Practice Management Articles continued
- Article Dates:
- 2007
- All Months
Displaying Matches 1 thru 99 of 181 Found. NEXTLAST
L. Gary Boomer (Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas) says future winners among accounting firms will have formal strategic plans tied in with their compensation systems and will bill pursuant to engagement letters with fixed prices (and change orders)....
When setting up a home office, consider the following:...
Advice on starting a solo practice from people who have done it....
The following summary is based on an article by Dori Panthofer, wardrobe consultant and president of nVogue, Inc. in Racine, Wisconsin....
Highlights from the AICPA annual Top MAP issues survey....
You can get your partners and staff to become creative visionaries through brainstorming sessions, which not only can allow people to tap into their unrealized creativity, but also demonstrate the managing partner’s leadership qualities (assuming he or she leads the session)....
Source: Practical Accountant There is a good chance the leader of a new niche will come from outside the firm. Reasons to look to the outside include: It is difficult for an existing partner to...
Consultant August Aquila cites some qualities that have made some firms high performers. Here are some highlights:...
A Gallup poll says when employees are “engaged,” profits increase at double the rate of companies whose employees are not so engaged....
Tips from consultant August Aquila:...
This comprehensive article provides excellent guidance to CPA firms in creating non-compete agreements. Here are some highlights:...
Advice from consultant August Aquila on mergers and de-mergers:...
Firm merge up so they can:...
The firm of Sidley & Austin has agreed to a settlement with plaintiffs in a suit challenging the firm’s right to force partners over age 40 to retire....
Bowman recommends the 22-chapter book CPA’s Guide to Effective Engagement Letters as a “practical hands-on practice tool.”...
This is a brief summary of an article by Jonathan S. Ziss, JD, partner with the law firm Margolis Edelstein in Philadelphia....
Article by L. Gary Boomer, president of Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas....
From the IOMA annual CPA Firm Practice Management Survey....
The following data and narrative are from The Rosenberg Survey 2007, based on 2006 Firm Results (published with permission from The Rosenberg Associates Ltd.)....
From the IOMA annual CPA Firm Practice Management Survey....
The following data and narrative are from The Rosenberg Survey 2007, based on 2006 Firm Results (published with permission from The Rosenberg Associates Ltd.)....
Leslie Murphy, group managing partner at Plante & Moran, Southfield, Michigan, provides a comprehensive review of expected changes in the accounting profession and their impact on firms and individuals....
The value of your firm ultimately depends on retaining as many clients as possible after a sale....
Was Sir Isaac Newton thinking about partners in accounting firms when he articulated his three laws on the behavior of moving objects?...
Independence rules may apply to clients of association members, according to a proposal by the AICPA Professional Ethics Committee....
Too often, firms create a strategic plan and nothing changes....
Gary Boomer, president of Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas, writes about why and how to develop a pricing system based on value....
From a presentation by James Metzler at the AICPA Practitioners Symposium in Phoenix. Metzler is vice president, small firm interests, at the AICPA....
Leadership lessons include:...
Accounting Today interviewed prominent members of the accounting profession on their views of the next 20 years:...
The following indicates how partners ranked compensation criteria....
In this month’s article, Bill Reeb continues his series on partner compensation....
Bad clients drain resources, create discomfort, reduce cash flow, and distract the firm from its goals....
In response to the lure of higher pay from large firms, small firms can either raise compensation or develop other methods of retaining talent....
The Web-based program Accounting Relief provides a complete accounting solution in one unified system....
There are 108,000 women CPAs, up from 2,000 in 1972, but they aren’t moving up in firms commensurately with those numbers....
Argy, Wiltse & Robinson, P.C., in McLean, Virginia, decided to slow its growth to keep control....
Christine Lauber, a sole practitioner who manages an eight-person firm in South Bend, Indiana, has developed a strategy to deal with the staffing problem plaguing all firms:...
Experienced manager-level personnel in many firms are under-appreciated....
This article is by Sam Allred, founder and director of Upstream Academy and shareholder in Anderson Zurmuehlen & Company ([email protected])....
In general, people don’t want to change....
This article is by Troy Waugh, CPA, MBA, who’s CEO of Five Star3 LLC and the Rainmaker Academy in Nashville, Tennessee....
Section 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires companies lacking financial experts on their audit committees to disclose their reasons....
Here are some ideas for easing the pain and reducing the probability of a lawsuit:...
Practical Accountant’s annual awards go to:...
Practical Accountant’s annual awards go to:...
This article deals with using metrics to improve performance appraisals, but we focus on the best part of the article, which addresses how to conduct the appraisal process itself....
In our last issue, we reported on new Congressional legislation on standards for tax return preparers (Accounting Today)....
