Join Laurence October 22nd for his LIVE webinar - Solve Staffing Issues

Kristen Rampe explains these steps in her 50 minute webinar - ENGAGING YOUR STAFF IN METRICS THAT DRIVE MARGIN available to all members to review anytime in our recordings library.

1. Growth Strategy & Market Positioning
2. Client Centricity as Enterprise Strategy
3. Accountability
4. Building Advisory Businesses & the J-Curve
5. AI as a Growth Lever & Future-Ready Talent
6. Capital Strategy & Reinvestment Discipline
7. Inorganic Growth & Corp Dev
8. Governance: Intentionality & Discipline

Subscribers can watch Brian's full webinar HERE

1. Be Transparent
2. Be Consistent
3. Be a Good Example
4. Be Competent
5. Be Trustworthy

In addition, remember the power of believing in your own message!  Listen to this short clip below from Sandra's webinar - Master Class in Communication. Join us for the complete LIVE presentation May 7, 2026 @ 1pm ET.

You can create and command an elevated client experience - for you both! Achieve profitability, ease and comfort in your client relationships, met expectations, clearer communication, no more surprises. Enjoy a sense of shared value and mutual respect.

Step into a comfortable role of advisor--a strategic alliance--bill top dollar fees, and never worry about having to justify your actions or services again.

Tip # 1 - Re-Invent Yourself as a Strategic Advisor

Tip # 2 - Create an Elite Client Experience for Your Clients

Tip # 3 - Establish Yourself as an Expert & Command Top Dollar

Tip # 4 - Pricing – Invoicing, Collections and Write-Offs

Tip # 5 - Establish Clearly-Defined and Mutually Agreed-Upon Expectations

Tip # 6 - Utilize & Embrace Technology

Tip # 7 - Learn to Understand & Connect with Clients

Tip # 8 - Train Clients to ‘Be Better’

Tip # 9 - Revisit Your Clientele (via a Ranking System)

Tip #10 - Communicate Simply and Regularly

Excerpt from Lisa Tierney's presentation of 10 Tips to Instantly Better Manage How You Serve Clients 

Join Lisa Tierney November 3, 2026, @ 1pm ET for Create Your Dream Practice: Attract & Nurture Ideal Clients as a True Advisor

Join Lisa LIVE on April 28th for Create Your Dream Practice: Attract & Nurture Ideal Clients as a True Advisor

An hourly rate overlooks your highest value: the results you deliver. Plus, you earn less as you gain expertise simply because you accomplish things faster.

Your Hourly Rate Creates Conflict

Top four ways your hourly rate puts you and your client at odds.

1. Tug of war Your client wants the work quickly completed to lower the cost. On the other hand, you earn more money when you take more time. With an hourly rate you’re rewarded for inefficiency. If you were rewarded for speed, while maintaining quality, how would your approach differ?

2. Time tracking With an hourly rate, you calculate all your costs and diligently track every minute of your time. Your client doesn’t really care about those things. Clients are primarily concerned with the end result. How much time do you spend tracking hours and billing for your 
time? What if you stopped tracking time?

3. Underestimate your time Projects often require more time than expected to produce quality work. This causes you to worry about going over budget and your client’s response. What if your fees were all-inclusive and removed these concerns?

4. Overlooks expertise As the years roll by, your process speeds up. If that’s the case, then you earn less for the same work done. Your hourly rate puts a cap on your income since time is finite. How would your pricing change if you emphasized your expertise, rather than costs and time? When clients are charged an hourly rate, they often avoid reaching out to you when they run into a problem because of the additional cost. When they do contact you, the problem has escalated and fixing it costs more than if they had contacted you sooner.

Loren Fogelman is founder and CEO of Business Success Solution.

