Nonfinancial Performance Metrics for CPA Firms

Source: Journal of Accountancy

Gary Shamis (SS&G, [email protected])  and Jay Nisberg (Jay Nisberg & Associates, Ltd., [email protected]) are weary of lists that define great CPA firms by their earnings and other financial metrics. They point out that great companies have great people, and that prospective staff members look for many characteristics in the firms they join, most of which are not described by financial metrics. Shamis and Nisberg say great CPA firms have many of the following qualities:

• They are charitable. Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream company, contributes two percent of its earnings to charities. It does not have a staffing problem.
• They have a reputation for honesty and integrity.
• They are durable. They last into successive generations because they have succession plans that take into account the welfare of both future and retiring leaders.
• They are diverse in terms of ethnicity and gender.
• They have great people, and they place their people above all else. They value quality of life, pleasant work atmospheres, and state-of-the-art technologies.
• They are more focused on the quality of their work than on their profits.
• They are creative, particularly in terms of new services, client solutions, and career paths.

From Journal of Accountancy, October 2006 (http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/joahome.htm). For the complete article, click on the following link: http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/oct2006/shamis.htm.