leadership archives - page 56 of 99 - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions

september 29, 2015

checklist: how to fine-tune your own firm’s performance management systems.

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

when evaluating people within a firm, “relative importance” is a way to differentiate expectations regarding the same competency for various levels within your firm. we decided the best way to drill down even further into a competency model was to share some of the details of our competency model with you.

more on performance management: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

it considers the following six levels within a cpa firm (each firm needs to choose whatever breakdown works best for them):

14 smarter ways to use timesheet data

september 28, 2015

by edward mendlowitz

if you just pay people and move on, you’re missing critical information.

by ed mendlowitz

question: i keep timesheets for billing purposes but am not clear how i can use them to better manage my practice. how can i do this?

more practice doctor q&a: why more firms are trashing timesheets | how much overhead is too much? | when partners stop growing | clear billing procedures make collecting easier | change your thinking about ‘small’ clients | it’s not sales. it’s your duty | when staffers stagnate | when to hire an admin assistant | why the average fee doesn’t matter | 8 times when hourly billing trumps value pricing | 10 (nearly) painless ways to keep up to date with technology | 5 time management tips for an overworked accountant | running an accounting business | 14 ways to switch to value pricing

answer: analyzing time records is a very effective practice management tool and is an essential part of most professional services organizations. some people contend that timesheets should not be used since they should not be the basis of any pricing, with fees solely based on the value to the client.

how to use guerrilla emotional leadership

september 23, 2015

by wesley middleton

“having no emotion is as much of a flaw as too much emotion.”

by wesley middleton
middleton raines llp

several years ago a trusted advisor of mine and consultant to our firm, bill reeb, pulled me aside and handed me a book, “emotional intelligence.” he said to me (my paraphrasing of his words), “wes, you are a great leader, but your ceiling is your emotion. you are confusing your emotion with your passion and justifying your emotion as passion.”

wow. what a wakeup call. let me be clear, the following post is not intended to be an interpretation or summary of the book “emotional intelligence.” it is a firsthand account of how i used what i read and then implemented.

how to target what skills to develop now

september 22, 2015

by succession institute

bonus checklist: 12 competencies everyone in the firm needs.

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

in discussing how to become a more effective people manager and developer, the first question we ask is, “what skills and aptitudes are you trying to develop?”

more on performance management: 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

in other words, just saying to someone, “you need to improve” is weak advice.

why more firms are trashing timesheets

september 21, 2015

by edward mendlowitz

recommended: two books to read.

by ed mendlowitz

question: i’ve read that many firms are no longer using timesheets. how do you feel about that?

more practice doctor q&a: how much overhead is too much?|clear billing procedures make collecting easier | change your thinking about ‘small’ clients | why adopting new technologies is a must | when fees don’t keep up with cost increases | lowballing and why it (usually) doesn’t work | why the average fee doesn’t matter | how to apply value pricing to bundled services | 8 times when hourly billing trumps value pricing | 14 ways to switch to value pricing | pricing, billing, costing: don’t blame clients

answer: there is a growing group of firms that no longer use timesheets. the leader of this movement is ron baker, who explains his reasons and provides a model in his many books, many of which i have read and recommend.

8 financial ducks to line up now

september 20, 2015

by august j. aquila

protect minority interests and strengthen your partnership.

by august aquila
what makes a great partnership

with busy season just around the corner, it’s a good time now to tweak your firm’s financials and partner performance.

start by reviewing your billing rates, billing and collection policies, type of work partners are doing, how you reward performers and your leadership.

more on leadership for pro members: 5 questions about your firm’s direction | 6 reasons to keep partners from retiring | 6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation | 6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger | 7 signs your firm is headed for an implosion | it’s not always about money: 16 tweaks for your comp system | eight key goal areas for partners | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’ | managing partners must remember partners’ needs | new times call for new cpa firm metrics | partners have love-hate relationship with leadership | 6 things leaders must do | three ways to run a firm: but only one is sustainable | partnership is about persuasion

take the time to focus on what drives the bottom line. it’s time well spent.

here are eight issues you shouldn’t miss:

what having your employees’ backs means

september 8, 2015

by succession institute

why failure is a value proposition.

