bonus: four outlooks from our exclusive expert council: baker, dobek, tierney, mister. by martin bissett passport to partnership the skill in producing financial reports is limited by the quality of the information presented to the cpa by the client. motivation of the … continued
competence comes first. but it’s only a prerequisite. bonus worksheets: 11 questions to plan your path to partnership by martin bissett passport to partnership staffers aspiring to be partners must learn the key characteristics of successful partners. they also must learn … continued
more than staying close to clients.
by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn
a significant application of judgment exhibited by successful managing partners is in their decision to stay close to their own and the firm’s key client relationships.
more on leadership: research, but also be ready to act | leader training is time well spent | managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’
we defined “close” in the research as not doing fee-earning work but being more than the review partner. “close” was having serious conversations with key clients about their issues, about what was going on in their markets and being the “go to” person when informed comment was required by external agencies.
by ed mendlowitz
question: i have been working for a one-owner cpa firm for the past eight years and want a partnership, but it hasn’t been offered. how should i approach it?
response: i had a couple of rather long discussions with this practitioner. why, i don’t know. i suppose i was being polite to the person who told him to call me.
here is some additional information before i give my response: read more →
by robert j. lees, august j. aquila
and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership
regardless of their ownership structure, most firms either operate as partnerships or would prefer to operate as partnerships.
the tensions between being a business and the loss of the values and ethics of being a partnership feature strongly in our research.
but accounting firms are different from their corporate counterparts in a number of ways, which impact their functioning and, therefore, their leadership. read more →
partners persuade their people to join them on the journey and to play a part in building a better firm.
by robert j. lees and
august j. aquila
creating the effective partnership
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.
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 read more →
11 weekly self-assessment questions for successful professionals.
by august aquila
the effective partnership
when’s the last time you talked to your partners about the “mirror questions”? we all know that it’s easy to kid ourselves about how well we’re doing. but when we have to look ourselves in the mirror, well, it’s another story.
rather than giving the partners the questions they should answer, we suggested that they come up with their own self-assessment. specifically, we wanted them to devise questions they could ask themselves each week to evaluate how well they had performed. in the end, we came up with 11. read more →
strengthen your partnership and protect minority interests.
by auqust aquila
creating the effective 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 august aquila on creating the effective partnership: three ways to run a firm: but only one is sustainable • eight key goal areas for partners • 5 must-do’s for every managing partner today • are bad clients driving you crazy? • 6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger • new times call for new cpa firm metrics • 6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation • when the deal is done: a 24-point checklist for the morning after •
take the time to focus on what drives the bottom line. it’s time well spent. here are eight issues you shouldn’t miss: read more →
when neither democracy nor dictatorship works, there is a third way.
by auqust aquila
creating the effective partnership
what checks and balances exist in your firm to keep it strong but also to protect the minority interest?
maybe it’s time for more firms to consider a republic instead of a so-called democracy. the larger firms in the country are surely run more like a republic than a democracy. smaller firms would be well advised to change their governance to mirror the larger firms. but let’s start with the dictatorial form of governance – commonly found, sometimes wildly successful, but only to a point. read more →
getting specific with leadership duties and partner accountability.
by auqust aquila
creating the effective partnership
as leaders of a firm, partners need to do more than pay for themselves and contribute to overhead expenses. their duties to the firm and to each other extend to bringing in new business, improving their own skills as well as developing skills in others, contributing to strategy and a passion for continuous improvement in all things.
more partner issues: are bad clients driving you crazy? | 6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger | new times call for new cpa firm metrics | why cpa firms fail in innovation | when the deal is done: a 24-point checklist for the morning after | 7 signs your firm is headed for an implosion | why some partners should not retire | why is it always about partner compensation?
most firms don’t take enough time to develop meaningful partner goals because it is a very time-consuming process. but, if you want to get better results in this highly competitive environment, this is the road you need to take.
here are eight key areas where partners can and should provide leadership in a firm. read more →
what successful managing partners do
by robert j. lees and august j. aquila
how to engage partners in the future
the problem is that in the majority of cpa firms there is no clarity around what being a managing partner actually entails and, specifically, what managing partners should do to create and sustain their partners’ commitment to actively participating in delivering the firm’s future.
our research involving in-depth interviews with 150 managing partners at the world’s leading firms identified that the truly successful managing partners share three key activities: read more →
plus: 4 keys to tie pay to performance.
by robert j. lees and august j. aquila
how to engage partners in the future
partners are the culture in a professional service firm – what they believe, what they reward, what they do and how they do it determines what and how things get done. partners are the owners – they, and they alone, are responsible for the firm’s vision and its implementation.
being a leader means each partner must: read more →
nine reasonable entitlements and 15 misconceptions, bad ideas and outright abuses.
it’s a privilege to be a partner in a cpa firm. not an entitlement. too many partnerships seem to operate as if they had it the other way around. and, in most cases, those partnerships don’t usually make the best cpa firms. marc rosenberg has seen his share of dysfunctional firms. they are no better nor no worse than the people who run them. get these 24 points of partner roles and responsibilities correct and your firm could find a renewal in spirit and in growth.