Register for the related webinar with Loren here: Stop Competing on Price: Confidently Answer the "What Your Hourly Rate" Question

• Assess the advantages of adopting a 40-hour workweek model and strategize transitioning clients to this model with calculated risk.
• Explore how the 40-hour model can justify premium pricing compared to conventional models.
• Identify ways to present the 40-hour model as mutually beneficial for both the firm and clients, emphasizing a shift towards pricing for access.
• Discover how providing prospective team members with consistent 40 hours/week year-round can significantly boost pipeline growth and retention rates.

Download the free eBook here: 40-Hour Firm Free eBook

Register for the related webinar here: The 40-Hour Firm: From Deadline Stress to Firm Freedom

In addition to culture and values, job seekers are often interested in the benefits and perks offered by potential employers, especially in the accounting profession. A positive culture that promotes a healthy work-life integration, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities to grow and advance your career are crucial for accounting and tax professionals. They promote employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention. A balanced lifestyle helps employees manage work demands and personal well-being. A supportive culture fosters collaboration, inclusivity, and professional growth. Attractive benefits, including competitive compensation, healthcare, and retirement plans, ensure financial security and overall employee happiness.

In the careers section of your website it is important to highlight any distinct benefits that your firm offers such as secondments, health & wellness and gym programs and memberships, calm and mind tools and apps, and other self-help and career advancement resources. Your careers section should also detail any unique or competitive advantages your accounting firm provides, such as flexible work arrangements, CPE and continuing education opportunities. Highlighting these benefits will demonstrate your commitment to employee well-being and can help attract potential candidates who prioritize a healthy work-life balance and lifestyle.

If your firm is a member of an international association of accounting firms, such as MGI Worldwide, it would be very beneficial to describe what your membership means to your staff.  Many times membership in such organizations offers opportunities to collaborate with other members across the country and around the world, travel to conferences and meetings, learn about a wide range of niches and services, and secondment programs.

Excerpt reprinted with permission from www.accountantsadvisory.com. See complete article here.

Related:

Upcoming Webinar: Attract Top Talent - Effective Strategies for Recruiting & Retention

Once you get billings caught up and refresh yourselves after tax season, spend time looking at the health of your firm and its future. Dream strategically to consider what your ideal practice would be. 

Ira Rosenbloom, CPA (inactive), The Merger & Succession Solver, helps CPA firms of $1 million to $20 million evaluate and complete M&A transactions and achieve their goals. For many firms, this starts with determining which side of the deal table they want to sit on—buyer or seller. As COE of Optimum Strategies, which he founded in 2010, Ira offers firm leaders objective and proven guidance, advising on matters of internal and external succession, optimizing competitive advantage, and improving performance and profitability metrics. Ira previously served as managing partner of a mid-sized regional accounting firm, practice director for a national firm, and as regional partner in a national CPA M&A advisory firm. Learn more.

More from Ira Rosenbloom: Metrics to Drive Better Tax Season Results and Improve M&A Options

Join CPA Leadership and attend an entire year of CPE webinars at no additional cost: Explore Subscription Options

What is a priority?

Let’s start with an example…

You have two returns that you need to wrap up that have been nagging at you for days. You think, “I have to get these out today.”  You walk in the office or open the computer ... email and urgent not important (Quadrant 3 from Covey’s time management matrix) items take the day away.  At the end of the day the returns are top of mind ... still not done. You didn’t win the day!

Alternatively … you have two returns you have to get done. You get to the office and spend the morning cranking them out (Quadrant 1/2). Then you address email etc. At the end of the day you walk out and the returns are complete and you sleep well. You won the day!

The definition of a priority is a thing that is regarded as more important than another.

Winners prioritize Quadrant 1/2 — might be worth a reminder to yourself and your team.

Focus on success!

Shannon Vincent is founder of ReNew Group. Since 2001, Shannon has consulted with Top 100 firms to sole practitioners, helping them create sustainable and profitable businesses.

See webinars presented by Shannon and other CPA Leadership experts: Webinar Catalog

Do you want your CPA firm to thrive for years to come? Invest in the future of your firm by prioritizing new partner development. Use these ten best practices in new partner development to guide your firm to a bright future.

