Accountancy Is A Great Career

2010-05-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Magic of Marketing

I see many different approaches to marketing in the many accounting firms I work with, some fantastic, some good, and some not so good.

For example, there's a sole practitioner I know who advertises on TV for delinquent tax payers to come clean and report prior years unreported income. His phone rings off the hook, and it's only a local cable channel he uses.

Another has such a powerful web site that it draws over $100,000 worth of new work in every year.

One firm has given the full time job of marketing to their most productive partner. Are they crazy? Apparently not, as he speaks constantly at business meetings, bank presentations, seminars and many other events and brings a ton of new work into the firm every year.

Other firms I have seen spend a small fortune on a glossy brochure and done nothing with it - there's hundreds of them piled up in a stationery cupboard in their office. (And they seem quite proud about it!)

Many accounting firms still don't have a clue when it comes to using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all the other amazing tools at our disposal these days.

It drives me crazy sometimes!

I hate to see waste, and I see so many firms trying to attract new business in all the wrong ways that I could pull my hair out!

Anyway, in this article I wanted to give you an idea or two that could be easily implemented and cost virtually nothing to do!

Proof positive being that I do this myself for my own business, and it works!

Here's the concept - you probably have a video camera that you bought to film your first-born's first steps, family vacations and so on, right?

And you have internet access?

If you said yes to those two questions, you're in the video production business and you need to get a YouTube account.

That's all you need.

Now, think about a few simple tax saving tips that you could talk to camera about and record yourself talking about them.

Set up the camera on a tripod facing you, and chat away to the camera. You might feel a little self-conscious about this, but when you overcome that it'll feel quite natural.

Film about 30 minutes of tips, and then edit the footage down to less than ten minutes total and upload it to YouTube, and hey-presto, you have a marketing video.

Providing your content is good, you might be surprised when you see how many people view your little home-made video.

Now, the next thing to do is to embed the video into your own firm's website and even more people will see it.

This is a great tool to have for potential new clients to see before they decide which accounting firm they are going to call.

Have a look on YouTube - there's still very few accounting firms who are doing this, and being one of the first will give you a distinct advantage!

So that’s the first idea covered, but what is it about marketing that is so hit and miss?
Well, the secret, I believe, lies in the planning.

If you're about to start thinking about a little marketing activity in the coming months, the trick is to start with the end in mind.

Ask yourself some straight forward, but often avoided, questions:
· What do you want your marketing to achieve?
· Who are your ideal clients?
· Where do they 'hang-out'?
· What is the least expensive way to get in front of them?
· What are you prepared to do to about it?
· What goals are you going to set?
· What would you need to achieve to consider your marketing a success?

You see, the trouble is, most firms simply spend money on a marketing activity without any planning or much thought. Few set a marketing budget and allocate it to various activities throughout the year, and most fail to measure what works and what doesn't.

Many accounting professionals have tried one or two activities, had little or no success, and decided that marketing doesn't work.

Nothing could be farther from the truth – try my YouTube experiment mentioned above and see for yourself.

Well executed marketing doesn't have to be expensive. Let me give you another example.
Let's imagine that one of your goals for next year is to build a new niche market. Let's say that in addition to your regular clients, you want to build a reputation as an expert in dealing with construction companies.

So what do you do?

Google 'Construction company trade associations in Toronto' for example, if you are in Toronto, and you'll find many trade associations, trade shows and other useful sites to visit.

Many of these organizations will have a newsletter and a web site - and they need content. Some will also have annual conferences - and thus they need speakers.

See where I'm going with this?

None of these activities (providing content for newsletters and web sites or speaking at seminars) costs you anything to do! Yet many firms might first think of buying a mailing list and sending a mass mailing out to thousands of 'prospects', or producing another glossy brochure focusing on their chosen industry to mail out to people who might not be interested in what you have to sell.

However, readers of their trade newsletter or web pages, or attendees at trade seminars and conventions might well be interested in what you have to say – on their own trade association website or in their trade newsletter!

Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive – in fact, most of the best marketing I have seen can be done for free!

It’s on my desk... somewhere!

2010-03-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

One of the books that has had a profound effect on me is ‘The E-Myth’ by Michael Gerber.
Aside from Jim Collins’ ‘Good To Great’ it has to be the book that has had the most impact on me.

And yet, I realized recently, I have fallen into one of the most popular traps encountered by those who should know better, I`ve failed to implement a whole load of the theories and practical ideas that the book preaches.

It dawned on me the other day, when discussing with Salima, my wife (a Lawyer and entrepreneur, and a dedicated list-maker) some issues we were both interested in, I said, I have the answer to that – it`s on my desk... somewhere!

Yes, I have to be the first to admit that – if left to my own devices – I am a terrible procrastinator and don`t keep `to-do` lists like I know deep down that I should. My desk is covered in papers, all useful, that I mean to get around to organizing or implementing sometime, but because I have not organized them into tasks on a list, they sit there, uncomplaining, waiting attention.

In contrast, Salima has a book that she keeps her lists in and she dutifully crosses off each task when done. You don`t need to flip back many pages to find all the items neatly crossed off! Also, she has created her own knowledge management system in her media business that all of her staff can access online, anywhere in the world, any time of day.

So, I decided to set aside the procrastinating half of me, and let the action-based Steve take control.

It`s all well and good having a `to-do` list if you`re the only one having to do the items listed, but if your staff will have to do some of the action points, then it really needs to be online somehow.

As the idea grew, I decided to investigate what is more commonly known as a `knowledge management` system.

To my relief, I found a couple of workable options.

One, is a free `drop box` service, which is basically a web based filing cabinet that one can give access to staff to, for example, and store all the required information virtually.

The only drawback is that it has a relatively low storage limit before it becomes a paid-for service.

The other I discovered, is offered by a well known and trusted Canadian software vendor, who provide a more extensive service to capture all the vital knowledge we professionals store in our heads about our clients which we really should share with our team, but we just don`t know how or where to store it!

The impact a good knowledge management centre will have on a firm is accentuated when one considers how much knowledge a typical partner carries in his or her head about their clients.
Much of it never makes it to the file, simple, but important, stuff like, the client`s proper name is Ferdinand, but never call him that, he goes by `Ferdie`.

