2008 AICPA Practitioners Symposium

Source: Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders, the Blog of Rita Keller

The following is the complete blog entry of Rita Keller for May 6, 2008, reprinted with permission.

If you are one of the participants at this year’s Symposium, I hope you feel like “the Force” was with you as you attended the various sessions yesterday. If you are not an attendee, you have no idea what I am talking about. But, that’s okay. I’ll explain more about the AICPA/PCPS “Force” over the next few days.

For now, just a few brief ideas and suggestions from some of yesterday’s speakers.

From Rebecca Ryan:
The next generation in your firm might be complaining to the partners that the firm has some serious recruiting problems. They are “delegating” the problem upward to the partners. Don’t let them get away with that. Delegate it right back down to them. Get them involved. Seek out their ideas and ask, “What can we do?” “They” are the ones who have the answers and can help you create a dynamite recruiting program.

From Bill Reeb:
Bill talked about, How to Make Your Firm Attractive for Succession, Merger or Acquisition. If you are the managing partner in a smaller firm, you might find that once “you” are removed, those remaining can’t run it because you did not prepare them. You did not share the management knowledge. You have put them in a no win situation and have not given them anything to buy.

Have you built an “Eat What You Kill” model or have you built a “Building a Village” model?

Eat What You Kill is usually seen in firms up to $4 or $5 million and it actually works but, you don’t have anything to pass on. You have a strong “hunter” and those who assist, but never hunt. The Hunter is involved in everything.

Building a Village model focuses on making the most out of all the talent in the village. The Hunter specializes and has a narrower focus.

Check back in the days to come, I'll be sharing more from this conference.

From Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders (May 6, 2008), the Blog of Rita Keller, shareholder of Brady Ware, a nationally known regional CPA firm. Rita is also a nationally known consultant, speaker and author on CPA firm management. Visit http://cpamanagement.blogspot.com/.

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