1. Communicate the Benefits of Partnership

Never assume that potential partners understand or recognize all the benefits of being a partner. Go out of your way to make the positive aspects of partnership clear to as many team members as possible. Each firm offers a unique set of benefits, but following are a few common partner perks you can share with your staff:

• Higher compensation: Avoid revealing specific salaries but share a range of partner salaries at your firm to motivate potential partners.
• The opportunity to contribute to the goodwill value of the firm.
• Increased responsibility and influence in the management of the business.
• Greater control over work hours.

2. Create a Path to Partner Framework and Timeline

Without a clearly communicated path to partner, potential partners are left to wonder about next steps. Avoid confusion and discouragement by creating and communicating a clear path to partner and an associated timeline.

A path to partner should:

• Be in writing with clearly defined criteria;
• Explain that the needs of the firm will be a key determining factor as to whether a candidate becomes partner;
• Be used to evaluate potential partners regularly, leading to constructive conversations and further professional development;
• Provide opportunities for development in the disciplines required for making partner; and
• Include a defined timeline so candidates can establish accurate expectations.

3. Define Partner Criteria and Expectations

It’s possible that your firm has not written down partner criteria and expectations, and that they are assumed within the firm but not clarified. As the firm looks to the future, all partners and staff benefit by having clearly defined and written partner criteria and expectations.

Here are some basic partner criteria your firm can use as a starting point for creating a more personalized list.

Requirements to be considered a partner candidate:

• Accomplished technical skills
• Excellent client service abilities

Must-haves to become a partner:

• Alignment with the firm’s core values
• Adequate business development skills (varying skill levels are acceptable.)
• Ability to delegate, mentor, and develop staff
• Other intangibles, such as people skills, etc.

4. Hold Future Leader Discussions

At regular partner meetings — at least semi-annually — discuss future leaders of the firm. The partner group should ask the following questions.

• Who are our potential future leaders? Identify promising staff members by name.
• Where do potential candidates currently excel?
• What opportunities should existing partners provide to groom these individuals into partner candidates?

5. Track the Path to Partner With 12 Milestones

Use these 12 milestones as a checklist for overseeing and managing the path to partner at your firm.

1. Gauge an individual’s interest in joining the partnership.
2. Identify and develop partner-level skills needed by candidates.
3. Explain the partner role and expectations at your firm.
4. Explain how partnership and buy-in works.
5. Evaluate fitness for partnership utilizing the partner candidate checklist.
6. Define the timeline for non-equity and equity partner admission.
7. Discuss partnership buyout, firm financials, and any needed progression.
8. Vote on offering partnership (equity and non-equity) to a candidate.
9. Present an offer.
10. Sign the offer.
11. Celebrate! Do this at the time of promotion, whether the new partner is joining as non-equity or equity.
12. Set goals and expectations for the new partner.

Following are outlines for three conversations your firm’s leadership should initiate with staff members who have partner potential.

6. Have Potential Partner Conversations: #1 — What partnership looks like and assessment of interest.

Non-partner staff at any level can be a part of high-level conversations to share information about the role and gauge initial interest.

• Ask the question, “Are you interested in becoming a partner at our firm?”
  • Present this question in a lightweight manner to determine the person’s level of interest in partnership, not as an offer to jump on the partner fast track.
• Share the role and benefits of being a partner.
  • Describe the role and its benefits, such as increased schedule flexibility or the opportunity to make significant decisions affecting the firm, etc.
• Ask, “Are there important topics you would like the firm to train you on?”
  • This is a valuable discussion whether or not the individual has hopes for partnership.

7. Have Potential Partner Conversations: #2 — More In-Depth on Partnership

This conversation is best to have with potential partners who are becoming more senior in their role — possibly at the manager level.

