined 76,542 degrees remains above pre-recession levels.
After a significant increase in the number of new CPA Exam candidates in 2016, largely attributed to the new version of the exam launching in 2017, the number of candidates and newly licensed CPAs in 2018 dipped to the lowest level in 10 years. CPA candidates fell 7 percent to 36,827, while newly licensed CPAs fell 6 percent to 23,941.
“The AICPA and other stakeholders in the profession are focused on anticipating the changes shaping our economy and ensuring newly licensed CPAs have the skills they need to serve as trusted advisors to their clients,” said Yvonne Hinson, CPA, CGMA, Ph.D., AICPA Academic-in-Residence, Academic & Student Engagement. “As the pace of change increases, the Institute has been accelerating our work on a number of profession-wide initiatives that attract, inspire, and engage the next generation of CPAs.”
In addition to CPA Evolution, some of these initiatives include:
- A CPA Exam practice analysis focused on the impact of technology and the critical skills for newly licensed CPAs. An exposure draft and invitation-to-comment will be published in late December.
- Accounting Accreditation Practitioner Engagement Program which places CPA practitioners on AACSB accounting accreditation teams and committees.
- Accounting Doctoral Scholars Program provides funding for CPAs to obtain their doctorates and teach.
- Accounting Program for Building the Profession trains high school educators to teach a college-level accounting class.
The Institute is working with organizations to increase the likelihood that racial and ethnic minority students consider accounting early in their career decision-making process. AICPA scholarships and programs such as the Accounting Scholars Leadership Workshop help ensure accounting students have a meaningful and successful experience as they work to earn their CPA license.
The report found that racial/ethnic diversity has increased, with the highest percentage of non-white enrollees to date. Enrollment by gender is nearly even at both the bachelor’s and master’s levels.
View the full Trends report
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Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
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Napoleon Hill