Add to that the fact that by the year 2020 some 75% of today`s partners plan to have retired, and you have just a ten year window to document and share this important information.

If you`re looking to sell your interest in the firm in the next ten years, having a parking space for this information will make your firm a little more attractive to potential buyers, who will have the comfort of knowing all vital client information has a home, and that they can access it easily.

Another survey stated that staff at your firm spend between 15% and 35% of their time just searching for information, and a staggering 40% of the time they never find what they`re looking for. What a waste of precious resources!

So, based on the above, I believe that having your very own `Wikipedia` now seems to make financial as well as practical sense.

Let`s look at just a few practical applications –

1. Manage your recruiting and human resources functions more effectively by having job descriptions, submitted resumes and performance review notes and more, all readily available, and subjected to security levels so sensitive information is only available to those who should have access to it.

2. Gather all of your best practices for auditing various types of organizations in one place so your team is primed before they start any particular new assignment, instead of learning on the job – something clients see and hate paying for!

3. Collect all your best tax thinking in one place and have templates ready to run, stop re-inventing the wheel each time a difficult tax problem presents itself!

4. I could go on, but you get the idea by now, right?

So, that`s what I am starting to develop myself – new internal systems to improve client service and an internal knowledge management system to store that information for all to benefit from.

I would urge you to follow suit and explore the options available. This seems to me to be an investment that has an immediate and tangible payback, and we don`t stumble across those every day!

Does Hi-Tech Offer A Competitive Advantage, Or Is It All Smoke & Mirrors?

2010-03-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

That was a question I was asked to comment on at a recent Partner Retreat.

The firm in question was reviewing it's own IT and software issues and decided to ask me, from what I have seen in recent years at firms I have consulted with, how this firm stood as far as it's 'up-to-date-ness' and what an investment of $x should be expected to yield in new revenues or cost savings.

'Well' I said 'It all depends on your point of view and what you want to achieve' I then went on to ask them about their objectives, their budget, the type of services involved and so on until I had a clear view of what they were really asking me.It turns out, they were struggling with two things, and each one hit home to me just how much software has changed what we do and how we do it, and what a competitive advantage there is to be had for those with vision.

First of all, the client was asking me about auto-flow. Had I seen it working? Was it as good as it sounded? How accurate was it? and so on - the questions were flying!

Could a tax return really be completed, accurately, without having to input a single number?
So, I sat them down and told them the truth... the best system I had seen was about 85% accurate, so we're not yet at the stage where we can train monkeys to do this - but we are getting there!

There will always be a certain level of human input in the preparation or review of tax returns, but autoflow is taking us a giant leap away from the number of hours previously required to complete a tax return.

So, if you are prepared to accept that 15% of your returns need adjustments, autoflow is the way to go. The alternative is to enter 100% of the data into all client tax returns. Which would you rather have?

Based on this, they agreed that an 85% time saving, less the time involved in scanning, could be a substantial saving for them. They took a conservative view, and agreed that the receptionist and other administrative staff could easily be trained on how to scan T-Slips and so on, and after taking the time costs of staff, the assessed a 65% to 70% time saving (in real dollars) could be achieved.

Using that, they decided to move forward with that investment as a priority. It really was a no-brainer.

But more was yet to come.

Next, they wanted to know more about a 'what-if' analysis tool they had read about in my column for 'The Bottom Line' and seen demonstrated on a roadshow.

This tool took the client's data and allowed the practitioner to perform all manner of 'what-if' type scenario setting. You could set a target of $500,000 additional profit, and the software will work out for you how many extra units the client needs to sell, or by how much to increase prices to get to the goal, and many other options - like what costs would have to be cut - and so on.

Then it's down to the practitioner, using their knowledge of the client and their professional skill and judgment, to offer comments and modifications to the software suggested options and to make a blend of small adjustments here and there to arrive at the required outcome.

Now, the practitioner can sit down and say something like, 'well, if you can increase your prices by 1.3%, reduce costs by 0.75%, and increase volume by 2.1%, the effect of these combined criteria will produce an additional $499,876 in profit next year.'

In my previous life as a practitioner myself, I would have spent hours and hours on excel spreadsheets trying to fathom out these answers, but with the tools available today, they can be calculated in a nano-second!

Boy, how things have changed.

For the forward-thinking practitioner these two tools can make a tremendous difference to the type of work they do, the revenues they can generate and the satisfaction they can deliver to their clients.

Just imagine if every client had the ability to see the financial impact of any business decision BEFORE they actually made that decision?

Don't you think you'd have better clients a s a result? And what impact would that have on your own professional and financial satisfaction?

So yes, I answered, I do believe that being Hi-Tech offers a real opportunity to differentiate the firm, make more money and enjoy your work a little more than you did before, and it's definately not a smoke and mirrors job!

Management by Kraft Dinner

2010-01-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

February is often an odd month in my office. Many firms don’t want to do much at all as tax season heats up, while others are struggling with a last-minute panic and need something desperately.

Either way, I welcome February. As the snow builds up and the work slows down for a few weeks, it gives me a chance to ski, and I often take some time out in the month to reflect and do some strategic planning for my own business.

As I started doing some strategic thinking this year, a story from Christmas occurred to me that I thought you might like me to share with you.

It was around 22nd of December, and I was lining up at the grocery store with a cart full of groceries and seasonal goodies, when I noticed the people in front of me in the line. They were all young, about twenty years old, and the four of them moved their cart up to unload it on to the conveyor belt to transport it towards the cashier.

As they unloaded I couldn’t help but notice the contents of their cart. Dried noodles, packet after packet after packet, followed by soup packets and cans, one after the other again.

Then, of course, it was a pile of Kraft Dinner boxes, by the dozen. That gave it away for me. ‘Students!’ I thought to myself, obviously stocking up on Daddy’s credit card before going back to University.

But boy was I wrong.

As I passed my cornflakes, milk and some seasonal treats onto the cashier’s conveyor belt, I saw these four young men going through their wallets and pockets to come up with the $103.26 they had spent. They realized that they had two dollars spare, so one of them went and grabbed more soup to top up their spending.

