leadership

10 bad habits partners need to kick

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if actions speak louder than words, what does that say about your firm’s core values?

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees

creating the effective partnership

the concept of core or shared values gets a lot of press and most professional service firms’ websites promote their core values to prospects, clients and recruits. but, like so many management ideas that are on the soft side, they are often more talk than reality.

creating the effective partnership:  every partner’s first question: ‘what’s in it for me?’  |  the 9 building blocks of a winning vision that the big four have discovered  |   the politics of an accounting firm partnership  |  nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams   |   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

for too many firms, their espoused core values don’t actually represent what the firm stands for and don’t guide individual behavior. often, in fact, neither the partners nor the employees know the firm’s core values and no one in the firm is evaluated or rewarded on how well they live them. read more →

the 15 rules for partner teamwork

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no lone rangers, no prima donnas.

how healthy is your firm’s partnership? 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 contributor marc rosenberg, cpa, has been asking that question for 20 years at more than 700 firms by now. he has a few ideas. in fact, he has a checklist of 15 items by which to measure the strength and sustainability of any accounting practice. how well does yours measure up?

the tried-and-true rules for successful partner teamwork

1. partners agree on a common vision, goals and a set of firm practices, which are followed by all partners, even if each partner doesn’t agree 100%.

2. key firm personnel are viewed as team players, particularly in servicing clients.  clients are viewed as clients of the firm, not the individual.

3. people rarely go on sales calls alone.
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every partner’s first question: ‘what’s in it for me?’

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by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
creating the effective partnership

although the whole purpose of engaging the partners is to commit them to the firm’s future, they also have to see a personal upside in the final destination. that upside can take many forms but it has to be spelled out. it’s critical that the descriptions are honest. smart people quickly stop trusting their leaders if they believe they are being lied to or the downsides glossed over.

creating the effective partnership:   the 9 building blocks of a winning vision that the big four have discovered  |   the politics of an accounting firm partnership  |  nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams   |   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

if, for example, achieving scale is achievable only through a merger, the likely impact of the merger on partner earnings must be addressed. smart people know that earnings may be flat, or even drop, in the short term. the key thing is that the upsides to both the firm and the partners make the initial sacrifice worthwhile. read more →

the 9 building blocks of a winning vision that the big four have discovered

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learn more about the research findings

and that you can use too.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
creating the effective partnership

what should a compelling vision contain?

while we still see some visions that talk about becoming the leading player in a state or region, we are seeing a real recognition that a vision is a lot more than the statement we used to see firms use across accounting and the other professional services firms sectors.

more creating the effective partnership: the politics of an accounting firm partnership  |  nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams   |   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

consider, now, the common ideas from the visions of the big four firms:

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the politics of an accounting firm partnership

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how one managing partner learned the hard way.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
creating the effective partnership

while many managing partners understand the value of a vision statement to focus their partner team’s energies, too few get it right.

creating the effective partnership: two-volume set
creating the effective partnership

a vision is more than a simple statement. when we talk about having a compelling vision, we don’t mean just a well-crafted vision. we mean the vision with a clear destination, the strategies for getting there (the “how to”), the way progress will be measured and the benefits to the partners of going on the journey.

more on partnership management:  nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams   |   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

let’s look at an example of what can happen when all the elements (vision, journey, milestones and a positive answer to what’s in it for me) aren’t in place. read more →

27 tough questions for evaluating the performance of a managing partner

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including: managing partner evaluation forms, parts 1 and 2.

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm management & governance

this is really an upward evaluation.  like all upward evaluations, people evaluating the managing partner should be limited to those in a position to offer informed input.  this means that at firms of fewer than 10 to 15 partners all the partners will probably want to participate.  but once a firm gets beyond 10 to 15 partners, an increasing number of partners may not be in a position to respond to the evaluation factors listed in the form.

more cpa firm management & governance:  18 things partners owe their firms – and each other   |  17 ways to measure a partner  |  how the structure of an accounting firm changes through the years    |    congratulations! your firm needs a human resources director    |    the 19-point marketing director job description    |    checklist: how the best managing partners and firm admins work in concert     |    21 questions for managing the managing partner    |    no partner vote needed: 17 decisions best left to the managing partner alone    |    new rules: 13 items that should be in your managing partner’s job description    |    when is it time to shift your firm from partnership-style to corporate-style governance?    |    not every firm needs a general patton    |

firms with management or executive committees may wish to limit the evaluation to the partners on those committees.

once you have decided who will be allowed to participate in the evaluation, each partner should complete the evaluation forms.  read more →

building a bridge or welding girders together?

