Consolidation: Do You Have a Strategy?

Source: New Jersey CPA

In this article, consultant Joseph A. Tarasco suggests that consolidation in the accounting industry “will be a force to reckon with for at least the next decade. . . .” Several factors are driving consolidation, including aging managing partners, increasing demand for technical resources, and inadequate succession planning. For some firm owners, consolidation will be the only exit strategy.

All firms need to strategically position themselves to compete in the future, whether or not they embrace consolidation as part of that strategy. Tarasco recommends that firms develop business models that include:

• Service offerings;
• Fee structuring;
• Niches and specialties;
• Geographic expansion;
• Leadership development; and
• Enhancement of operational effectiveness.

One of the biggest threats to CPA firms in dealing with consolidation, Tarasco says, is denial. The “old ways of doing things” will no longer work.

For the complete article, read “How CPA Firm Consolidation Impacts Strategy.”

From New Jersey CPA, The magazine of the New Jersey Society of CPAs, September-October 2012, http://www.thewarrengroup.com/business/mediaadvertising/new-jersey-cpa-magazine