best people practices for small firms with kristin murray & jennifer wilson | gear up for growth

kristin murray and jennifer wilson reveal strategies for growth, culture, and staff retention.

[preview] the complete video episode, including commentary, analysis, notes, takeaways, additional background information, and transcript,  is exclusively first available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research pro members first. | go pro here.

stream, listen, download, and subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere:
applegoogle/youtubespotifyiheartdeezer, amazon music and audibleplayer fmaudacy, rss

gear up for growth
with jean caragher
for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

“probably no surprise, the greatest challenge to growth in this industry is attracting and retaining talent,” says kristin murray, managing partner of weinstein spira. “without that, there is no growth, and given the landscape of our industry right now, that’s everybody’s biggest challenge. if it’s not, i’d be amazed.”

gear up for growth spotlights the best strategies for smart and efficient growth in today’s competitive landscape. more gear up for growth every friday here.more capstone conversations with jean caragher every monday | more jean caragher here | get her best-selling handbook, the 90-day marketing plan for cpa firms, here | more the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 broadcast channel

“kristin was the person in her firm who stuck her neck out and took the risk back when she was a tax partner leading the hr and culture initiatives for the firm,”  says jennifer wilson, partner and co-founder of convergence coaching.

murray and wilson reveal their strategies for firm growth, firm culture, and staff retention on gear up for growth, hosted by jean caragher, president of capstone marketing, and powered by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间.

read more →

tax & accounting firms grow for 9th straight month

line graph
overall accounting profession employment

 

bookkeeping is playing the tortoise game.

by beth bellor

bit by bit, the accounting profession is growing. despite a staffing shortage. despite an uncertain economy. despite everything, tax and accounting firms are steadily adding to headcounts.

more: tax & accounting profession grows, but wages don’t | tax and accounting pay advancing at 5.9% pace | accounting jobs up 4% for year
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.


as tax and accounting professionals begin planning for the year ahead, the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research team is fielding a new survey to check the pulse of the profession, detect emerging trends, and identify the best success strategies going into 2024.
join the survey. get the results.
click here to launch the 10-minute survey.

according to the latest data mined by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research, new highs were reached in september in employment overall, staff, cpa firm staff, bookkeeping, women overall and women in cpa firms. staff also hit a new mark for hourly earnings.

read more →

ai and the future of advisory

or, ‘the real battlefield: ai’s inroads into value creation within accounting’

by ric payne

four university professors sat the 3.5 version of chatgpt for the cpa exam in may. and it failed. rather badly, it turns out! averaging a score of 53.1 across all sections.

however, it passed when the same researchers repeated the experiment on the upgraded chatgpt version 4.0 only a month later. rather impressively, actually.  with an average score of “the chatbot received an 87.5 in the part that rated highest, auditing and attestation (aud),” the researchers reported.

more on artificial intelligence: chris vanover: question the why or stay with the status quo | ai + mri = diseases that doctors might miss | the art of prompt engineering for accountants | staff need good pay and tlc | two words define your work future in the ai world | becky livingston launches “the b2b marketer’s guide to ai” | getting real: accounting tech decisions you need to make today | generative ai: should you avoid it or adopt it? | the disruptors: al anderson on the new manifesto for accountants | should accountancy account for sustainability? | firms rev up expansion plans | what an a.i.-powered workforce means for accountants | jody padar: build a practice that works for you, not vice-versa. | ai systems just for accounting in development | ai is not your enemy |

more 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 coverage here.

