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An excerpt from Accounting Today’s article by Richard Stanger and Carolyn Carlson, Winning the War for Talent. There are two components to hiring great experienced partners and staff: sourcing and interviewing. Staff referral programs can be a good source for experience partners and staff. However, in today’s market many times experienced staff come from recruiters.…
An excerpt from Accounting Today’s article by Richard Stanger and Carolyn Carlson, Winning the War for Talent. Many accounting firms have programs that give bonuses to staff for sourcing candidates. In some cases, these programs are highly successful, but in many they are not. What makes the difference? The answer is culture. The firms that…
An excerpt from Accounting Today’s article by Richard Stanger and Carolyn Carlson, Winning the War for Talent. Winning the War for Talent at all levels is the most critical issue facing the accounting industry today. In fact, the first sign that a CPA firm is in trouble is when the firm is not able to…
When we discuss succession planning with clients, the position of managing partner(s) and group leader(s) are quickly mentioned as critical. This is understandable since these individuals run the firm and have deep institutional knowledge. Then we further press clients: “Name other people in the firm whose departure would seriously hurt the firm’s business?” This query prompts…
This is the second in of a series of blogs on the subject of accounting firms and their operating models: Centralized Model Locally Integrated Model Regionally Integrated Model Nationally Integrated Model Federated Model The locally integrated operating model: This is when firms establish satellite offices in areas close to the firm’s central office. A good…
Firms in the accounting industry have been expanding rapidly over the last few years, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. This has included significant geographic expansion beyond the firm’s core location. As this pattern continues, it is becoming imperative for firms to commit to one of several operating models to enable strong governance, attract clients…
We all know the classic management principle: “what gets measured gets done.” This maxim has been around so long that no one is sure who said it first. Is it correct? Not always. It is clear that measuring results is not enough. You must also reward them. Let’s modify the management principle to: “what gets…
Decades ago Peter Drucker observed that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Fewer business maxims have proved to be more accurate. However, when it comes to developing a business strategy for an accounting firm, success often depends on the partners’ willingness to accept culture change. Let’s look at a few examples: Specialization — As firms move…
We’ve just completed a series of three blog posts on behavioral interviewing, each focusing on different levels of candidates. It’s a good time to point out that there are actually three key aspects to interviewing: Selling the firm — At the end of the day, when it comes to the best candidates, you are interviewing…
Perhaps the most pivotal role in an accounting & advisory firm is the client service partner, sometimes called a relationship partner. These are generally the audit partners who have overall responsibility for the client relationship. These roles are defined in terms of revenue responsibility, new business, staff development, technical abilities and so forth. But it’s…