August 2012 Leadership Forum
Vol. 4 No. 8, August 2012
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 are the common obstacles firms are facing to successfully implement internal succession for their partners? And how can firms overcome these obstacles?
Consultants and Other Prominent Observers
| August Aquila | Aquila Global Advisor Group, LLC | www.aquilaadvisors.com [email protected] |
| ...Since most firms don't have process on how to select the next partner, they often pick the wrong partner to lead the charge ... More | ||
| L. Gary Boomer | Boomer Consulting, Inc. | www.boomer.com [email protected] |
| Procrastination by aging partners...firms can address this in numerous ways. One of the most common ways has been a mandatory retirement age or stock redemption ... More | ||
| William Carlino | Transition Advisors | www.transitionadvisors.com [email protected] |
| ...When they realize they have a shocking lack of bench strength, they are usually forced into a merger if they want continuity and that merger is often executed out of neccesity as opposed to synergy or growth ... More | ||
| Steve Erickson | Erickson Whitman, LLC | http://www.steveericksonllc.com [email protected] |
| Probably the most common obstacle is the partner compensation system. Most systems reward managed business and client retention ... More | ||
| Rita Keller | Keller Advisors, LLC | www.ritakeller.com [email protected] |
| ...As I talk with practitioners, it is very clear that CPAs have good intentions but fail at implementation ... More | ||
| Bob Lewis | Visionary Marketing | www.thinkvisionary.com [email protected] |
| There are really three major barriers: First. Lack of a defined buy-in/partnership process ... More | ||
| Marc Rosenberg | The Rosenberg Associates | www.rosenbergassoc.com [email protected] |
| ...the key to succession planning is developing future leaders, a practice at which the vast majority of CPA firms under $15M are woefully inept. Here are three tactics for developing future leaders ... More | ||
| Rick Telberg | CPA Trendlines | www.cpatrendlines.com [email protected] |
| Aside from the very considerable personal psychological and emotional issues, the downturn in the economy has upset the valuation expectations at a lot of firms ... More | ||
| Patrick Pruett | The Alliance of Professional Associations and Enterprise Network Worldwide and the Rainmaker Companies | www.enterprisenetworkworldwide.com [email protected] |
| ...focus on the critical and urgent issues (e.g. fighting fires) in the firm as opposed to the critical, but not urgent areas of their business, such as training, development, and planning for the future of the firm ... More | ||
| Joel Sinkin & Terry Putney | Transition Advisors | www.transitionadvisors.com [email protected] |
| ...Take stock of the quality of the talent you have on your bench. If it is inadequate, and the need for talent is short term, you may need to pull out all stops to get that talent on board ... More | ||
| Lisa Tierney | TIERNEY Coaching & Consulting | www.TIERNEYCoaching-Consulting.com [email protected] |
| I fear the most common obstacle in successfully implementing a smooth transition for senior partners in succession is a seemingly one-size-fits all-approach to this situation ... More | ||
| Jennifer Wilson | ConvergenceCoaching LLC | www.convergencecoaching.com [email protected] |
| Starting too late to have ample time to develop their up-and-comers; not being honest enough about deficiencies with their up-and-comers to "trade them out" for higher level talent; ... More | ||
Firm Leaders
| Ed Fahey | RINA Accountancy Corporation | |
| The shortage of professionals with the ability to bring in work makes it difficult to see them as future partners. We have grown wonderful technicians but few are willing to be active in the marketplace and try to generate work ... More | ||
| Anonymous | ||
| To be a top flight advisor and technician requires more than full time. To be a leader requires even more time. Work Life balance issues limits the available field of younger folks that have the complete set of skills to takeover the firm. | ||