Rosenberg Associates Blog

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Should CPA Firms Continue the Decades-Long Practice of New Partner Buy-Ins?

Avatar photoMarc Rosenberg, CPA / August 9, 2023

Aspiring accountants who are invited to become a partner in their CPA firm usually face the hurdle of a buy-in requirement. This requirement is a payment that new partners must make to gain an ownership stake in the firm. Depending on the practice’s size, the buy-in requirement can be substantial at some firms, ranging from…

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Time Tracking: A Partner-Candidate Asks If It’s Worth It

Avatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / May 17, 2023

We previously shared Part 1 of this series. Read it here.  We occasionally receive lengthy replies to our blogs and like to share our readers’ perspectives. A senior manager of a three-partner firm in the Midwest wrote to us, following my April Fool’s blog on raising the minimum retirement age to 85, articulating frustration with…

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What Partner Candidates Need to Know

Avatar photoMarc Rosenberg, CPA / November 16, 2022

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…

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Can a 100% Remote Person Become a Partner?

Avatar photoMarc Rosenberg, CPAAvatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / August 30, 2022

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…

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Professional reviewing compensation document at desk.

How Do Founders Compensate New Partners?

Avatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / August 11, 2022

Many CPA firm founding partners are generous in casting off some of their compensation to incoming partners in the form of a promotion raise. At the same time, few founders would give up a sizeable chunk of what they have created to date. In other words, just because the new partners join as owners, they…

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A 1980s office set up.

Hands-Off Leadership Development Heralded by CPA Firm Leaders

Avatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / April 1, 2022

As featured in Accounting Today. You’re busy. Everyone is. You also need a pipeline of future leaders to continue to run the profitable accounting firm you’ve created and provide you, hopefully, with a generous internal buyout. You’ve been hearing that you need to actively develop your team to be successful, but who has time for…

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10 Steps to New Partner Development

Avatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / March 29, 2022

As featured in the CPA Leadership Journal. Do you want your CPA firm to thrive for years to come? Invest in the future of your firm by prioritizing new partner development. Use these ten best practices in new partner development to guide your firm to a bright future. 1.  Communicate the Benefits of Partnership Never…

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Income Partner: Permanent Position or Stepping Stone to Equity?

Avatar photoMarc Rosenberg, CPAAvatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / February 16, 2022

Question from a CPA firm: Our firm has an annual revenue of $10M. We are considering someone for partnership who will likely always be an income partner. In the past, we have admitted new partners as income partners, knowing that eventually they would become equity partners. This is a first for us, and we need…

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professionals at a table

Poll Results: Are New Business Development Skills a “Must Have”?

Avatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / November 30, 2021

The staffing shortage continues to put pressure on CPA firms from top to bottom. Most firms already have enough clients, and serving them is often prioritized over looking for more. For most accounting professionals, choosing between starting on another client engagement or engaging in business development is easy: the client always wins. After all, approximately…

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New Business Development: Optional or Required for Equity Partners?

Avatar photoKristen Rampe, CPA / November 22, 2021

It used to be a pretty standard requirement, that for someone to be invited to become an equity owner at a CPA firm, they had to show achievement in, or strong potential for, new business development. How else could the firm continue to grow, or even remain stable with typical annual customer attrition? Rarely would…

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