strategy

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

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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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what makes a successful strategic plan?

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cute furry monsterfacing the monster issues.

by august aquila
creating the effective partnership

during the next several months, firms will be meeting to develop a strategic plan for the coming year or two. it’s a summer ritual for many firms.

more for pro members: 24 points for after the deal is done | innovate or die | 3 ways to halt a poor leader | partners love, hate leadership | 8 questions that staff ask in a merger | the 4 best ways to use your senior partners | 11 steps to building a better partnership team

however, the plans that are usually developed don’t address the real issues that firms are facing.

a client recently asked me, “what can we do to develop an effective strategic plan?” i’m not sure if he liked the answer or not. i am still waiting to hear if my proposal was accepted. let me share with you what i said to him.

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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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the big eight: harsh realities for firms today

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sorry. this page is no longer available. more from domenick j. esposito:  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 … continued

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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seizing the $10 trillion opportunity

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targeting the heart of american business – the vast market of mid-sized companies.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

let’s begin by answering two basic questions:

  1. what is the mid-market?
  2. what is a mid-market sustainable brand?

the mid-market is commonly defined as both private and public companies with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion. the estimated u.s. mid-market universe is nearly 200,000 companies, largely privately held.

more from domenick j. esposito:  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…

these companies are a vibrant, resilient, but often neglected, segment of the u.s. economy. they represent 30 percent of all u.s. companies, one-third of all jobs and more than $10 trillion in combined annual revenue.

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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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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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accountability is for everyone

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businesswoman working late at deskdo you credit others as much as you do yourself?

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

most firms consider accountability an essential part of their leadership practices.

more on performance management: base retirement on today’s operations | 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 | develop your employees or suffer the consequences | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them)

in the pcps top issues survey, for firms with 11 to 20 professionals, partner accountability/unity landed in second place. for firms with 21 or more professionals, this same issue ranked first in concerns to be addressed.
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13 succession plan requirements

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time to retire clock facemake sure you’re not growing your own competition.

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

there are various sections that should be included in any succession plan. we are not going to present you with a sample succession plan, but even better, to describe topic areas you should address in your plan.

more on performance management: base retirement on today’s operations | who decides what? | 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 | the pitfalls of equity allocation and reallocation

as always, there are various best practices to consider as you put your plan together. for any succession plan to work, you have to start with consideration of the business model you use:
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