Bringing in a New Partner: Changing to Today’s World

Two professional females at a desk talking

We know all too well that the #1 challenge in the CPA profession is finding and retaining people. Drilling down, the interrelated issues are: The declining number of accountants High school and college students’ reduced interest in accounting majors Partners being too busy to mentor staff and focus on this The challenge that firms have…

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

clock

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

Hands Shaking

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?

Professional working remotely.

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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How Do Founders Compensate New Partners?

Professional reviewing compensation document at desk.

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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Hands-Off Leadership Development Heralded by CPA Firm Leaders

A 1980s office set up.

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

Business person watering can

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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