With three cents change they all smiled at each other and I watched them as they pushed their cart – they got the one with the squeaky wheel that never goes in the same direction as the other three – and they emptied the contents of their cart into the food bank box behind the cashiers.

These guys had obviously spent their own cash and had been as careful to make sure that they bought the right stuff, and spent their entire budget, to make sure that those needier than themselves got to eat something this Christmas. It may not have been turkey and bread sauce, but damn it, these kids had heart.

I am not ashamed to tell you that it brought a lump to my throat.

Then I started thinking that this was a great example of the type of planning, budgeting and execution that we all need in our own businesses, but more often than not we are simply too busy to stop what we’re doing right now, that seems to be so important, to give some time and effort to the bigger picture.

Where is your practice right now? Where was it last year? Has it grown? Has it gone in a different direction? Where do you want your firm to be this time next year, in five years time, in ten?

These are often the issues we never talk about, even with ourselves. But we should.

When tax season is over and you have the 30th June filing deadlines behind you, please, take some time to plan where you want to take your firm in the future, and do the equivalent of what those kids at the grocery store did.

They got their team together, decided what they wanted to achieve, put a budget together, pooled their resources, set a deadline and worked together to gather the supplies.

They achieved their goal and then they went to the bar together to celebrate!

What a great example from four young men. Surely we, as a profession can do at least as well as them?

Second Post Today!

2009-10-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

While I've posted something useful earlier today, I thought I'd take this opportunity to announce that my first Novel is well on its way to a first draft. It's a little unusual... as the hero (or heroes) is/are Accountant(s)!

I am yet to come across any novel where a CA or CPA is the hero, and in this book they're anything but boring, I assure you!

I am announcing this because I'd like your help.

I am looking for a few CAs and CPAs to review the first draft and give me some critical feedback to make it a better product.

Please contact me if you'd like to be involved.

Seven Steps To Seven Figures (Part Two)

2009-10-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

Last issue we lookedat the first three steps to building a seven-figure billing practice and I promised you we’d take a look at the other four steps this time.

So, without further ado, here we go!Remember last issue, we covered;1. Innovation & the Use of Technology2. Staff Selection, Training & Delegation3. Client Selection

The remaining steps are;1. Valued-Added Services2. Pricing3. Financial Acumen4. Marketing

So, let’s look at these four steps now...

Value-Added Services

I have just returned to the office after two weeks on the road with CCH.

During the road show, I have had the privilege of working with Mark Holton, an Aussie, who pioneered the use of CCH Profit Driver down under, and was on tour with us as the ‘Profit Driver expert’. And it’s a title he deserves. As a user of Profit Driver myself, it was amazing to see Mark in action, showing accounting firms just what this amazing piece of software can do.

There are alternatives out there – Principa (Ric Payne’s network, he of Ran ONE fame) offer a similar financial dashboard tool, but Profit Driver is, in my opinion, easier to use and thus my weapon of choice.Clients come to us as practitioners to buy something that, in all honesty, they don’ really want, but have to have – the compliance package that we prepare for them every year – the financial statements and tax return.And every year, we deliver the same old package of information.

It looks exactly like last year’s package, the only difference being that the numbers and dates have changed. And every year we have to charge a little more for this service.

However, while the client is coming to you for this service each year, that’s not what they want from you!What clients really want, is help to be more successful or more profitable, and they look to you for help and advice in how to do so.

But in most cases, every year, we let them down.

Why?

Because we’re too busy to be able to spare the time to sit down with our better clients and talk with them about their goals and aspirations for their business.

Especially during tax season, when we get to see the majority of our clients, we simply have to get each client in and out as quickly as possible because the next client is waiting in reception to see us and we often feel that we’re on a treadmill, and it’s not fun.

Value-Added services are the way forward for the profession.

Imagine sitting down with a client and being able to show them the financial impact of any business decision they’re about to make, BEFORE they make that decision.

Do you think that is something they’d like to be able to do?

Do you think your clients would make better decisions if they did?

You bet!

Discussing situations like ‘what would happen if I put my prices up by 5% but lost 10% of my volume as a result?’ or ‘If I changed my policy and paid my payables one week later, what impact would that have on my cash flow, bank overdraft and interest charges, even if I lost my early settlement discount as a result?’

What about ‘how many extra units do I need to sell to make an extra $100,000 profit?’

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the big ticket questions your clients have but are afraid to ask, as they’re working under the impression that you’re just too darn busy already!

Every seven-figure practitioner fires their bad clients to create the time to offer value-added services to their better clients, and once they’ve done it, they never look back!

Pricing

Many practitioners have a fear of pricing, and so we run back to the old method of using our time and billing system as a pricing tool. Wrong!

Our time and billing system has nothing to do with pricing.

It is an activity based costing tool, NOT a pricing tool!Better to talk with a client and ask ‘What would it be worth to get.... done?’ (You can fill in the blanks depending on each client’s situation.)

The client will then tell you the value of the project as it appears to them, and you can price accordingly.

Now, of course, you can’t do that on every client project – that’s crazy – but you absolutely can do so on the ‘special work’ that we generate each year.Because of a bad pricing policy, most practitioners leave money on the table, and that holds them back from achieving seven figures.

Financial Acumen

You might think that, as accountants, we have a lot of financial acumen. Not necessarily so when it comes to running your own business.

Many firms I see still have huge piles of unfinished files in Partner’s offices.This is equivalent to covering your floor with money – unfinished files that are causing a bottleneck in getting work finished and billed.

We need to deploy a great financial acumen if we’re going to get to seven figures.

Marketing

Finally, we need to market ourselves far better. The seven-figure firms all do it well, bar none.Take a look at your web site, your logo, your business card. Do they excite the reader and get them interested in finding out more about your firm?

I’d wager that they don’t.

When did you last take out a Banker, a Lawyer, an Investment adviser to lunch and try to get to know them better and explain what you’re trying to do in your firm?

When did you last say no ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to a potential new client because they didn’t match the profile you’re looking for in new clients?When did you last hold an entertaining and informative seminar for clients and prospects?

While your web site might look boring, I bet that the content is often worse! Clients won’t be excited by the new budget summary being uploaded, but they might be inspired to hear a success story of one of your clients.

