Highlights from the 2008 Management Summit (Day 1)

Source: Texas Society of CPAs, Public Practice

The 2008 Management Summit was held in Las Vegas in January and attended by over 135 partners. Day one included a presentation by Mark Keely on leadership, Bob Bunting and Jim Metzler’s fireside chat with Bill Carlino, and a presentation by Jennifer Wilson on managing conflict. Portions of this text are direct excerpts from the article, presented with permission from The Texas Society of CPAs.

The Mark of a Leader:

Great leaders:

• Have vision and know what people want.
• Stick to what they believe in.
• Persevere.
• Are passionate about what they do.
• Have the courage to break new ground.

Fireside Chat:

• Succession planning has to start early whether the firm is planning to continue or merge. Potential buyers will walk away from firms with older partners and a dearth of leadership skills among the younger partner group.
• Accounting is one of the three top business majors. The looming problem is a shortage of PhDs in education.
• Twenty-one states are now together on license mobility, but if all the states don’t work out a program soon, there will be a push for national licensing.
• CPA firms now view technology in terms of production improvement. XBRL and more standardized tools will be integrated.
• Associations are critical to education and partnering, but to be successful they will require members to perform to continue their memberships.
• A failure of a Big 4 firm would wreak havoc. Other parts of the world are trying to develop firms that can join this group to ameliorate the impact of such a failure.
• Outsourcing—the price gap with India is getting smaller. The Philippines is emerging as a competitor to India. Outsourcing is not just about price, but also about additional capacity.
• The 150-hour requirement is not a major contributor to the staffing shortage. Some firms want to hire people after 120 hours, then allow them to complete the other 30 hours while working for the firm.
• Firms are beginning to use CRM systems to track prospective employees before they join the firm and after they leave or don’t accept a position.
• CPAs have a natural advantage in financial advisory services. Firms should develop more depth so that if one person leaves, the service doesn’t die. Same is true for business valuations and IT.

Managing Conflict:

Four ways people tend to handle conflict:

• Avoid confrontation until you have accumulated enough evidence to clobber someone.
• Always be agreeable but talk behind their backs.
• Believe you are always right and go on the attack until the other person yields.
• Always make peace but never confront the real issues.

The fifth and proper way is to address the problems in a collaborative way. Admit there is a conflict, discuss it privately, try to identify the root of the problem, discuss what your expectations were and why you thought they were not met, listen to explanations, share feelings, make a commitment to resolution, ask for help, and put the resolution in writing.

For the complete article, click here.

From Texas Society of CPAs, Public Practice. January/February 2008.

Measuring CPA Leadership Effectiveness

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