leadership

five tips for better decision-making

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follow the principles of collaborative conversation.

by bill penczak

i recently encountered a decision-making process that had grown virtually foreign to me during my decade in public accounting—collaborative conversation. in the course of a week, the dynamics of communication with a prospective client reminded me of how most successful companies operate, and how the decision-making process at many cpa firms can be flawed and even sometimes dangerous.

more: re-thinking today’s firm with five global leaders | 5 things your firm should do differently this summer | do you have the guts to beat the covid crisis? | how to inoculate your firm against covid competition | ‘found money’ delights clients | the three r’s for beating the corona crisis

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a friend and former colleague in public accounting, a veteran of the software industry, used to lament about the days of working for a “real” company the people who actually knew about the issue were those involved in decision-making.

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4 questions for cpa firm boards

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business meeting with people around table facing forwarddo members know their role?

by steven e. sacks
the new fundamentals

the purpose behind an organization creating a board is not to micromanage, design a company logo or address human resource issues. neither is its role to sit around and smoke cohiba esplendido cigars and sip louis xiii de remy martin grande cognac.

more: are you productive or just busy? | the five big rules for powerpoint presentations | how aging boomers impact the accounting profession | accounting is a profession, not an industry
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this glad-handing, back-slapping culture led to the financial breakdowns in the early 2000s and probably still is happening at this writing.
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15 essential skills for managing partners

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blank organizational chartwhere do you spend your time? when is something “good enough”?

by marc rosenberg
the role of the managing partner

marie kondo is the bestselling author of “the life-changing magic of tidying up.” as a lifelong businessperson who came out of the womb highly organized, i enjoy practicing her methods, but i know they are elusive to many people.

more: the 14 trends crushing today’s accountants | 3 traits of the best managing partners | partner compensation: a potent weapon | how long should it take to make partner? | the managing partner’s role in mergers | five ways to evaluate partners | manage partners with goal setting | overarching authority that managing partners must have
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this article is my version of how business people, especially cpas, can learn to increase their efficiency and productivity by being better organized. beware: as with all self-improvement initiatives, you must start with the right attitude. you must truly want to be an organized person, not just say it or think it. then and only then can you be successful at tidying up.
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is your mission statement really a wish list?

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coffee cup by napkin with words including "action plans."3 questions it should answer.

by steven e. sacks
the new fundamentals

do you think your staff knows what your company’s or firm’s mission statement is?

wait. let me back up. does your staff even know that such a mission statement exists?

more: are you productive or just busy? | the five big rules for powerpoint presentations | how aging boomers impact the accounting profession | accounting is a profession, not an industry
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

my guess is no and no. does your organization explain to everyone what actually defines success and the framework for achieving it?
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don’t like checklists? find a new job.

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green checks being made on checklistyup, we have a checklist for that.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: one of my managers does not use the checklists and i need to go over all his work and sometimes go to the client to make sure they are done right.

more: five ways to get staff to own their work | profit sharing for a staffer? | titles can make people happier | reasons to drop your book of business | are you marketing for 2022 yet?
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what can i do to get him to fill out the checklists?
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five keys to becoming a high-performing firm

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transformation must come at all levels.

“the world accommodates you for fitting in, but only rewards you for standing out.” – matshona dhiliwayo, author, “the art of winning.”

by anthony zecca
leading from the edge

after your assessment of the leadership team, and the assessment of your own leadership, we move on to the challenge of answering the key question – what steps need to be taken (the road map) to move the firm from where it is today to a standout, high-performing firm?

more on edge leadership: assessing your firm | the 4 traits of great cpa leaders | why leaders must ensure clarity | incremental vs. exceptional success | do you lead or just manage? | managing vs. leading | is your leadership team at the edge? | 6 leadership challenges through covid and beyond | edge leaders share 7 strengths | leadership must drive culture | leading from the edge
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the call to action and question for you as the edge leader, for your leadership team, for your partners, and in fact for the entire firm to answer is, do you just want to fit in or are you willing to do what it will take to stand out? if you want to move to the top of the pack, what does the firm need to accomplish and how does leadership drive that transformation?

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are you too generous with your write-offs?