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building a bridge to somewhere…

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
creating the effective partnership

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buy the report – $165. free shipping.

the more that partners are engaged with the firm’s future the better they perform. so, the picture of the firm’s future has to be compelling. it has to persuade people that they want to play a part in making it a reality.

more on partnership management:  nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams  |   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

nearly all of the firms we know agree with the sentiment but getting the partners engaged isn’t always easy. so, how do firms go about engaging the partners and making sure they remain that way? read more →

nine rules to creating highly effective partnership teams

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buy the report – $165. free shipping.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

managing partners always ask us what it takes to achieve sustained, consistent partner performance.

more on partnership management:   audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success   | are you creating a sustainable firm? | the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

while the answer is easy, maybe simplistic, the implementation is difficult in most firms. read more →

audacious vision and grand purpose prove essential to cpa success

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learn more
learn more

plain-vanilla goal-setting may be the single biggest problem plaguing today’s cpa partnerships.

also in this report: the 11 traits of “one-firm” firms.

by august j. aquila and robert j. lees
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

more firms now have a vision and a strategy in the hope of engaging partners and employees, according to our research.

but the partners aren’t always involved in their creation and often don’t buy in to the vision.

more on partnership management:  are you creating a sustainable firm?  |  the debilitating effects of denial at accounting firms | the five psychological hurdles that cpa firms must confront today

this can be because the vision just isn’t compelling enough or because the partners are more interested in their own practice rather than creating a real firm. this type of accounting firm is usually referred to as a “siloed” firm and never succeeds in bringing the full capabilities of the firm to bear. read more →

17 important ways to measure a partner

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by marc rosenberg
cpa firm management & governance

one of the most common agenda items at partner retreats is the question of what it means to be a partner in the firm.

more cpa firm management & governance:  17 ways to measure a partner  |  how the structure of an accounting firm changes through the years    |    congratulations! your firm needs a human resources director    |    the 19-point marketing director job description    |    checklist: how the best managing partners and firm admins work in concert     |    21 questions for managing the managing partner    |    no partner vote needed: 17 decisions best left to the managing partner alone    |    new rules: 13 items that should be in your managing partner’s job description    |    when is it time to shift your firm from partnership-style to corporate-style governance?    |    not every firm needs a general patton    |

so, what is a partner? here are 17 metrics. read more →

essential advice for the new managing partner

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a new generation takes over the corner office. join the survey, get the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the same generational shift that has the accounting profession fretting about succession, mergers and millennials is also wreaking havoc in another sector of the firm: the office of managing partner.

by one 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 study of a fairly typical global association of firms, roughly 25% of the managing partners now serving have held the job for two years or less. in a business that measures job longevity in decades, two years represents rookie status. considering the advance of age and consolidation, we estimate that within another five years 80% of today’s firms will be under new management.

this new generation of managing partner is bringing new energy and new ideas to the profession. but that hardly makes up for the lack of executive leadership training and experience of the new class of ceo. mistakes are sure to follow: making big decisions too quickly, or too slowly; misunderstanding the business drivers or looking at the wrong ones entirely; failing to make the right relationships with the right people, or maintaining bad relationships for too long.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 is canvassing practitioners across the nation and in firms of all sizes to sift out some of the best advice we can find for the rookie managing partner. join the survey, get the results.

and so far, we’re getting an earful. read more →

are you creating a sustainable firm?

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many cpa firms may be on the path to extinction.

by gale crosley, cpa

the world’s population is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability. for several decades we’ve developed an understanding of preserving our planet’s resources. the recent sustainability conversation has amped up the focus among corporate executives on their social responsibility to insure our world’s future.

it’s an especially relevant time, therefore, to discuss the sustainability of our firms. and that’s what this book is about. managing partners spend significant time pondering their firm’s strategy. one of their greatest challenges is engaging their partners to be as committed as they are.

adapted from the preface to “how to engage partners in the firm’s future: the secrets every leader needs to know,” by august j. aquila and robert j. lees

there are lots of reasons for the challenge. these include a “nose to the grindstone versus up to the wind” mentality, partners not spending enough time dedicated to the task, abdicating their leadership role, putting their own interests before the firm’s, or just plain apathy. it’s easy for a partner group to sit around a table and discuss their future. but talk is cheap.  after the strategic planning is done, leaders actually have to do something. it takes significant effort to develop as a leader, work as a team, subjugate one’s own interests for the greater good, learn new competencies, solve complex problems, and exhibit leadership behaviors. read more →