Rosenberg Associates Blog
Marc Rosenberg, CPASometimes people and organizations launch a new philosophy, policy or approach with the best of intentions, but fail to consider an unintended consequence that threatens to negate the purpose of the original initiative. Here’s an example. When CPA firms give all the “good clients” to their best staff while idling average performers, they may be…
Twenty years of consulting gives me a unique view of CPA firm management. While many things have changed over the years – mostly for the better – others have remained the same. I always chuckle when I see firms take opposing views on issues that have been hotly debated for decades, with no sign…
Virtually everyone agrees that being able to differentiate your firm is cool. Yet, very few local CPA firms are in fact, different. To be fair, the nature of what CPAs do naturally makes them look more alike than different. But when I think about the 1,000+ firms I have consulted with over 20 years, many…
No, this is not Rosenberg’s foray into science fiction. Reality Distortion Field (RDF) was the term coined at Apple to characterize Steve Jobs’ legendary ability to convince himself and others to believe almost anything with a mix of charm, charisma, bravado, appeasement and persistence. I first read of it in Walter Isaacson’s amazing biography of…
I’m probably the millionth person to form a list of important leadership qualities, but I wanted to share what I have learned from working with CPA firms for over 20 years. Leaders are visionary Always thinking about what the firm should be. Regularly meeting with other firms to share best practices. Leaders are delegators Leaders…
Recently attorney Peter Fontaine spoke to my small firm roundtable group about legal issues relevant to practices of their size. Fontaine is the founder and Managing Partner of NewGate Partners, a provider of legal services exclusively to the public accounting industry. Peter has served as chief legal counsel for accounting firms for more than two…
When it comes to the language of business, sometimes I wish subtitles were available. It’s like watching one of my favorite British TV series. The actors on Downton Abbey, Sherlock and Foyle’s War are speaking English, but I need subtitles to understand their accents. I admit to a certain resistance to using “new school” terms…
The New Horizons Group mission is to share our experiences and knowledge while exploring leading edge trends shaping the future of CPA firms. Our members are national consultants Gale Crosley, Chris Frederiksen, Angie Grissom, Rita Keller, Roman Kepczyk, Allan Koltin, Jim Metzler, Jennifer Wilson and myself, as well as consultant Carl George, former long-time MP…
When you look your firm in the mirror, what do you see? We all know people who have themselves convinced that the way things should be is the way they really are. Some of them, we’ve discovered, are partners at CPA firms. Here are some common answers to questions we’ve posed that illustrate my point:…
Question from a reader: We reference your survey a lot when we discuss becoming a high-performance firm. We are a $10M firm with 9 partners. The firm has done little to market our audit services, generally using the audit department as a loss-leader, never promoting it or looking to grow it aggressively. We’ve never even…
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