Posts by Marc Rosenberg, CPA
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…
The integrity of CPAs is consistently rated among the highest of all professionals. Primary reasons for this are dedication to client service, delivery of high-quality work and a high degree of technical excellence acquired from working with hundreds, if not thousands, of clients. Partners at many CPA firms pursue this dedication to the point of neglecting…
Working remotely triggers “outside-the-box” thinking Can you name a more vivid example of a situation needing “outside-the-box” thinking during the last three years than dealing with the avalanche of remote workers? Remote working in the CPA profession was in use for decades before the pandemic, but relatively infrequently, with the vast majority of remote workers…
Common choices are not always the best choices. Eating unhealthy food. Electing political candidates who are the most popular but not the best qualified. Doing work for clients who are unwilling or unable to pay your bills. Another example is the common decision by multi-partner firms – usually firms under $30M – to use that…
Marc Rosenberg, CPA
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