leadership

how the best managing partners turn ideas into reality

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man and woman in meeting across deskapproaches can differ dramatically from one partner to another.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

how can the managing partner operationalize the strategy within the policies, process and budget set forth by the partner group?

more on performance management: accountability includes partners | accountability requires clear expectations | base retirement on today’s operations | how involved should retired owners be? | how to find a partner’s replacement | best practices for mandatory retirement | 7 succession questions to ignore for now

to keep this simple, because it can get very complex extremely fast, let’s say that the firm has three strategies the partner group has mandated:
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managing the managing partner

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businessman standing at conference table with 4 colleagues seated behindchecks and balances are key.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

as past success and personal development continuously demonstrate, organizations operate more effectively when people are managed. and since partners are people, rather than gods or superheroes, it makes sense that we put something in place to manage them as well.

more on performance management: accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | base retirement on today’s operations | how involved should retired owners be? | firms say what would change retirement pay | 4 ways to create more capacity | 7 succession questions to ignore for now | how partner ratings factor into equity | hazards of not reallocating equity | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? |  job 1 for the practice owner: client management

with this general background in mind, let’s dive a little deeper into how a managing partner goal-setting process might work.
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checklist for running a practice

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poe’s book provides a step-by-step guide.

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

question: do you have a simple checklist that i could use as a guide to run my practice?

more practice doctor q&a: everyone needs strategic planning | help clients, increase revenue: make sure everyone on staff knows your firm’s full menu of services | i made partner, now what? | 19 ways to stop wasting reviewer time | how to sell your practice | when a client balks at necessary work | how to advise an executor | 14 ways to use timesheet data | why more firms are trashing timesheets | how much overhead is too much? | when partners stop growing

answer: actually my monthly q&a newsletters is a great and easy way to get information on how to run your practice. also my 101 book with my first 101 q&as is another great resource.
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how to decide who decides pay

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woman on building roof spraying out dollars with a garden hosewhere to draw the line between managing partner and compensation committee.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

everyone likes the idea that “i” will hold “me” accountable. but few like the idea of “anyone else” holding “them” accountable.

more on performance management: accountability requires clear expectations | base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | best practices for mandatory retirement | how retirement issues affect succession planning | succession: the questions to care about | how to target what skills to develop now | what having your employees’ backs means | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? |  job 1 for the practice owner: client management

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

so, once the decision has been made to implement systemic changes to hold partners accountable to specific performance expectations rather than just relying on everyone to put in a self-proclaimed “good day’s work,” the next battleground is determining who will be holding whom accountable. the discussion always shifts to “let’s have a group of people, like a compensation committee, hold us accountable.”
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as tax season ends, strategic planning season begins

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coffee cup by napkin with words including "action plans."eight key elements to take your firm from good to great.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

it is often said that leading a cpa firm is like herding cats (everyone going in different directions), because many firms are very good at talking and planning about their future (it’s in their dna), but terrible at execution and implementation.  it’s a little like the shoemaker’s shoes. partners get distracted with client service or low hanging fruit and give up too quickly in creating change within their own firms.

more from domenick j. esposito:   the big eight: harsh realities for firms today   |  the coming battle below the big four  |  seizing the $10 trillion opportunity | learning to ‘run with the big dogs’ | the cpa success formula: ties that bind  |  8 steps to great: the vast new opportunities for smart, aggressive firms | more…

if you are ready to take the first big step of moving from a merely good firm to a mid-market sustainable brand, then a strategic plan, with specific implementation tactics and accountability measures, is the absolute first step.  i would encourage you to begin the process with your partners as soon as possible.

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make accountability a process

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man and woman reviewing a documenteveryone performs better when someone else has oversight.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

setting up an “accountability and goal process” always sounds much easier than it actually is to implement. so for those who already think this process would be painful, just know that you still are probably underestimating the amount of agony in store.

more on performance management: accountability requires clear expectations | accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | how involved should retired owners be? | firms say what would change retirement pay | 4 ways to create more capacity | how to find a partner’s replacement | action plans for transitioning partners | partner retirement and the war for clients | best practices for mandatory retirement | how retirement issues affect succession planning | succession: the questions to care about 

this leads us to the standard question, “if this is so awful, why would anyone do it?” the answer is both simple and abstract.
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pay varies when performance varies

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closeup shot of a caliper measuring the word "goals"plus ways to measure both objective and subjective performance criteria (yes, it can be done).