Do you have a marketing plan and budget? I guess most of you won’t. Yet the seven-figure firms do!Go figure!

Conclusion

In the time and space constraints of a column, I can only give you a taste of what can be achieved, but those who deploy some of these tactics in their strategy will be the ones who achieve success.

Firms who decide what their ideal client looks like and goes after that type of business, who categorize their clients into, for example, A, B, C and D, and then systematically fires their D clients case by case, who offer value-added services to their better clients and price them accordingly, based on value – these are the firms who will be tomorrow’s seven-figure firms.

Good luck to you all.

2009-09-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Seven Steps To Seven Figures (Part 1 of 2)

Back in the day, the ‘Million Dollar Practice’ was a big thing; it was an achievement of note, setting the practitioner apart from his or her competitors.

A ‘million dollar firm’ would have been a practice that dominated its local marketplace and allow the owner to gain real financial freedom.

But almost twenty years after people like Dave Cottle and Chris Fredericksen first spoke and wrote about the million-dollar practice, seven figure billings are now being achieved by many progressive sole practitioners.

I have clients, for example, yes, sole practitioners, who bill over $2.5m in fees each year. How do they do it? Well, we’ll get to that a little later.

Funnily enough, all of these million dollar (plus) practitioners have seven key attributes in common. And today I will share them with you.

If a seven figure firm is relatively easy to build today, why do the vast majority of sole practitioners tend to ‘flat line’ at billings somewhere between $400,000 and $600,000 a year? What is needed to project a firm from 6- to 7-figures?

Well, let me explain…

I won’t pretend that it’s quick or easy, but it is definitely possible!

Before we look at the seven steps, there are 4 other things they (mostly) do which can be layered over all seven steps.

a) Planning
b) Monitoring/Recording/Keeping Score
c) Amending

First of all, each and every one of them that I know plans. They prepare a business plan for their firm, as they would for a client.

Then, they monitor their performance against the plan and look for areas where they did not achieve their goals.

Next, they then try to determine why that was, then they amend their plan for the next period (usually quarterly) and move ahead. Where goals were exceeded, they examine what went well and why and try to take any learnings from this that could be applied to other areas of the firm.

If you look at the seven steps, you will probably agree, that all three layers can apply to all seven steps.

So, let’s take a look at these steps now.

1. The Desire to Innovate & The Use of Technology.

Public accounting is not known for its ability to be creative. Indeed, it has been a long time since the profession introduced a new service to the marketplace. It was probably the ‘Review’ engagement if my memory serves me right.

However, some firms have been very innovative by bundling services together to create tangible ‘products’ from what were previously considered intangible services, and priced them accordingly.

The other side of the innovation step, is that all of the 7-figure firms were obsessively upgrading their software and hardware – fully embracing technology as a tool that enabled them to exist in the way they do, rather than seeing I.T. as simply another cost-centre, to be contained and reduced at all cost.

The savvy firms assessed each I.T. investment opportunity by saying to themselves “What will this do for us? What will it do for our clients? What does the cost/benefit analysis tell us?” before making any major decision, but if the numbers stacked up, they always invested.

All of the firms I know of now have scanning and auto-flow software for their clients’ tax return preparation, taking the prep time per tax return tumbling down.

2. Staff Selection, Training & Delegation

‘Will this person fit in around here?’ is how most potential employees are assessed at interview. There is little focus on their accounting or tax ability. To paraphrase Jim Collins in Good To Great, their mentality is ‘get the right people on the bus and together they will determine where to drive it.’

Then, the owner has to have the strength of character to delegate work to these people - preferably to their level of incompetence (A sort of twist on the ‘Peter Principle’).

In other words, give people work that they’ve never done before and they’ll learn new skills.

They’ll grow professionally and it will be a better place for everyone to work. Provide excellent training and coach and mentor your people – one of them has to become your successor!

3. Client Selection

This really is a major point. For the most part, 7-figure sole practitioners only work with clients that:
a) Actually want and appreciate your services
b) See the value in what you’re doing for them
c) Have the money to pay the level of fees you want to charge
d) Have an ability to make referrals to similar people
e) Are fun to deal with – they’re people you actually like

Some firms like to establish a niche market to establish ‘top-dollar-rates’ (see the section on marketing in the next issue) while others just want to be seen as the premier firm to deal with , and price their services accordingly.

Clients who do not want to pay the extra because they do not see the value are clearly not the type of client that they will want to deal with so they have the courage to say ‘NO’ to these business people.

Imagine that!

Seriously, this is another very important point.

Indeed, if you have any existing clients you’d sooner not deal with, then you need to fire them before you have any real chance of moving forward.

The other 4 steps are:

1. Value-Added Services
2. Pricing
3. Financial Acumen
4. Marketing

And we will cover these issues next time.

FREE audio CD: "A World Of Choice - Now You've Passed The UFE, What's Next?"

2008-04-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Sign up to get your FREE audio CD...

An hour long discussion with Steve McIntyre-Smith about all your career options now you're about to become a CA.

Claim your own FREE copy today!

Click here to ensure you get your FREE CD. When sending your registration email, please include:

your full name

the firm you work for

work address

daytime telephone number and

home address for delivery of the cd.

Please note - Inclomplete registrations will be ignored.

Topics covered include:

Should I stay where I am or move on?

Do I stay in public accounting or go into industry?

Do need to work for a large firm, mid-tier firm or a smaller firm?

Where do I want my career to go in the long run?

How do I get to Partner level?

What should I expect when I get there?

Show me the money!

What can I expect to earn as my career develops?

What about specializing?

Do I need to pick a specialty right now or can it wait?

What if I stay where I am for now, what can I expect?

and much, much more!

A priceless aide to helping you see through the fog that surrounds the newly qualified CA.
Listen to an objective opinion from Canada's leading public accounting expert, Steve McIntyre-Smith, and then you be the judge!

Available December 2008.

To reserve your FREE copy, Click here, and include your full name, employer, delivery address for us to mail the CD to, and a daytime telephone number.

In order to receive this, you must have written the UFE in the last 2 years, that is why we need you to confirm your employer - we will NOT be calling your employer - but we will verify your status online with the Institute and our own database.

