Are You Teaching Your Managers How to Manage?

Source: Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders

The following excerpts, from a blog entry by Rita Keller, are reproduced with permission.

I believe that the majority of CPA firm managers (and partners) do not and cannot manage effectively.

Wait, before you take it personally, it's not usually their fault. They have not been educated, trained or mentored to do so. They are smart, experienced CPAs who have been promoted into "management" because they are outstanding technicians. It's the E-Myth at work (referring to the Entrepreneurial Myth -- the ideas that most businesses fail because the founders are technicians).

That's why I was so pleased to find Tom Peters addressing this topic. Here is the lead-in to this short video that I STRONGLY urge all CPA firm partners to watch:

There are some apparently difficult questions that, amazingly enough, actually do have pretty straightforward answers. Here's one of them: What is the number one cause of employee dissatisfaction? And the answer? Crystal clear, research shows it, maybe your common sense does as well: It is the quality of the first-line supervisor.

Before you promote someone to manager, remember it is one of the most significant, strategic decisions that a firm makes.

To read the entire blog entry, click here. To view the Tom Peters video, click here.

From Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders, the blog of Rita Keller, president of Keller Advisors, LLC, [email protected], March 10, 2010, "CPA Managers Need to REALLY Manage." Visit http://cpamanagement.blogspot.com.