In Accounting, the Best Strategy is a Good Offense

Source: RedZone, Play of the Month

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Accountants Advisory Group.

Is your firm's strategy similar to a "prevent defense" used in football? In accounting, giving up "long yardage" to your competition by not playing aggressively can significantly hurt your chances to win the game.

Winning teams implement a well-defined and aggressive offensive strategy that is often the difference between success and mediocrity. To an accounting firm, it can mean the difference between merging into a larger firm or remaining an independent firm and controlling your own destiny. To "play to win," firms should:

• Invest in an offensive strategy -- find the proper balance between running the firm as a practice and running it as a business;
• Hold partners accountable for practice development results and profitability;
• Make an investment in developing and retaining the most talented accountants available;
• Use mergers and acquisitions as part of a growth strategy to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace; and
• Empower strong leaders -- successful leaders adapt to client and staff changes in the accounting environment and are proactive.

For the complete article, read "Is Your Firm Using a 'Prevent Defense' Strategy?"

From RedZone, Play of the Month, Accountants Advisory Group, November 2012, www.AccountantsAdvisory.com.