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

i want to start by talking about the phrase “having your employees’ backs.” so what does this mean? simply that, as the boss, you will take the bullets publicly for your people’s mistakes. this is such a rare phenomenon that many of you have never experienced what i am referring to – a boss taking the heat for his or her people.

more growth & succesion: 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them) | do cpa firms need management or leadership? | job 1 for the practice owner: client management

most of the time, when problems are uncovered, company cultures are “at the ready” to quickly identify someone to blame regardless of the situation. in these organizations, those with exceptional cya skills are the most highly valued. no, i did not misspell this acronym as it was not meant to be cia (as in the government intelligence agency or certified internal auditors), but rather those good at covering their butts (i guess i should have referred to it as cyb).

how much overhead is too much?

september 7, 2015

by edward mendlowitz

plus a tip for increasing revenue if needed.

by ed mendlowitz

question: are there any rules of thumb for a cpa firm’s overhead and salary costs?

more practice doctor q&a: when partners stop growing | clear billing procedures make collecting easier | before you even think about selling your practice | are you managing knowledge or wasting it? | 7 ways to lose a client’s trust | 12 must-knows for niche markets | when fees don’t keep up with cost increases | when is it time to merge? | 18 ways to blow a partnership opportunity | 6 ways to know what you don’t know | 6 simple steps to impress a prospect |tax return reviewer ticking and tying |23 reasons clients really need you for taxes |complaining client? no wonder! | running an accounting business

answer: the rosenberg survey has excellent metrics and is highly recommended. on a less scientific basis you can use as a general rule of thumb 1/3 for salaries, 1/3 overhead, 1/3 partners salary.

partnership is about persuasion

september 6, 2015

by august j. aquila

aquila

being a partner means convincing people to join you in building a better firm.
bonus checklist: 5 questions to consider.

by august aquila
more creating the effective partnership in the store

just as the partners need to engage with the firm’s vision so do the firm’s people. but, like everyone, they actually engage with people not words. so, effective partners continually engage with their people, regardless of their level and role. they go out of their way to create a personal bond, sharing personal information and operating with honesty and integrity in all of their interactions.

more on leadership for pro members: 5 questions about your firm’s direction | 6 reasons to keep partners from retiring | 6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation | 6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger | 7 signs your firm is headed for an implosion | it’s not always about money: 16 tweaks for your comp system | eight key goal areas for partners | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’ | managing partners must remember partners’ needs | new times call for new cpa firm metrics | partners have love-hate relationship with leadership | 6 things leaders must do | the 8-point financial tune-up for your accounting firm | three ways to run a firm: but only one is sustainable

one of the great truisms is that you can’t be a leader if you don’t have followers and effective partners create strong relationships with their people. they are accessible and have highly tuned antennae that enable them to know where their people “are” and how and when to act to ensure they remain committed to the firm.

five questions to consider:

do not embrace these changes

september 3, 2015

by wesley middleton

… unless you want to grow your business.

by wesley middleton
middleton raines llp

this is not only directed at the profession of cpas of which i am a proud member, but to the clients we serve. i see so many posts on how we need to change and evolve that i am almost disgusted. we have what everyone wants: trust. the absolute trust of our clients. more than doctors, more than lawyers, more than any profession that i can think of. and we need to evolve? what we should do is not lose it!

related: why my people take 5 days off (yes, in a row) | four major misconceptions about millennials

well, yes, we do need to evolve. but not from the perspective of being more to our clients than what we are. it is our business model that must evolve as cpas.
read more →

5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them)

september 1, 2015

by succession institute

how common management pitfalls hurt firms and employees.

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

how do attitudes, misconceptions and bad habits get in the way of our learning to be better managers?

related: do cpa firms need management or leadership? | job 1 for the practice owner: client management

here are five common attitudes, practices and perceptions we find:

when partners stop growing

august 31, 2015

by edward mendlowitz

bonus checklist: nine things needed for firm growth.

by ed mendlowitz

question: i am the managing partner and run a tight ship, however, some of my partners do not appear to be growing and on some level that is holding back the firm’s overall growth.

more practice doctor q&a: billing procedures make collecting easier | there’s more to growth than marketing | how to make staff a team again | before you even think about selling your practice | how to make annual staff evaluations work | it’s not sales. it’s your duty | when staffers stagnate | quote with care when asked for valuation | how much should you pay to buy, sell or merge an accounting practice? | when fees don’t keep up with cost increases | 10 (nearly) painless ways to keep up to date with technology | 44 critical criteria for accounting staff performance evaluations | 5 time management tips for an overworked accountant | running an accounting business