• Ask what the candidate would like to know about becoming a partner or owner at the firm.
• Help candidates understand:
  • The criteria for making partner
  • For equity partner candidates only, buy-in details, including the amount, payment period, and why it works that way. Appropriately communicating these details builds trust.
  • How partners are compensated — explain the system used.
• Ask candidates how they feel about being a partner, including their concerns and what excites them about the possibility.
• In which areas would they like to receive further training?

8. Mentor With Intention

Once your partner group has identified potential partner candidates at any level, move forward with intentional mentoring:

• Assign each potential candidate to an existing partner.
• Determine and communicate the expected frequency of mentoring meetings — should be multiple times a year.
• Get to know the potential candidate and actively address the individual’s needs, concerns, and interests regarding growth within the firm and possible partnership.
• Commit to accountability among the partners to ensure that mentoring happens as outlined by the group. Without partner accountability, some potential partner candidates may not receive proper mentoring, to their own detriment and to the detriment of the firm.

9. Have Potential Partner Conversations: #3 — Financial Data and Agreements

Discussions get more in-depth with qualified partner candidates who are interested in partnership and who have the support of the partner group for moving forward. The purpose of the conversation is to equip the candidate with the necessary information to make an informed decision about joining the partnership. Answer the candidate’s questions and provide all relevant information the candidate will need to factor into the partnership decision.

• Provide the firm’s financial, production, and operational data.
• Share the partnership agreement, the buyout plan, and any other crucial partnership documents.
• Offer your assessment of the individual’s skills and identify any remaining development areas prior to giving an offer.

10. Pass the Torch

Require new partners to develop the next new partners. Communicate from the start of a new partner’s tenure that they will be expected to invest in building future partner candidates. The longevity and health of your firm largely depends on how well you invest in your next generation of leaders.

Kristen Rampe, CPA, and Marc Rosenberg, CPA, are partners in The Rosenberg Associates, consultants to CPA firms. They have written and published 16 books on all areas of CPA firm practice management.  Visit them at https://rosenbergassoc.com/shop/.

All webinars included with your CPA Leadership membership: Explore Membership Options

More from Kristen Rampe: Retain Your Team Using Stay Interviews

Succession and practice continuity are burning issues for small and mid-sized accounting firms. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, firms with revenues of $1M to $20M should be provoked by the current market conditions and put a plan together—now.

The following are real-time differentiators in todays’ intense M&A market:

1. Investigate the viability and upside for a merger of equals. Bigger is better rings true in many cases. The closer a firm comes to being $5M and above, the more operational advantages are at hand.

2. Explore joint ventures that will be the first stage to a combination. Be open to cross-border options with firms that are out of state but in proximity.

3. Develop your own thesis on the advantages and disadvantages of Private Equity (PE). Some find PE is more appealing when joining a large firm that already has the PE infusion. Others find they are not a candidate based on size and restrictions. Still others find being a marquee to a PE either exciting—or questionable.

4. Engage an expert to assess your firm and design a strategy to motivate successors to come to the table.

5. Research what successors are looking for and determine how you can meet and exceed expectations.

6. Clean up your shop. Profitability is a huge driver in the current market. Few firms want fixer-uppers. Fix your profitability as best you can to maximize appeal.

7. Leverage infrastructure. The more you improve quality of life for your team, the wider your internal succession prospects become. Upgrade your technology budget and add operational support that can take low-end work off people’s plates.

8. Consider non-equity and minor equity for talented people who bring experience, but have not passed the exam or do not qualify to pass the exam.

9. Carve out practice components that are not viable for you moving forward—or that will not be appealing to successors. The client could be sold off before a transaction with a firm or in tandem.

10. Broaden revenue sources. The less dependent on accounting personnel, the better. Create alliances for different services, get licensed to be in the investment business, and build a one-stop shop with a wider array of services.

Deal-making continues to get more complicated. The market is signaling that firms that are nimble, knowledgeable, and entrepreneurial will have better chances of succeeding.

