Practical Strategic Planning Advice

Source: Partner’s Report

• Prepare a strategy statement—a statement of what is occurring in the firm. From the strategy statement everyone in the firm should know the firm’s major issues and its potential.
• Strategic planning should concentrate on the above.
• Strategic planning should originate within each department or team.
• If the firm is too small to have departments, it can nevertheless divide the process according to the firm’s principal service activities.
• Each group should have a planning leader, who will submit the group’s plan to the firm.
• Individual partner plans are unnecessary. The plan results from interaction among partners.
• The process should establish partner accountability. People who participate in the planning process are more committed to the plan.
• The plan should be specific, consisting of discrete action steps that can be followed and monitored easily.
• Determine if your firm is different from competing firms, and if so, how.
• Discuss the firm’s strengths and weaknesses. Answer the following questions:
  • What marketing initiatives are working?
  • Does the firm have the right leadership?
  • Is the firm’s technology up-to-date, and is it being used optimally?
  • Do partners effectively manage staff?
  • Is the firm competitive in each service area?
  • Does the firm have a good enough rate of success in winning proposals?
  • Do clients think you are adding value to their businesses?
  • What do clients expect from you?
  • Is the firm’s compensation method consistent with firm goals?
  • Are partners doing the right things in marketing?
• Determine how your firm compares to competitors, and develop steps the firm must take to surpass them. Typically much of this information comes from partners—they probably know more about the competition than you would expect. Get quiet partners to speak up.
• Bring clients into the process. Invite them to luncheons at which they can express ideas that will help the firm develop its strategies.
• The final plan should include deadlines and assignment of responsibility for each action step.
• The managing partner should monitor progress through frequent meetings to assess progress in implementing each step.

From Partner’s Report—the Monthly Update for CPA Firm Owners, January 2007, p. 1. For subscription information contact Institute of Management & Administration, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, 30th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5902. One-year subscription $399. 212-244-0360, [email protected].