Management Practices That Create Conflict

Source: The Marc Rosenberg Blog

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Marc Rosenberg. In it, he discusses polarizing issues that have been hotly debated among CPA firm managers for decades.

What partners are compensated for. Some feel that book of business/origination and billable hours should be the primary drivers of partner comp, because “that's how we make money.” Yet, if you ask partners to name the most important factor in their firm's success, many will say developing great staff. 

Uniform work practices. One of any staff person's biggest job frustrations is when partners have their own way of performing the same work function, requiring staff to painstakingly learn each partner's preferences and risk getting reprimanded for working as taught by other partners. Yet, some partners feel it is their unalienable right to do whatever they want, when they want and in their own way.

The work partners do. Two adages are broadly accepted in our profession: (1) it's more important what partners do with their non-billable than billable time and (2) partners should delegate work to the lowest level capable of doing the work. Yet, these axioms are repeatedly violated at firms with partners who ring up high levels of billable hours – at least half of which can be done by staff – and when they perform administrative work that should be the domain of support staff.

Developing your stars. A basic, time-tested leadership development tactic is to identify your stars, communicate their high potential to them, and provide them with opportunities to accelerate their ascent. But many firms fear that treating stars differently from other staff will alienate the latter, putting the firm at risk of losing them.

For the complete entry, read “Eternally Polarizing Management Practices.”

From The Marc Rosenberg Blog, August 8, 2016, blog.rosenbergassoc.com.