Building the Next Generation of Leaders

Source: Accounting Office Management & Administration Report

“Succession is building leaders to buy you out,” observes Bill Reeb, CPA, CEO of Succession Institute, LLC. “The single most important thing to ensure succession,” Reeb says, “is to get the founding owners to stop making themselves so damn indispensable.”

Many partners postponed their retirement plans while the economy struggled, but as conditions improve, the perception remains that there's a big leadership ability void between senior partners and junior staff. According to Joseph A. Tarasco, CPA, founder of Accountants Advisory Group LLC, “The profession has done a lousy job of developing a model for succession within firms and communicating to their staff about what they need to do.

Here are five keys CPA firms should consider to ensure a successful internal sale:

• Start thinking about potential successors two or three years before a partner is expected to retire.
• Develop junior staff members to take over outgoing partners' responsibilities.
• Bring in new talent based on leadership skills, not just on accounting skills. Developing leadership through training is difficult.
• Remember that you're in the talent business. Actively recruit and develop the best people to fill your junior ranks.
• Invest in training. Remember that education and training are not the same thing. Without opportunities for professional development, people won't stay.

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From Accounting Office Management & Administration Report, Institute of Management and Administration, Inc., Newark, NJ, [email protected], August 2010, p. 4, “Is Your Firm Ready for You to Retire?”