When sending your registration email, please include your name, the firm you work for, work address, daytime telephone number and home address for delivery of the cd. Inclomplete registrations will be ignored.

Click here to ensure you get your FREE CD.

“How can my small firm compete with the big four on salaries?”

2008-04-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

It’s a good question, and one I am frequently asked by client firms who engage my firm to find professional staff for them.

In actual fact, in today’s market, the smaller practitioner is often not as disadvantaged as they might, at first, assume, particularly at the lower end of the salary scale.

Indeed, some of my clients, public accounting firms just like yours, have decided to give themselves a distinct advantage by paying more than the big four.

In the end, it usually doesn’t cost any more than paying market rate, as someone who knows they are getting paid more than they would usually be paid elsewhere often works that little bit hard and that little bit smarter. The combined effect can sometimes be that their effective cost per hour to the firm is similar to an ‘average’ team member putting in an ‘average’ week.

In addition to this, smaller firms are often more flexible as they can accommodate the needs of ‘return to work Moms’ by offering flexible hours or remote access to their system allowing them to work from home a couple of days a week.

It also depends on the type of environment you’ve worked hard to create at the firm.

A big, faceless, corporate firm can sometimes feel cold and clinical. Partners in bigger firms can sometimes treat their clients as if they were their own personal piggy banks – generating fees when in need of cash.

Contrast that relationship to the one in a smaller firm, where the receptionist knows the names of the clients children (often because they share the same school or hockey team) and where the person answering the phone knows which client is calling before they’ve said a word, or before they look at caller display, just y the way they’re breathing!

In a smaller firm, there tends to be a strong feeling of community among the staff and even with the Partners, as they all work closely together.

At the bigger firms, some Partners might not even know the names of some of their staff!

All of this adds up to create a real team environment, where everyone’s contribution is valuable.
And because everyone’s contribution is valuable, all staff gets recognition for their efforts during the year.

The anonymity that sometimes comes with a bigger firm again can often work against them, as people want to be recognized for their good work and effort. In huge offices with several hundred staff it’s sometimes difficult to get noticed, no matter how good your work is.

Let’s look at a typical example. Let’s call the candidate Michael.

Michael was a hard working CA in a national firm who worked for a Partner who was, to put it mildly, something of an egomaniac.

Michael had some great ideas, and, of course, he would share them with the Partner he worked directly with. However, even though several of his ideas were adopted as firm policy, Michael never received any credit for them. He didn’t receive any positive comments about these in his annual review either.

After a couple of years of this happening, Michael raised this point with the Human Resources manager conducting his annual review, who was shocked that Michael would be so bold as to claim some of his partner’s great ideas were in fact, his!

Despite Michael’s protests at his innocence, he became branded as a trouble maker!

Well, suffice to say that Michael decided to leave the big four firm that had been his employer for eight years, and he joined a smaller outfit. He quickly became a key figure in the firm’s management team, and after just three years, was recently promoted to Partner.

Now, of course, not all Partners in big firms take credit for their team members’ ideas, but it’s not the first time I have heard of this happening either.

Other ways smaller firms can compete with the bigger firms is the intimate relationships we are able to develop with our clients in smaller firms. We tend to know them much better, become involved in their business decision making more closely and some of our clients even become friends.

Rarely does a smaller firm have to implement lay-offs. Not so with the bigger firms. When a multi-million dollar audit is lost, the Partners are faced with a choice:

· Keep the firm staffed at its present rate, despite a lack of work and find new business to fill the void, or
· Let go enough staff to cover the losses and re-hire later if they find new business.

It’s not an easy choice for some.

Even though they may prefer not to let people go, they have personal financial commitments which they would like to continue to be able to honour (kids at university etc) and so more often than not the axe falls on the last few hundred recruited not so long ago.

But what happens if they let too many go? Although they may preach ‘work/life balance’ few actually practice what they preach, and thus the team working for them feels obliged to arrive early and work late too.

The smaller firms rarely find themselves in this sort of predicament.

Another point where smaller firms win big, is in the variety of work enjoyed by staff. I have seen several brand new CAs at one of the large firms (who will remain nameless) not know what to do with a ‘Quickbooks’ file, because their entire career has been spent auditing Billion-dollar corporations, and they have only seen payable for six months on one audit, then onto fixed Assets for three months at the next client and then payables for three months at the next.

This type of CA is often, in my humble opinion, dangerous. They simply are not well rounded enough to be any use in a smaller firm, and should they make a move into one, they will probably struggle for the first few months.

I am old enough to remember the hand written extended trial balance.

The invention of a psychopathically sick mathematical genius, it really did ‘sort men out from the boys’ (or the women from the girls) as far as identifying who had a real grasp of double-entry bookkeeping and who did not.

I fear that some new CAs wouldn’t know where to start on smaller client files and as far as ‘T’ accounts are concerned, well, it might as well be in Greek!

Most people who ‘grow up’ in smaller firms are better technicians at the stuff that really matters for the owner-managed client. Yet it is a selling point for why a candidate should join a smaller firm that is rarely capitalized upon.

So, if you run a smaller practice, and you’re feeling insecure about ‘selling’ your firm to a candidate, shake of those insecurities and remember all the great things that led you into your role today:

· Work/Life Balance is more likely to be attained in a smaller firm
· Paying higher salaries but working a little smarter can mean everyone wins
· A better all round grounding in accounting can be achieved in a smaller firm
· You get to know the clients far better and build real relationships in smaller firms
· You get to know the Partners at smaller firms better, and they get to know you too
· Flexibility in working from home or flexi-hours is more achievable
· Great training for future Partners
· First-hand experience in a wider range of projects
· Better tax experience compared to an audit staff member in a bigger firm

I could (and often do) go on, but I think you get the picture by now.

While sometimes the bigger firms simply write bigger cheques, money isn’t everything.

There is no real reason why a smaller firm cannot compete on salary alone, but they can also create a more compelling case for joining them than a bigger firm could – unless the candidate simply wants to stay in audit for the rest of their career.

A Wake Up Call For The Profession.

2008-01-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

953.

A scientific formulae? Last week’s winning lottery numbers? Part of a phone number? Or, the meaning of life?

Nope.