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

this is a very interesting development for several reasons.

first, it’s amazing how quickly chatgpt has improved. i doubt a human, even a smart one, would achieve a 32 percentage point improvement in an examination score in just a few months. this performance improvement begs the question: are we looking at the likelihood of close to 100% shortly? read more →

staff need good pay and tlc

table of responses

they’re scarce. here’s how to keep them happy.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

it’s no news to the accounting industry that staff and professionals are hard to find and hard to keep from wandering off to some other firm.

more: survey: accountants economic outlook brightens | the 7 categories of cybersecurity solutions firms need | understanding the full cost of a data breach | research: accounting pros cautiously optimistic about generative ai | how auditors can beat ai | why the u.s. must act now to protect our online privacy
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

and the law of supply and demand hasn’t failed to rule, according to the global talent trends 2023 survey of the association of chartered certified accountants: scarce employees expect a good salary, good treatment and a chance to work outside the office.

identifying and dealing with these employees’ expectations is essential to a continuous and successful flow of business. the survey found five challenges to that flow.
read more →

jason deshayes: what we’re doing isn’t working

create opportunities for others by getting out of the way.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

see the disruptors

the disruptors
with liz farr

by age 35, jason deshayes, cpa/pfs, cfp, cka, was already co-owner of a cpa firm in albuquerque. he “hit the magic shangri la that we’re all working for.” but it wasn’t right for him. he was bored with the long hours and felt he wasn’t growing. he wasn’t able to think about his firm the way he wanted to. so he and his partner sold their firm.

more podcasts and videos: heather satterley: you’ve got to meet people where they arebill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid worksandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow | jody padar: build a practice that works for you, not vice-versa | ira rosenbloom: with m&a, nobody wants a fixer-upper | peter margaritis: the power skills every accountant needs | joe montgomery: find the sweet spot of the right clients, right services and right pricesmarie green: your bad apples are ruining youmegan genest tarnow: hire for curiosity rather than complianceclayton oates: one way to keep clients for liferandy crabtree: follow these three rules to keep employees happyerik solbakken: yes, you can work less and make more | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshiftjennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone lovesmike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practiceshector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be freeprivate equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinsonwhen financial statements go extinct with corey schmidtcan geraldine carter save accountants from themselves?re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

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

today, he’s coo at cook wealth, a hybrid wealth management and tax firm. providing both types of services means that they don’t deal with “this weird thing, where the client’s in the middle, and they have to be the conduit for information going both ways.” he says that getting his cfp has “been so enriching.” deshayes added, “i love what i do, and it’s because i was willing to drop stuff so other people could learn the stuff i learned, and so i could do fun stuff.”  

click “play” to see: what jason deshayes talks about when he’s talking about a “forward-thinking enterprise.” (via wordclouds.com)

read more →

heather satterley: you’ve got to meet people where they are

stop saying yes to everything and start saying yes to yourself.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

see the disruptors

the disruptors
with liz farr

heather satterley is well-known for being an accounting tech expert. but tech isn’t the only skill accountants need today and for the future. “you can have great technology skills, but if you don’t have people skills and those softer skills, that’s going to be a problem,” she said.   

more podcasts and videos: bill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid worksandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow | jody padar: build a practice that works for you, not vice-versa | ira rosenbloom: with m&a, nobody wants a fixer-upper | peter margaritis: the power skills every accountant needs | joe montgomery: find the sweet spot of the right clients, right services and right pricesmarie green: your bad apples are ruining youmegan genest tarnow: hire for curiosity rather than complianceclayton oates: one way to keep clients for liferandy crabtree: follow these three rules to keep employees happyerik solbakken: yes, you can work less and make more | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshiftjennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone lovesmike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practiceshector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be freeprivate equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinsonwhen financial statements go extinct with corey schmidtcan geraldine carter save accountants from themselves?re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

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

one of those softer skills that will be a key skill for the future is problem-solving, which requires keeping an open mind to “look at not just facts and figures, but look at tools, resources, people and pull them all together,” she explained. no one can be an expert at everything, so having “a wide network of really awesome professionals” is vital for filling in any gaps “to get the job done.”  

read more →

bill penczak: stop forcing smart people to do stupid work

challenge your people and keep the work interesting or risk losing them. 

