CPA Leadership Journal
CPA firms commonly earn the bulk of their revenue from calendar year-end and personal tax work performed during busy/tax season. During this period, the heavy focus on production for tax season takes too many practices away from strong practice…
For many years M&A activity in the public accounting industry was primarily driven by succession planning issues. Surely, succession challenges still play a role in a firm’s decision to sell or merge, but there are many other factors that are driving…
Employees who are new to the work-from-home lifestyle may currently be dealing with some challenging aspects of the transition. Meanwhile, there are probably many company leaders who are unsure as to whether having their staff work remotely will help…
The retirement of your partners in a fashion that protects the firm is a critical part of succession planning. Almost every firm that I work with has a succession issue in the near term. Baby boomers are retiring at an accelerating rate and firms are…
Running a CPA firm tax department may be a dream role for many professionals or a nightmare. If it is your dream or your responsibility, here are 10 imperatives to be a successful tax department director at a CPA firm. Create a job description which…
How does your firm define the role of managing partner, and what should your managing partner be doing? Evolution of the MP Role The role of MP is truly a function of the size of your firm. Firms typically grow through four levels and four related…
Last week we published Predictions for 2022: Part 1. Welcome back for Part 2; more predictions and trends to consider as you develop your strategic plans for 2022 and beyond. The firms that have grown through the consolidation of aging partners and…
During these unprecedented times, it is difficult to predict the future. Thus, the leaders of today’s CPA firms should focus on planning for various options based upon as many scenarios as possible. This type of planning explores plausible potential…
This year so far has been a hot time for CPA firm mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Firms in the M&A mindset and process may be in turbulent times as they confront many hurdles. Unfortunately, some of these hurdles are self-created, especially for…
Overview Three months into the pandemic in 2020, the vast majority of firms projected revenue and profit reductions and staff layoffs. Fortunately, this fear was unfounded. Not only did declines not happen but revenues and profits increased as…
Question: My partners and I are struggling these days with tolerance. How do you know when you’re being too tolerant, or not tolerant enough? Answer: This is a great question and one that requires further exploration. See some “good and bad” examples…
Is your partner agreement stuck in the bottom of a drawer somewhere? Most firms look at partner agreements even less frequently than their partner comp plan. The documents go into a file and rarely get any type of review. The result is that they…
We polled a group of senior associates recently and asked what they believed the top five expectations of their role were. That is, what do the partners of the firm expect these seniors to do all day? They were not given time to research answers from…
In addition to work experience, reading is critical to developing the foundation of the firm. “In order to achieve great results, you first need to do the deep inner work to build a solid foundation that can support your success.” – Chris McClure…
(This article includes updates of what we have seen in the marketplace since this webinar was originally presented.) CPA firms considering a merger or acquisition this year should look at emerging trends in 2021. The coronavirus has affected every…