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

an important point to keep in mind is that we, as human beings, have good months and bad ones, good years and bad ones.

more on performance management: accountability requires clear expectations | accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | how involved should retired owners be? | firms say what would change retirement pay

what is going on in our personal lives has a lot to do with how we perform in our professional ones. therefore, if someone is going through a difficult time, such as a divorce, death in the family, major conflicts with extended family, etc., we can expect those events to spill over into our work life.
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the coming battle below the big four

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pawn takes king checkmatewhy ‘the next six’ are vulnerable to a new competitor.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

in the u.s. public accounting profession, there are three tiers of cpa firms. the top ten cpa firms are the sustainable brands.  they are principally serving two different markets.  therefore, i refer to them as tier one and tier two sustainable brands.

more from domenick j. esposito:  seizing the $10 trillion opportunity | learning to ‘run with the big dogs’ | the cpa success formula: ties that bind  |  8 steps to great: the vast new opportunities for smart, aggressive firms | and more…

in tier one, we have the giant four (deloitte, pwc, ey and kpmg), with a principal focus on serving the fortune 500, which have institutional, more sterile relationships with their cpa firms (as opposed to personal relationships with the partners; services provided are generally either compliance or consulting).

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accountability includes partners

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manager dangling carrots in front of staffdeliver not only rewards but sanctions.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

let’s take a close look at what accountability might look like.

more on performance management for pro members: accountability requires clear expectations | accountability is for everyone | who decides what? | firms say what would change retirement pay | action plans for transitioning partners | how retirement issues affect succession planning | how partner ratings factor into equity | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions

for partners, accountability is best described as having a system in place that rewards partners for
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problems you didn’t know you had

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man's hand writing why?solve them by drilling down.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

since the days of aesop, people have been letting sleeping dogs lie. and let’s face it, nobody ever got bit that way. but if the dog’s the problem, there’s only one way to deal with it.

every firm (and every organization, person and machine) works at less than 100 percent efficiency. that’s why people can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, rockets need more than a gallon of gas to get to the moon and your firm doesn’t have a dominant presence in all the capitals of the world.

so what’s preventing your firm from running at 100 percent efficiency and achieving exponentially astronomical growth? the answer isn’t simple. the answer is not, for example, “we don’t have enough clients.” but that’s a good place to start. start with that and ask “why don’t we have enough clients?”
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accountability requires clear expectations

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two businesswomen sitting at table and talking in office courtyardmake an effort to learn from your successes as well as your failures.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 / succession institute

accountability needs to be rooted in much more than a casual perception or it is destined to fail. therefore, the first step to accountability is to move this from an “i will watch you and tell you if i think you are doing a good job” approach to one that clearly defines what you expect of someone up front.

more on performance management: accountability is for everyone | succession plan requirements | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | 4 ways to create more capacity | partner retirement and the war for clients | succession: the questions to care about | hazards of not reallocating equity

now this sounds fairly straightforward, and it is, but it is also loaded with plenty of traps that you can fall into. one of the traps we want to avoid is ambiguity. you can overcome this trap by taking time to describe the expectations you have of someone, like:
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6 paths to professional responsibility

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senior businessman mentoring two younger workershelp others and perhaps help yourself.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

accountancy and its many ramifications, from audits to eldercare, is a noble profession, a pillar of civilization, a cornerstone of democracy, a manifestation of integrity and a bulwark of business.

really.

it is not a profession to trifle with, nor is it just a job. for that reason accountants are well paid and highly respected. there is no shame in taking off the green eyeshades and standing tall.
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learning to ‘run with the big dogs’

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dogs run race adobestock_73651025 copytoday any firm can compete and win against the world’s largest firms.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

even these days – or, especially these days – there is room in the cpa firm market to build a powerful mid-market sustainable brand and, yes, potentially the category killer.

more from domenick j. esposito: the cpa success formula: ties that bind  |  8 steps to great: the vast new opportunities for smart, aggressive firms | and more…

the opportunity is there for the taking.

but you need to focus on what matters if you want to “run with the big dogs.”

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