Posts by Marc Rosenberg, CPA
For about ten years now, there has been a merger frenzy in the CPA profession, fueled by three interrelated factors: (a) baby boomers are rapidly approaching or reaching retiring age; (b) succession planning is not a strong suit of CPA firms so, they often find themselves with no bench to take over the firm and…
My colleague, Art Kuesel of Kuesel Consulting (art@kueselconsulting.com), and I have been leading three roundtables in the Chicago area for over 20 years. Each group has about 25 partners, mostly MPs. The group that this blog reports on comprises roughly 75% of the largest local firms in Chicago. Revenues range from $7M to $35M. We…
Our Chicago large-firm roundtable brings in premier MPs from across the country to share their management practices with us. Our most recent visitor was Richard Kopelman, MP of Atlanta-based Aprio, the twenty-fifth largest CPA firm in the U.S., with revenue of $340M, 80 equity partners, 80 non-equity partners, and 1,500 total personnel. One would be…
A firm on the East Coast with 11 partners and revenue of $28M asked me this: QUESTION A long-time partner, a “nice person,” is 69. She has been a fairly good rainmaker over the years, but during the past five years or so, she has slowed down and transitioned many of her clients. She…
One of the saddest things about history is how much of it is forgotten as the years move on. About 15 years ago, a survey asked high school students if Germany was an ally or enemy of the US in WW2. Most responded “ally.” How unfortunate. But it proves how major historical events are shuttered…
One of the joys of consulting to CPA firms for over 20 years is talking with clients, fellow consultants, media editors and speakers at conferences about what’s going on in the industry. Over the past three months, several clients and publications have asked me how I see 2023 shaping up. Here are my thoughts. Merger…
I recently spoke with a young man at a 12-partner CPA firm who was anticipating being offered a partnership in the next couple of years. He wanted some guidance on whether or not to accept the offer, should it be made. It turned out he had quite a few misconceptions about how someone becomes a…
The 2022 Rosenberg Survey has been released, and, along with it, volumes of data on the CPA industry’s performance over the past year. The survey asks the industry’s top consultants to share their observations from CPA firms. Here are the questions and our responses. How would you assess the last 12 months? Trends? Observations? Struggles?…
“Looking for profitability? First you need to define what it means for you and your partners, and then you need to get past some all-too-common misconceptions. No one knows better than accountants that profitability can be a slippery concept, but when it comes to their firms, you’d hope they’d be able to nail it down…
One of the great things about my job as consultant in the past 20 years is the opportunity I’ve had to work with over a thousand CPA firms to learn their best practices…and also what not to do. I have created hundreds of handouts and templates based on these experiences. (These handouts have been incorporated…
Marc Rosenberg, CPA
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