Search the Archive by our Subject Index. Helps you conduct research for meetings and retreats.
Search the CPA Leadership Report archives by keyword or phrase here.
Our monthly review of the most important management and leadership articles in the accounting press.
Vol. 2 No. 9, September 2010
The Leadership Forum is a panel of the most prominent thought leaders in the profession. Each month we ask them to respond to a question dealing with CPA firm management and leadership.
This month's question is: What is the impact on firms that continue to let partners act as they please--being irate, not meeting agreed upon partner responsibilities, treating staff rudely, etc?
For the archive of Leadership Forum Reports, click here.
Consultants and Other Prominent Observers
| August Aquila | Aquila Global Advisor Group, LLC | www.aquilaadvisors.com [email protected] |
| There is a tremendous impact to the productivity and profitability of these firms...More | ||
| Larry Bildstein | The Whetstone Group | www.thewhetstonegroup.com [email protected] |
| ...If 1 or 2 partners behave in an unprofessional manner, they can each influence 2-3 staff people and their negative attitude grows exponentially...More | ||
| L. Gary Boomer | Boomer Consulting, Inc. | www.boomer.com [email protected] |
| ...Some of these are very intelligent people who are "diminishing" leaders rather than "multipliers"...More | ||
| Rita Keller | Keller Advisors, LLC | www.ritakeller.com [email protected] |
|
|
|||
| Robert B. Martin | Martin & Associates | www.martincmc.com [email protected] |
| Partners and staff concluding that this is not a firm but a group in which it's "everyone for themselves". | ||
| Patrick Pruett | The APA and Enterprise Network Worldwide | http://enterprisenetworkworldwide.com [email protected] |
| ...The consequence for refusing to address these issues will likely be that the best staff, those who are a prize for other firms, will leave...More | ||
| Richard Rinehart | Grant Partners, LLC | www.grantptrs.com [email protected] |
| ...Partner groups that allow partners to bully other partners or staff will suffer the fate of dysfunctional families. They will never achieve greatness... More | ||
| Joel Sinkin | Accounting Transition Advisors | www.transitionadvisors.com [email protected] |
| The irony of this type of behavior is these partners tend to be above average performers for the things many firms hold as their most important goals such as managed books of business... More | ||
| Rick Solomon | RAN ONE Americas, LLC | www.ranone.com [email protected] |
|
|
|||
| Douglas H. Thompson Jr. | CPAmerica International | www.cpamerica.org [email protected] |
| The impact is devastating upon the morale, productivity and retention of the firm's staff...More | ||
| Lisa Tierney | TIERNEY Coaching & Consulting | www.TIERNEYCoaching-Consulting.com [email protected] |
| I think the most obvious - and most detrimental - is the negative impact on morale, which ultimately affects performance...More | ||
| Sandra Wiley | Boomer Consulting, Inc. | www.boomer.com [email protected] |
| ...your firm ultimately will not be the strong forward thinking firm that you desire... More | ||
Firm Leaders
| Ed Fahey | RINA Accountancy Corporation | |
| The firm's culture is destroyed. Partners should act as professionally as we expect all staff members to act. There are no unalienable rights bestowed on partners. Accountability and leadership start at the top. We must model the behaviors we want from everyone in the firm. | ||
| John Sensiba | Sensiba San Filippo LLP | |
| Reduced profitability, loss of high quality partners, staff and clients - eventual extinction. | ||