It’s the number of successful UFE writers in Ontario this year. In all of Canada there were 2,327 successful candidates.

It seems the number of new UFE passers gets smaller and smaller each year, or at best has levelled out to a similar number to last year.

Why is it that such a rewarding profession that offers such variety of projects and interesting clients to work with cannot produce sufficient numbers of new CAs to meet demand?

Of course, a large number of these new CAs, when they get their thirty months experience in and become members, will move out of public accounting and into posts in industry, local government, academia, or apparently anything else but public accounting.

It’s a chronic problem that is getting worse with each year.

The CICA’s own statistics tell us that 26% of all members are in small to medium sized practices. Of these members, 46% are aged 55 or more.

So what does that tell us?

In ten years time there will be a dramatic increase in the number of practitioners looking to exit public accounting, at the same time when there are fewer and fewer potential buyers (CAs with around ten years experience – the typical stage at which members are starting to think about buying a block of fees or a practice).

So, remember back to your Economics 101 course. What happens to price when supply goes up and demand goes down?

Yes, it drops like a grand piano from a twelfth floor balcony!

Not good for those readers building a practice with a view to exiting in 10 years time.

I think the root cause of the problem is how we market the profession to University students and also to clients, and the public at large.

As Partners, many also set a poor example to their staff; in early, the last to leave, working weekends, stress-related illnesses, second or third marriage, and then they turn around to their seniors and say ‘If you play your cards right, one day all this can be yours!’

Little wonder, then that many decide that their future is not in public accounting long term.

It’s also connected to how accounting professionals market themselves.

When asked what they do for a living, many CAs will respond ‘I’m a CA’. Such a typical response doesn’t even answer the question! ‘I’m a CA’ is what you are, not what you do!

Better to answer that question with something a little more interesting, or head-turning.

‘I’m a tax cheat’ might not get the blessing of your professional body, but it will certainly get the interest of the person asking the question. There must be a better way.

If you work with owner-managers with the underlying purpose of helping them build their business so that they can sell out for a million dollars or more, then maybe you could answer the dreaded question ‘what do you do?’ with: ‘I help make millionaires!’

Now, as a client, you’d have my interest!

We, as a profession, are competing directly with Engineering and Sciences, Oil & Gas, The Law, Dentistry and many other career options for today’s ‘bright young things’.

And when compared to these, the ‘stereotypical accountant’ image we have inadvertently created doesn’t look very exciting. Indeed it looks how it is meant to – boring.

I say it is time for dramatic action.

It’s time to shake off the shackles we have created for ourselves.

It’s time to re-engineer our firms, how we work with clients, the value we add to businesses, the hours we put in and how we’re compensated for our efforts.

Of course, a part of our work is of a mundane nature. It’s a part of the job, but it doesn’t ALL have to be mundane.

I am very fortunate to work with some very visionary firms, who have worked very hard to create an environment of ‘fun’ at the office and an OAF philosophy (Out At Five).

Indeed, at the time of writing this, I just returned from a client who has a massive staff room in their Ottawa office, where they have a full sized pool table and have office pool tournaments, and they have a ping-pong table for the staff to boot. But even they have difficulty in attracting high calibre talent.

If firms like this struggle (which was why I was there in the first place) just imagine how ‘ordinary’ firms cope.

My point is that from our professional bodies right down to the new entrant to public accounting, we have a duty to recreate a new public image of ourselves, for the sake of the future of our great profession.

Accounting is exciting, it offers variety, it offers financial security for its practitioners at all levels and it’s, yes, sexy!

My challenge to you as we start 2008, whether you’re the president of the Institute or a new student is this; what are you prepared to do to reposition the accounting profession as an exciting career option that will attract quality people in greater numbers and start, ever so slowly, to turn the public perception of accounting around, so that it is seen as a thoroughly rewarding, exciting and varied calling that offers unlimited potential to those who choose to enter?

Passed The UFE? What’s next?

2008-01-21T07:30:00.001-08:00

Passed the UFE this year? Or expect to do so before the results come out?

Not sure about what your options really are?

Unsure about what the right salary level is for you now that you’ve qualified?

What if you still have some hours to put in before you can get the designation?

Relax the answers lay within this column, but first the bad news. Let’s assume you’ve passed, congratulations. Now the hard work begins!

‘What?’ I hear you say. ‘I thought passing my exams would be the end of my studying days!’ And indeed they might be. But for those who want to really develop their career, more learning lays ahead, and not just from textbooks this time, but in the ‘school of hard knocks’ too.

I’m sure you have a number of questions right now, as you face the first real crossroads of your career.

It can be a confusing time.

Headhunters calling you left, right and centre, with messages about tempting offers in industry?

But is industry really going to give you the career options you want, or would you be better off staying in public accounting?

What if you’ve trained with a big firm, what about moving to a mid-tier or smaller firm?

It can be a bewildering time for the freshly minted CA, and we understand that.

So, what does it mean now that you’ve passed the UFE?

Well it can mean the world to most newly minted CAs.

However, if you have yet to complete your 30 months practical experience, you need to get that ‘little matter’ seen to. You will also want to ensure that you have the required variety of experience (enough audit hours, etc) in order to qualify for membership.

That may mean staying put for a little while, and patience truly is a virtue in that case. However, we recently placed a UFE graduate, who had a massive number of hours shortfall in audit experience, in order for then to get the required hours and thus secure their designation (and the right to practice, should they choose to later on).

Public accounting can be a truly rewarding, interesting, diverse and financially worthwhile career,

Whether you intend to get some more experience and eventually branch out on your own, or if you intend to become a partner at your existing firm, there are substantial rewards awaiting you.

At this point in your career it might be tempting to jump into industry and escape tax season, earn a little more cash, and work fewer hours. You may well be offered a modest increase in your base salary (5 to 10%) after the results come out, or even a bonus payment, depending on which firm you work for and what the culture is there, or passing the exams might be a springboard to a promotion on the not-too-distant horizon. Either way, things will definitely start looking up for you. Then there is the tempting call of industry.

However, going into industry can actually limit your earnings potential later on in your career.

On our recruiting website, www.ifindcas.com, there is an article entitled, ‘Beware the Sirens’ (first published here, in The Bottom Line, June 2006) which goes on to explain why, so I won’t repeat that here.