Ira Rosenbloom, CPA (inactive), The Merger & Succession Solver?, helps CPA firms of $1 million to $20 million evaluate and complete M&A transactions and achieve their goals. For many firms, this starts with determining which side of the deal table they want to sit on—buyer or seller. As COE of Optimum Strategies, which he founded in 2010, Ira offers firm leaders objective and proven guidance, advising on matters of internal and external succession, optimizing competitive advantage, and improving performance and profitability metrics. Ira previously served as managing partner of a mid-sized regional accounting firm, practice director for a national firm, and as regional partner in a national CPA M&A advisory firm. Learn more.

More from Ira Rosenbloom: Metrics to Drive Better Tax Season Results and Improve M&A Options

Attend upcoming webinars on M&A and more: Webinar Catalog

Join CPA Leadership for only $69 and attend an entire year of CPE webinars at no additional cost: Explore Membership Options

I have read a lot of John Maxwell's books over the years and have enjoyed using his motivational quotations.

This month I want to share with you Maxwell’s Seven Steps to Success, along with my own comments.

1. Make a commitment to grow daily. – Do you read inspirational material on a daily basis, like first thing in the morning? Do you procrastinate on obtaining meaningful CPE as part of your growing process?
2. Value the process more than events. – Personal growth involves a commitment to continuous improvement. It is lifelong learning. Encourage your partners to make the same commitment.
3. Don’t wait for inspiration. – How strong is your self-motivation? Do you hire people with the same character trait?
4. Be willing to sacrifice pleasure for opportunity. – I see so many wasted opportunities inside CPA firms. How about your firm and its opportunities?
5. Dream big. – At my firm, my motto was always Think Big. Pursue your dreams. Never settle for the status quo.
6. Plan your priorities. – The best leaders are excellent at time management. How about you? How much time have you wasted this week, month, or year?
7. Give up or go up. – Never, never give up. It takes perseverance to advance a CPA firm into the future. Never allow your firm to plateau and become frozen in time.

Gary Adamson is the CEO of Adamson Advisory, a CPA practice management consulting firm specializing in succession strategies, strategic planning, M&A, compensation, and partner agreements.

More from Gary Adamson: "Successful Partners Do These Things."

See webinars presented by Gary and other CPA Leadership experts: Webinar Catalog

Accountants are smart people.  The thing I find curious is how they invest their time.  If time is money, and I don’t think it is—time is your life—then why aren’t accountants better stewards of their time?  Why don’t accountants invest their time like they invest their money—for the most part, well?

Steve Jobs gave a famous speech at Stanford University about how he used time uncertainty—how long will my life on earth last?—to motivate him and inspire him to do great things.

He said, “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

There is a sweetness and sadness to the sentence.  Jobs is saying treat your time with scarcity. If there is one place ReNew will advocate scarcity it is in how you invest your time.

When we ask accountants what they like best about being an accountant, most say advising clients. We then ask how much of your time is invested in advising clients?—typically 20% or less.

The critical question moving forward is where do you want to invest your time and what moves do you need to make better use of your time.  How you invest your time should be inspiring and impactful.

You can always make more money but you can’t make more time.

Choose success over survival.

Shannon Vincent is founder of ReNew Group. Since 2001, Shannon has consulted with Top 100 firms to sole practitioners, helping them create sustainable and profitable businesses.

More from Shannon Vincent: Prioritize for the Win

See webinars presented by Shannon and other CPA Leadership Institute experts: Webinar Catalog

Join CPA Leadership. All webinars included with membership: Explore Membership Options

For years, decades even, accountants have talked about specialization. Building a niche practice has been the subject of articles, conference agendas, podcasts, and discussion among practitioners since what seems like forever. But the discussion is coming to a head as firms continue to struggle with capacity and staying on top of all the changes affecting the profession. A combined strategy of focusing on specific types of clients along with transitioning clients that don’t fit (we call it right-sizing your client base) is the key to solving some of the profession’s greatest current challenges ensuring its future health.