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five ways to improve operating margin.

by bill penczak

the pandemic has placed new strains on most cpa firms, with a paucity of events other than zoom meetings and many clients hunkering down and not making any changes to anything – least of which their accounting firm relationships, under some semblance of normal.

more penczak: re-thinking today’s firm with five global leaders | 5 things your firm should do differently this summer | do you have the guts to beat the covid crisis? | how to inoculate your firm against covid competition | ‘found money’ delights clients | don’t buy a rolodex, buy a process | the three r’s for beating the corona crisis | 6 reasons why your marketing sucks
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

so when it comes to preserving your original profit goals – or at least salvaging them – firms have an opportunity to seek better processes or staffing options, or both to pivot to the times. as a cfo i once worked with used to say, “you can either raise the bridge or lower the water.”

here are five options for lowering the water (labor cost) as a short- and long-term strategy for greater firm success: read more →

are you productive or just busy?

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harried business teamyour firm may need to change its culture.

by steven e. sacks
the new fundamentals

did you ever notice when you call an associate or a friend or a business of any type, more often than not he or she will always respond with “i’m really busy” or “i’ve been jammed up”? it does not matter the time of the year, much less the time of week or day.

more: the five big rules for powerpoint presentations | how aging boomers impact the accounting profession | accounting is a profession, not an industry
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has busy become too colloquial or just a throwaway line? what is actually meant by “busy”? or, more specifically, what is the condition of “busyness”?

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why accountants quit

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yellow arrow painted on a roadhint: leadership can avoid these issues.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

i have written about cpas who leave public accounting and go to work in private industry. based upon the comments and emails i’ve received, this is an involved topic and i would like to delve into it further.

more: why cpas should stay in public accounting | when cpas leave to work for a client | when parents, children hit an impasse | how bickering can ruin a family business | one hour a year since 1972
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i was writing about my observations, particularly of many people in their mid-50s i have known who cannot get jobs in private industry after spending a major part of their careers there. obviously, there are many people with extremely successful careers in private industry and i was not addressing them, but i do consider them to be in the minority. also, we are all individuals, and we each decide on how we want to work and what we are comfortable with. no one, including me, has any right to criticize them or tell them they should have done it differently.
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profit sharing for a staffer?

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percentage signs on round hanging tagsthe owner wants to offer a percentage to a staff person, but how?

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: i have a small practice and have a staff person with me for eight years (who had nine years of experience before coming to me), and i want to offer him some profit-sharing percentage.

more: the secret recipe for staff retention | writing a reference? here’s how | 44 key attributes for assessing staffers | make cpe worth your while | what to do with a lousy client? | but i am managing! | how to run a practice in 90 pages
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how do i approach it?
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the five big rules for powerpoint presentations

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drawing of man giving presentationkeep the focus where it belongs: on you.

by steven e. sacks
the new fundamentals

have you ever attended a conference where the presenter plans to supplement his or her key topics by showing an illustration of what is being currently said?

do i look at the speaker or do i look at the slides? will the slides be available later or should i take notes now? should i move up 50 rows so the microscopic wording improves to barely readable? can i ask the speaker to back up a couple of slides?

more: how aging boomers impact the accounting profession | accounting is a profession, not an industry
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whenever i give presentations i try to put myself in the shoes of the listeners and create a presentation in a way that relies on them briefly glancing at the slide transition and then redirecting their full attention back on me. but what we see today is too many speakers just reading what appears on the slides. they should simply begin their session by saying, “i’ll read out loud and you’ll follow along silently.” thank goodness there was never a request made for responsive reading.
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13 traits of the best managing partners

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senior businessman with his team at officethat smile, that teamwork? genuine.

by marc rosenberg
the role of the managing partner

i have worked with over a thousand cpa firms during my 20-plus years of consulting. i’ve worked closely with hundreds of them. the 80/20 pareto principle certainly applies here: 20 percent shine brightly and are worthy of adulation. (managing partners, please, please, don’t call me to ask if you are in the 20 percent or the 80 percent group. i’ll plead the fifth!)

more: top issues for millennial managing partners | 44 hard-earned tips from new managing partners | how to enforce the partner agreement | the 9 biggest merger pitfalls | 10 ways to hold partners accountable | make sure partners focus on two things
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today, i’ll share with you the traits of those managing partners who, in my opinion, were the best.
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