Founders of accounting firms are keeping control too long....
Consultant August Aquila tells how to ensure a successful integration of two firms by paying careful attention to the soft issues....
Marketing plans are not just for clients....
L. Gary Boomer, CEO of Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas, says CPA firms devalue their hourly rates if they fail to account for the cost of technology....
The following data comes from the IPA Annual Analysis of Firms, from which IPA selects its “All-Star” firms....
Your firm may be doing well, but is it threatened by complacency?...
Author Tom Ferriss recommends that you read your e-mail twice a day--once at noon, and again at 4 PM....
CPAs may be skeptical about their abilities to create....
Based on interviews with several firms, Practical Accountant sees best practices becoming important activities in CPA firms....
Partner's Report reviewed the study Management Tools & Trends 2007 by Bain & Company....
This article reports on a survey of 101 MBA students, 70 percent of whom were in management at the time of the survey....
CPA firms can deal with staff shortages, especially during tax season, by using temporary workers or by outsourcing to companies such as Xpitax, CCHG Datamatics, and SurePrep....
The Robert Half 2007 Salary Guide predicts increases in starting salaries:...
Technology fails when we assume it can facilitate transfer of what this article calls ‘tacit’ knowledge—as distinguished from ‘explicit’ knowledge....
Practical Accountant reports from the AICPA Tech+ conference on new ideas for recruiting and retention:...
A panel of managing partners at the Association for Accounting Administration’s Practice Management Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, discussed the role of firm administrator and their expectations of the position....
The Association for Accounting Administrators compensation survey shows average compensation of firm administrators was $77,900 in 2006....
IPA’s annual survey of the top 100 firms reports:...
Most accountants are oblivious to the fact that just as they lost a big chunk of their tax preparation business to major national tax franchises in past decades, today they face a new and potentially more devastating threat....
Here are seven attributes of great partnerships, according to August Aquila (www.aquilaadvisors.com):...
The typical part-time partner:...
Too many CPA firms have inadequate partnership agreements....
Congress passed a bill requiring, in the case of an undisclosed position, a “reasonable belief that the treatment of the position be more likely than not the proper treatment.”...
Hiring isn’t getting easier. Keeping employees isn’t easy either, but it pays to do all you can. Employee loyalty can be improved if you:...
The purpose of mandatory retirement is to make room for new talent and reduce turnover....
Most people interviewed for this article by IPA protested against the term “part-time” on the grounds that the responsibility is full-time, even though hours at the office are reduced....
There aren’t enough women in leadership roles to help other women become leaders....
Somerset CPAs in Indianapolis exhibits at 20 trade shows and recruiting events a year....
Accounting firms are no longer lenient with underperforming and dysfunctional partners....
Here are the symptoms of a firm immobilized by politics, along with the remedies:...
When a leader feels superior the following can happen:...
CPA firms avoid succession planning because of fear—of funding retirement and of transitioning the work....
Based on collections—example: up-front payment of 20 percent of the initially set value, then 20 percent of collections a year for four years....
This article offers some profound insights into evaluation of potential mergers....
The market for professional liability insurance is improving for CPA firms....
The U.S. Court of Appeals decision in the case of Overton v. Todman & Co. CPAs PC holds that an auditor has the same responsibility as the client to disclose subsequently discovered errors in financial statements....
Simply having a couple of clients in a niche doesn’t make you or your firm a niche player....
IPA interviewed Roman Kepczyk, president of InfoTech Partners North America, Inc. ([email protected]). Here are the highlights:...
If you have a grump or complainer in your firm, his or her mood can spread rapidly....
The most respected qualities in managing partners:...
L. Gary Boomer, of Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas, says personnel shortages may cause firms to tolerate poor performance....
Bowman’s article is based on a Wall Street Journal article of May 29, 2007....
Use the following guidelines to mitigate litigation exposure:...
Sandra Wiley, director of marketing for Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas, says culture is difficult to define: “It’s intangible—a state of mind, a feeling, a collective consciousness embedded within a firm and its employees.”...
Thirty years ago, David Maister was working with a consulting firm on creating a strategy....
The first Forum for Women in Accounting took place recently in Las Vegas....
Retention, phasing-in and phasing-out are the prime uses....
Firms that would benefit from a sale or merger:...
Intuit and the Institute for the Future have visualized a future economy populated by micro-businesses, millions of them, needing accounting, finance, payroll, and business management help....
Gale Crosley (Crosley + Co. www.crosleycompany.com) writes, “I firmly believe that segmenting and niching are here to stay, and that the days of the general practitioner are numbered.”...
CPAConnect has helped local CPA firms fulfill their goal of “improving through sharing” for almost 13 years....