Suffice to say that I now see a number of really good CAs who want to return to public accounting but now face a tough time getting back in.

The longer they are away from public accounting, the more difficult a return becomes.

Challenges that face the returning CA include:

· Tax changes
· Software Issues & Competencies
· Salary requirements of a senior person returning to a more junior level

So think long and hard about where you intend your career to take you before making any major changes, and seek out the advice and opinions of trusted sources.

Also, a few words for those whose names do not appear on the UFE pass list… do not become discouraged. I have seen many a great CA who, if truth be told, didn’t pass the UFE first time around. Just take this as, not the end of the world, but a fresh chance to study that little bit harder, or that little bit smarter, and bounce back stronger than ever before.

They say the key to success is being able to bounce right back after failure. How high are you going to bounce?

Cutting A Deal When There’s No Natural Successor.

2008-01-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

One of the things I often find myself discussing with practitioners is succession planning.

It seems it’s all too easy to ‘put it off’ to another day.

Many, especially sole practitioners, seem to believe that one day they’ll decide to sell their practice and retire to the sun. That may well be so, but in order to realize the maximum value for their hard work over the years, and to pass-on that value to the new owner(s) of the firm, a lot of preparation work has to be done.

In many cases, the value of the practice will be dependant upon the amount of business that the acquiring firm retains, usually over a period of time of between three to five years.

So, it’s vital to make sure that the people taking over your clients have similar values, similar outlooks and values as you. After all it is your own ‘style’ of practising that kept the clients happy all these years, isn’t it?

So what are the key factors to consider in order to have something of real value to sell? Here are a few pointers:

Quality working paper files – incoming potential buyers will want to examine your files and consider potential claims that they were not responsible for creating. Good working paper files is one of the cornerstones to a successful sale.
Providing an awesome service experience to clients – again, incoming potential buyers will want to know that they are not looking at a ‘high risk’ block of fees.
Excellent history. What did you bill client ‘X’ last year? And the year before? And the year before that? Any major fluctuations could be a red flag, so have your client history at hand to explain any such occurrences.
WIP – too much? Too old? What is the right balance? This will be a major component part of your discussions and if there is any doubt about the quality and recoverability of WIP, you might find yourself having to bill what you can for it directly to clients you are then asking to give the new owners a try.
Write offs. These come in two distinct flavours:1. Time2. BillingsNeither taste that great. A good recovery history and few bad debts will go along way to verifying your claim that you have a good set of clients.
Staff. Clients usually build a good relationship with someone special to them at your office. In a sale, clients want to be assured that there will be continuity in service and the people that they have worked with for so many years will still be around.It is often wise for the incoming practitioner to try to keep all staff of the old owner at least for the first few years.
Timing. Many deals tend to happen in the fall, just because during tax season few are prepared (or able) to devote much time to discussions with prospective purchasers when they have five hundred tax returns to steam through. If that sounds like you, NOW is the time to start to think about finding a buyer.
Culture. It is often overlooked as a ‘softer’ issue, but it is critical that clients continue to be treated in the same (or better) manner as they have been accustomed to over the years.Finding a firm to succeed you who have similar values and culture can be a full time job in itself, so time invested in frank and open discussions with third parties will pay dividends after the deal has closed.

All in all, it often takes between 6 and 12 months to close a deal, even in today’s market, where there are way more buyers than sellers.

The best option is to ‘grow your own’ successor by taking in a partner or senior manager with high potential 2 to 5 years before you plan to retire, allowing them to build relationships with key clients and when you are ready, they will be an established part of the firm, rather than the ‘new kid on the block’.

This means paying excruciating attention to detail when hiring, being open about your plans and the timing of events, and probably being prepared to take a cut in income as the new recruit builds momentum so that you can start to ‘take your foot off the gas’.

Unfortunately, for reasons of:

- Lack of available talent
- Reluctance to take a cut in net profit share
- Reluctance to relinquish sufficient control
- Or all three, many sole practitioners miss a great opportunity.

I cannot tell you just how much fun this type of can be for me. I get to se a whole range of different accounting firms in totally different situations, each with a different solution, but the solutions only start to happen when you take action.

Please, don’t leave it too late.

Work/Life Balance – The Impossible Dream?

2008-01-21T07:12:00.000-08:00

I don’t know how many readers might have fallen into some of the traps I used to when I was in public accounting, but here are a few scenarios I fell prey to.

Let’s see how many of them might be familiar to you;

It’s 5.15pm on a Wednesday. You promised you’d be home in time to have dinner with the family before going to your youngest child’s piano recital. The phone rings, it’s a client with a desperate need.

Instead of saying ‘I’ll call you back tomorrow with an answer’, you press on and work through their problem with them.

Suddenly it’s 7.30pm and you arrive at the church hall just in time to see your budding family musician walk back to their seat after giving their performance.

The atmosphere later that night isn’t a pleasant one, and ‘Dinner is in the Dog!’

It’s a Thursday before a long weekend and you and the family are due to go to the cottage on Friday morning to get a jump-start on the traffic heading north.

A new client comes into the office with four years financial statements and tax returns that desperately need attending to, otherwise the CRA are going to foreclose on their home.Your staff are all fully committed on other projects, so you pull an ‘all-nighter’ and make a start on the first couple of years financial statements.

Before you realize it, it’s Friday afternoon and you end up eventually joining the family at the cottage on Sunday morning.

Or how about this one; It’s Saturday morning in early April and you’re due at an old friend’s wedding at 2pm. You go in to the office, as would be the ‘norm’ just to do ‘a couple of hours’ and get carried away.You end up missing the entire wedding, grab a hamburger on the way to the reception (which you eat in the car while driving) and eventually turn up, without your wedding gift, half way through the evening reception around 9pm.

What about the play-off tickets you have for the big hockey game? They drop the puck at 7pm, but you’re not there. A staff member needed some guidance and mentoring around 5pm – they’re struggling with the tax consequences of the 31 journal entries that came out of your review that afternoon - and three hours later you’re both still at the office?

I could go on, but by now I’m sure you’ve spotted at least one of the types of issues that tend to be something of an ‘occupational hazard’.

