Planning Partner Retirements

Getting partners to transition toward retirement as they approach the firm’s retirement age is a problem facing many CPA firms, and its implications are far-reaching. Most firms in the Top 100 have a mandatory retirement age between age 60 and 66. Accordingly, partners within a few years of this age should be expected to begin…

What Really Are Your Firm’s Key Roles

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…

Decisive Leadership

Great leaders are decisive. So why isn’t decisiveness a key criterion in leadership selection? Whenever we conduct focus groups of employees, a major frustration that emerges is leaders, including managers, who just don’t make timely decisions. How did these people get into leadership roles — especially since decision-making style is one of the easiest things…