Vol. 5 No.11, November 2007

Expanding Your Knowledge While Conserving Your Time.

Vol. 5 No. 11, November 2007

CPA Leadership Report is about soft skills. It is a digest of the best management and leadership articles from accounting profession publications. It also contains an index to all previous articles available, literally, at your fingertips.

You can familiarize yourself with CPA Leadership Report by reading the articles below marked with an *.

If you would like to subscribe (with the right to cancel at any time and have your full subscription fee returned), please click here.

*Contents (Sources)*

The Profession is Changing. Are You Ready to Change? A comprehensive look at imminent changes in the profession. (CPA Practice Management Forum*)
The Profession in 20 Years Experts discuss their views on how accounting firms will operate in the future. (Accounting Today)
New Criteria for Partner Compensation Book of business is no longer a top criterion, and seniority has disappeared. (Partner’s Report)
Partner Compensation and Retirement Values Partners won’t (and shouldn’t) accept modern compensation systems without receiving retirement value for their clients. (Texas Society of CPAs)
Turn Bad Clients to Good, or Fire Them Bad clients drain resources, create discomfort, reduce cash, and distract the firm. (Accounting Office Management & Administration Report*)
Take Back Command of Client Accounting Accounting Relief includes a write-up, trial balance, and financial reporting system for the firm, as well as a bookkeeping/transaction entry system for clients. (Accountants World*)
Women are Not Moving Up and Not Staying The AICPA is researching the problem to find out why women aren’t striving for partnership. (Accounting Today)
Slowing Your Growth Virginia firm slows growth to maintain control. (Practical Accountant)
How a Small Firm Deals with Staff Shortages An eight-person firm serves more clients with fewer professionals. Practical Accountant’s* annual awards for innovative CPA firms. (Small Firm Solutions)
Succession Planning—When Do You Begin? The value of your firm depends on how many clients are retained. (Small Firm Solutions)
Your Newtonian Partners Was Sir Isaac Newton thinking about partners in accounting firms when he articulated his three laws on the behavior of moving objects? (Accounting Today)
Is Your Firm Independent from Your Association Members? Independence rules may apply to clients of association members, according to a proposal by the AICPA Professional Ethics Committee. (Practical Accountant)
What to Do if a Merger Fails A de-merger agreement can anticipate many problems but can also cause some. (Journal of Accountancy)
The Truth About Strategic Planning Too often, firms create strategic plans and nothing changes. (Partner Insights)
How to Start a Value Pricing Initiative Why and how to develop a pricing system based on value. (Accounting Today)
Is Your Firm Anxiety Ridden? Reducing anxiety is one of leadership’s most important responsibilities. (Partner’s Report)
Leadership—Examples of Good and Bad How four prominent leaders succeeded or failed. (Insight)
How Can Small Firms Prevent Large Firms from Stealing Their Talent? Small firm institutes a performance management system to motivate staff. (The CPA Journal)

Information and Tools for Conducting Client Surveys What to ask in client surveys, and some tools for conducting them. (Seasonality Success)
How Important is Trust, and Why Do Clients Trust You? The most important quality clients seek is trustworthiness, as indicated by 69 percent of respondents. (AICPA CPA Insider)
What to Do About Clients Like These Ten examples of problem clients, and how to deal with them. (CPA Trendlines)

Consultant Disparages Marketers A leading consultant says marketers just create brochures. (Practical Accountant)
How to Relate to the Media Twelve practical principles. (CPA Practice Management Forum)
Give Free Samples Without Giving Away the Store How to give a free service and get them to want more. (Rainmaker Report)

Books in Serial Format Chapter one of Power Up Your Profits, by Troy Waugh, CEO of Rainmaker Academy. This book covers principles, strategies, and techniques to help build your practice by obtaining clients and building their businesses. We will present one chapter per month, or order the book now. (Rainmaker Academy*)

Sponsors

1031 Services and Education For Accountants

Using Client feedback to increase profitability

Building Business Value

Measuring CPA Leadership Effectiveness

The Financial Services Partner for Tax & Accounting Professionals.

Intelligent Strategies and Solutions

An intuitive workflow and information automations solution for the accounting profession

Helps CPAs manage the tax
preparation process

Equips top associates with essential rainmaking skills

Merger and Transition Advisors
Exclusively Serving the
National Accounting Community

Professional Liability Insurance
for Accountants.

One of the world’s largest networks of large accounting firms