There are three common barriers practitioners and firms must overcome to embrace the opportunities specialization affords. In this post we identify and offer strategies to overcome them.

Barrier 1: Perception of Boredom

There’s a paradigm accountants must unlearn which is when you specialize it means you only do the same thing over and over. One of the most frequent objections I hear from practitioners at every stage their careers is, “I like the variety of (or the idea of) working with lots of different types of clients.” Or put another way, “I would get bored only working with one type of client.” The implication is that when you choose to serve only certain types of clients that every engagement will be the same.

The first step in overcoming this barrier is to acknowledge a fallacy that two businesses, even competitors or those in the same industry, can be the same. The fact is every client is different because you serve people. And people have different views, experiences, personalities, stories, priorities, communication styles, and thousands of other attributes that make us unique. The challenges and opportunities they face may be similar, but your approach to solving the issues and your relationships will be different.

The second step to overcoming this barrier is shifting your mindset. What if, instead of doing the same thing for every client, becoming a deeply experienced professional means more creative flex? When you start to see a client’s operating environment from different angles because you spend a LOT of time in that space your experience lends itself to more inventive and innovative solutions. Focusing on fewer clients also creates time for deep thinking vs being so bogged down with work that you focus primarily on tasks and keeping your head above water. What if all this enables you to solve more issues and offer more proactive ideas to your clients?

Saying no to the clients and projects that don’t fit frees you to say yes to more challenging, interesting and inspiring work. It creates opportunities to provide solutions to challenges your clients may never have thought you could solve.

In summary: Focus is the key to a more diverse practice.

Barrier 2: Anticipated Negative Effect on Revenue

It feels counterintuitive that fewer clients leads to more revenue, and that carving off and transitioning a chunk of our practice will ultimately increase top-line revenue and bottom-line profits. First, as we already discussed, freeing time and space to do more for our existing clients enables us to bill our clients more. Second, specializing creates an opportunity to market yourself and your firms in a way that makes you more relevant to those prospects that need you than other firms. As you increase your relevance you decrease (or possibly eliminate) your competitors—which means winning a higher percentage of engagements.

Not only that, when prospects recognize the lack of alternatives to your firm the balance of power in the proposal process shifts to you. Pricing is non-negotiable, without scope modifications. You don’t feel pressured to give away pieces of your service or knowledge in order to win the business. You can become more steadfast in your terms of service and timing. You can stop wasting time responding to RFPs that don’t make sense. The entire process becomes more straightforward, with less gamesmanship.

Think about how refreshing that would be. Not only do you win a higher percentage of engagements, you will win with higher fees, fewer write-offs, and greater realization.

Simply put: Specialization increases revenue and profitability.

Barrier 3: Failing to Define the Specialty

There are two options when it comes to specializing: reactive specializing in which you see what others are doing and seize whatever segment is left or proactive specializing to make your own space. Often firms think about specialization in terms of industry, which has lots of advantages, but there are lots of ways to define it. Region or location can be a specialization if you’re very well connected and articulate the value your local roots and connections bring to clients. You can specialize in a service model, like remote/tech enabled. You could be the firm that only meets at the client’s site or that works with family-owned businesses.

Most people start to define their niche on the basis of where they are today. They look to where they have concentrations of clients or their existing skills. This can be a good approach if you have passion for serving those kinds of clients, but you should be be wary of being held captive to the opportunities you have already had. You may find greater joy and satisfaction from diving in to something completely new, as long as you have the patience to recognize that diversification like this is a longer-term strategy than expanding an existing area. There’s no right or wrong way to start—as long as you start. A lot of folks “dabble” in one area or another. Dabbling is the enemy of specialization and gets you nowhere.

Regardless of where you start, follow these steps:

1. Choose a focus.
2. Articulate the expertise frequently, consistently among your target clients (both current and prospective).
3. Continue to work to add the missing skills, capabilities, and processes to support your positioning.

