Laying a Foundation for Effective Succession Planning -- Continued

Source: Public Practice

In Part 4 of this ongoing series, Bill Reeb discusses how to find replacements for retiring senior partners. He begins with a warning: Don't bother trying to find someone who replicates all of a departing partner's talents. “You won't,” Reeb says, “so stop looking for that exact combination.”

Reeb suggests an alternative strategy: Instead of looking for people to step into retiring partners' shoes, “Build your organization so that you can accomplish more with less.” In other words, take the time before senior partners retire to develop a deeper support structure that allows younger partners to boost their capacity. Some ideas for accomplishing this include:

• Transition “C” clients to managers rather than to partners.
• Establish two partnership classes: Client service partners and technical partners.
• Eliminate marginal clients that aren't making the firm money.
• Add staff at the bottom.

By building a stronger support structure of talented managers you not only free up additional capacity at the top, but you also provide opportunities for managers to develop skills they need to become client service partners in the future.

For the complete article, read “Succession Fundamentals – Part 4.”

From Public Practice, Texas Society of CPAs, June 2013, www.tscpa.org.