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

the disruptors
with liz farr

too many accounting firms have “smart people doing stupid work,” according to bill penczak, a veteran sales and marketing professional. the founder and chief insights officer for mica ventures said to think about the effort it takes to get an accounting degree and get your cpa, and contrast that with the years of mindless work that many new hires are required to do, especially if they go into audit, he said. “one of the reasons why there’s such a talent shortage is because the market has figured this out,” and no one wants to do that stupid work, penczak said.

more podcasts and videos: sandra wiley: staffing problem? check your culture | scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow | jody padar: build a practice that works for you, not vice-versa | ira rosenbloom: with m&a, nobody wants a fixer-upper | peter margaritis: the power skills every accountant needs | joe montgomery: find the sweet spot of the right clients, right services and right pricesmarie green: your bad apples are ruining youmegan genest tarnow: hire for curiosity rather than complianceclayton oates: one way to keep clients for liferandy crabtree: follow these three rules to keep employees happyerik solbakken: yes, you can work less and make more | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshiftjennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone lovesmike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practiceshector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be freeprivate equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinsonwhen financial statements go extinct with corey schmidtcan geraldine carter save accountants from themselves?re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

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

besides making smart people do stupid work, penczak said many of the firms he works with are realizing that they need to do a better job with mentoring and career development, as well as simply having more conversations with their people.

read more →

use organization charts to rewrite the future

woman's hand drawing an organization chart

how do people view themselves?

by ed mendlowitz
77 ways to wow!

an effective way to review key staff is to have them separately draw up two organization charts to see how they view their role.

more: what clients don’t know about cost variances | why and how to track payroll costs | use constraints to make improvements | the role of strategy in pricing | wow clients with trend analysis | 26 ways to wreck a financial projection | three ways to run a break-even analysis | price not always the top consideration in a sale | when an owner dies without a buy-sell agreement | due diligence is in the details | manage better with the right financial tools
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the first chart is what they think their role is showing who they report to, who reports to them, lateral associates and support personnel. the second chart is what they would like it to be. rarely would the two be the same.
read more →

scott scarano: first, grow people. then firm growth can follow

we need the machines to do as much of this as we can.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), and boomplay (africa).

the disruptors
with liz farr

when scott scarano lost a few good people at his firm, he had an epiphany that he needed to change things. instead of continuing to grow for the sake of growth, he overhauled his management approach.

more podcasts and videos:  peter margaritis: the power skills every accountant needs | joe montgomery: find the sweet spot of the right clients, right services and right pricesmarie green: your bad apples are ruining youmegan genest tarnow: hire for curiosity rather than complianceclayton oates: one way to keep clients for liferandy crabtree: follow these three rules to keep employees happyerik solbakken: yes, you can work less and make more | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshiftjennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone lovesmike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practiceshector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be freeprivate equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinsonwhen financial statements go extinct with corey schmidtcan geraldine carter save accountants from themselves?re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

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

“and things are better now at the firm, because we’re not focused on growth,” but instead on “growing everybody,” including himself, scarano said. by building better habits and finding better ways to do things, his team is growing its bottom line, and a few of the people who left earlier have now returned. “that’s the growth i like to see.” read more →

how auditors can beat ai

ignore the coming tsunami of change at your own peril.

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

instant download:
the new manifesto for accountants.

the other day, i picked up a college textbook on auditing from 2001.

more: the disruptors: re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson | the big issues in audit: frustration, inconsistency and technologyfive ways to increase audit efficiency | early adopters gain an edge in audittalent retention: five tips for an audit adjustmentsix benefits of an internal audit | the ten financial controls that’ll make you a hero | five cash reports you can’t live without | when an audit is a great thing
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

even back then, that book listed these as “critical forces on the profession:”

  • increasing market saturation with relatively little opportunity for growth
  • perceptions that financial statement audits have become a commodity
  • price competition and continual pressure to reduce fees
  • cost pressures that have resulted in the reduction of time devoted to engagements
  • perceptions that the incidence and severity of alleged audit failures have increased

in the 20-plus years since that book was published, not much has changed. today many of the college students who learned auditing from that textbook are in leadership positions at audit firms. they were warned about what we were up against.

that we are still facing those same “critical forces,” which have only exacerbated since then, is an indicator of the ossified state of leadership in the audit profession.

read more →