Often accountants make the mistake of switching steps 2 and 3—feeling that they can’t start talking about their specialization until they know everything. Let’s unlearn the definition that “specialize” means you have to know all the answers. Instead re-frame the definition to mean being dedicated to and connected enough to help find all the answers. It’s the epitome of what it means to be an advisor to clients.

The takeaway: If you don’t decide, you won’t specialize.

If your professional goal is to do more for fewer clients, explore some level of specialization. Like most things, specialization is a continuous learning journey. Be ready to not have all the answers. However if you’re committed to finding them, limitless possibilities await.

Larry Bildstein is CEO of The Whetstone Group, Inc. Whetstone’s mission is to help CPA firms and professional service firms nationwide find growth and hone their competitive edge.

See webinars presented by Larry Bildstein & other CPA Leadership experts: Webinar Catalog

Join CPA Leadership and attend all webinars at no additional cost: Explore Membership Options

[FREE RESOURCE BELOW]

Are you working too much and earning too little? Many CPA professionals have maxed out their time and are still not generating the income they need or deserve. If this is you, take heart—increasing your income is possible.

Start by acknowledging that your time is a limited resource. When your income is connected to your time, you will sacrifice a lot to bring in additional income and still fall short of your income potential.

With your time already maxed out, the ideal option to earn more income is to increase your rates; but raising rates can feel uncomfortable and scary. If you’re uncertain about whether you can or should raise your rates, here are five signs that you are undercharging your clients.

 Five Signs You’re Undercharging Your Clients 

1. Low profit margin. Take a look at your profit margins. You will likely notice that the clients paying you the most are giving you the lowest profit margin—even though you do more complex work for them than for other clients.
2. Your paycheck. Are you paying yourself? When was the last time you gave yourself a raise?
3. Everyone says “yes.” If every potential client says “yes” to becoming a client, you are probably undercharging.
4. Not enough hours. Because your fees are directly connected to your time, you’ve maxed out your time. What have you given up in order to increase your revenues? Exercise? Vacations? Family time?
5. Burnout and resentment. When you’re working hard and not getting the results you hope for, it’s easy to feel resentful and become burnt out.

Are you experiencing any of these five signs? If so, it may be time to increase your rates.

The key to raising your rates is to separate your fees from your time. Start by thinking about what your clients value. Do they really care about your time, as in, “I want to buy some of my CPA’s time?” It’s more likely that your clients care about what you can do for them. What do clients need that you can help with?

• Speed – Clients in many industries are willing to pay more for work requested and completed in a short amount of time. (Think paying more for overnight shipping instead of standard.)
• Ease – Clients are focused on the many facets of their business. You can make their business finances, taxes, etc. much easier for them—removing the complication and stress of those tasks.
• Money savings – As you work with your clients on their business, your expertise can save them money. You might help them save in small ways such as discovering redundant spending or unused subscriptions—or with larger issues such as contract review and negotiation.
• Money making – As a CPA professional you can give clients a great deal of financial guidance that will improve their bottom line. For example, you can offer insights as to their existing margins and how to improve them. You might also help clients with budgeting and forecasting so they can expand.

Once you identify the unique value you offer your clients, you’re on your way to creating a pricing structure that features your valuable services rather than an hourly rate. Creating a value-based pricing structure releases you from the limits of time-based pricing and enables you to increase your rates and your clients’ satisfaction.

Free Resource: Get Loren’s free guide on how to raise your rates.

Loren Fogelman is the founder of Business Success Solution, and has consistently been recognized by HubSpot in its annual list of the world’s top 22 business coaches. Loren’s company, Business Success Solution, empowers accounting professionals to take charge of their business and double revenues while working half the time.

Attend an upcoming webinar presented by Loren Fogelman:  How to Raise Your Rates With Existing Clients

Join CPA Leadership for only $69 and attend an entire year of webinars at no additional cost: Start Attending Webinars Today!

You got in a conference room to do strategic planning, got excited about big ideas, and designed things that sounded really good on paper. Now is the hard part: implementation. Without follow through after the planning event, strategic planning is useless – and unfortunately, this is where many CPA firms fall down.

So, what are the keys to successful implementation of your strategic plan?

1. Have regular partner meetings that focus “on the business”
An extremely successful CPA firm we’ve had the fortune to work with articulated their philosophy this way: “We are business owners first. We just happen to be in the business of accounting.” This is opposite to how many firms run their practice: “We are accountants first. We just happen to be business owners also.”

To work “on the business” instead of “in the business” takes time – and meeting regularly with your business partners to discuss the operations and future of the business. Failure to do so makes significantly better results year over year highly unlikely. If you do get the results you want, it will be due to good luck more than intentional action.

Need a template for a useful meeting agenda and cadence for leadership meetings? Check out Traction by Gino Wickman.

2. Lean into healthy conflict
In 2012, Google’s Project Aristotle researched what it takes to create high-performing teams. They found one characteristic matters the most – by far. It’s called psychological safety, and it means that all voices are heard and people feel safe taking appropriate interpersonal risks.

Generally, CPAs avoid conflict. We don’t want to embarrass others or ourselves or to get fired or look stupid in a group. This is natural! However, avoiding these things at all costs creates silence – even if our firm is headed towards disaster.

Respectful, but honest, communication of concerns and differences of opinion creates healthy dialogue and can lead to the best ideas winning (instead of the loudest personalities dominating). This creates a nimble team that is inoculated against the worst ideas because weak ideas are exposed and corrected in real time, while partner relationships are strengthened in the process.

To go deeper, you can watch Amy Edmonson’s TED Talk on psychological safety.

3. Give each partner goals that tie directly to the strategic plan
To make your firm’s vision a reality, it must be broken down into components (strategic initiatives) and then ownership assigned to and accepted by individual partners. I highly recommend having “one neck to choke” for each goal; otherwise, accountability gets murky very quickly and results diminish.

Each partner needs specific goals that have deadlines. Then make sure that if all the partners hit their goals, you would reach the key milestones you want in a year’s time. If not, you need to redraw the goals until all the work is accounted for. Ultimately, these goals need to live in a culture where partners are accountable and coachable.

4. Incentivize behaviors you want and don’t incentivize behaviors that don’t support your firm
The latest Rosenberg Survey data shows average income per equity partner was $584,000. Offering a relatively small bonus for hitting all the strategic goals is unlikely to motivate much partner performance. If compensation is going to be tied to firm performance and success, the money at stake needs to be material. What that exact number or percentage of compensation is will differ from firm to firm, but it needs to be worth striving for.

That said, money is often not the only (or even the strongest) motivator for all partners. Praise, meaning and purpose can be surprising motivators, and they won’t cost you anything. Regardless of the motivation tool, make sure the firm isn’t rewarding counterproductive behaviors (like hoarding work or building silos) but instead is recognizing partners who are achieving their piece of the strategic plan to move the whole firm ahead.

5. Stress test your process: plan for the worst and hope for the best
A good strategic planning session can end with high hopes, warm feelings and lots of smiles. That’s great, but that warm glow is not a promise that the coming year will be easy. To give plans the best chance of coming true, it pays to assume that things may go astray: unexpected staff departures, recession, too much chargeable work, needy clients, etc.

Identify what is most likely to stand in the way of a successful year – and make specific plans to counter each of these obstacles. My fingers are crossed that none of these obstacles will come your way, but you are best prepared when you anticipate and prepare for them anyway.

Theodore Roosevelt said that nothing worth having comes easily. That is certainly true when creating a vibrant future for your CPA firm. By breaking down your vision of success into manageable goals, meetings and conversations, you can succeed despite the difficulty.

Matt Rampe is a partner with Rosenberg Associates and specializes in strategic planning, partner coaching, and resolving difficult partner issues.

More from Matt Rampe: 9 Rules of a Laser-Focused CPA Firm

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