The point is that we are often in a reactionary mode. Something happens and all bets are off for the rest of that day.

It’s a part of the nature of the beast that is public accounting.

However, these days, our staff are looking for work/life balance, and as partners, we often do not set a good example.

Some of the above scenarios give the wrong type of message to today’s team members.

Back in the day, the modus operandi was ‘our clients needs come first, our families needs second’. But that simply doesn’t work these days with the Gen Xers and Gen Yers that adorn our hallways.

Our staff are our biggest asset, and our biggest asset likes to go home at night.

In my recruiting work with many of the GTA’s brightest talents, I still hear stories of 10, 12 or even 14 hour days at some firms.

I still hear of the raised eyebrow from one partner whose office opens out onto reception (purposely chosen so she can see who is coming and going and when) with the attitude of “What, going already? Lost interest have we?”

Ladies and gentlemen, this is no longer an acceptable practice.

Sure we are all expected to work hard. Sure long hours are the norm in most firms during tax season, and yes we are still expect to ‘earn our stripes’. It’s just the price has changed over recent years.

In fact, having a life outside of work has been proven to produce more relaxed staff, more relaxed (or ‘rested’) people are usually more productive during their working day.

If they’re more productive, they should also be more profitable people for the firm.

The more profitable staff should be tomorrow’s superstars, and they’re not necessarily the ones who put in the longest hours.

Indeed, I have heard stories of staff playing solitaire on their computer for three hours, just so they’re not the first to leave at night.

So how do we go about attaining the illusive ‘work/life balance’?

Well it’s not easy, as old habits really do die hard. But it is possible. As in most things, good leadership starts at the top. Partners have to be seen to be getting some form of balance in their lives.

If a partner is sometimes all packed up and ready to go home at five o’clock, that should send the message to the rest of the team that this is now an acceptable practice.

Indeed, I work with some firms who set chargeable hours target for partners at 400 to 600 hours per year.

At $300 an hour, that’s $120,000 to $180,000 in revenue generated from their time over the year. But what if they’re value-billing for their work? They might be able to generate twice those amounts, just by pricing their services carefully and choosing which projects they work on wisely.

Here are some simple tips that might help you get back on track and work towards a better balance;

- Always ask yourself ‘what is the most valuable thing I could be doing right now, and is that what I’m actually doing?’ If it isn’t, delegate the task in hand to someone lese and get one with a higher value project.

- When a client calls in a desperate state, ask yourself ‘Is this Urgent or Important, or both?’ Only drop everything if it’s both. If it’s urgent, someone else could do it. If it’s important but not urgent, it can wait. These unimportant but urgent issues are often the ones that side-track us and lengthen our days unnecessarily.

- Make sure you have great people behind you as a backup. ‘Bench strength’ has been around a long time in professional sports, and it’s coming to a public accounting firm near you!

- Pick a certain day and try to arrange things so that every week, on that day, you are out at five. An OAF (out at five) day can then filter through the firm.

- Avoid taking work home, or accessing your system from home, after dinner for example, on these days too, and devote the later afternoon and early evening to ‘quality family time’.

- Get an outside interest that requires one or two evening’s commitment every week. Think back to your younger days. What did you want to be when you grew up when you were a kid? Maybe there’s an interest there that will excite you and breathe new life into you. As an example, I always wanted to be a rock star, so I took up the guitar in my late 20’s. I used to play in a rock band that took quite a lot of time commitment from me, but it was something I just loved doing.Maybe there’s something similar that you can do to help you have a reason to leave the office early from time to time.

- Communicate throughout the office that you want people to have a life, that ‘all work and no play makes Jack (or Jackie) a dull boy (or girl)’!

- Read. Read lots! There are hundreds, nay, thousands, of really great business books published every year. Try to read one good book a month, then build it up to one a week. Become a stranger to the biggest income suppressor ever created… the television.

- When you get home, turn off the TV and, before getting back to your book, actually talk to your family. Talk about things you want to do and places you want to go at the weekends, and make plans to actually do them.

Hire great people with outgoing personalities and pre-existing outside interests and hobbies. This sometimes has a positive rub-off effect on other team members.

- Create a firm soccer team, golf foursome, hockey team or other sporting team that can help build team spirit within the firm and creates a competitive spirit. I created a five-a-side soccer team in my firm and we played clients, banks, law firms and so on, great for team spirit but also great for business development!

- Try closing the office at lunchtime on the Friday of a long weekend. Your staff will appreciate the extra time and if you make this a policy, the lost chargeable time will be recuperated over the year in additional effort, I promise you.

- Set realistic chargeable hour targets for staff. Actually, it is better to set revenue goals over chargeable hours, as revenue is directly bankable, the hours we put into some projects are never fully recovered.

- Make yourself get out of the office at least twice a week for lunch. Take a client, banker, lawyer, staff member to lunch and build better relationships.

- Encourage staff to use all their vacation days. A well-rested team is a more productive team. That goes for you too. A partner should be taking six weeks a year off to keep fresh and energetic at work.

- Promote people from within wherever possible. It’s great for morale, it’s your best succession plan possible, and it helps attract other ambitious people to the firm if you can demonstrate a track record of making people partners.

So, there’s a few tips to get you started. It’s far from comprehensive, but initiating some of these ideas will surely set you down the path towards getting some work/life balance, and that can’t be a bad thing. Can it?

For those who want some suggested reading, here’s a few great books that are essential reading for any serious practitioner, no matter what level you’re at right now:

Good To Great, by Jim Collins
Build To Last, By Jerry I. Porras & Jim Collins
The E-Myth, by Michael Gerber
The Professional’s Guide To value pricing, by Ron Baker, CPA
Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
How To Work A Room, by Susan RoAne
Why Entrepreneurs Should Eat Bananas, by Simon Tupman
First Among Equals, By Patrick J. McKenna & David H. Maister

These should get you started.

Oh, and by the way. NEVER read a good business book without either a tape recorder or a pen and paper to hand. It’s amazing how many great ideas will jump into your mind about how you could improve something at the office when reading a good business book.

Capture those ideas by recording them or writing them down so as not to lose them forever.

Dealing With A Counter Offer

2008-01-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

Something got Simon curious to see if the grass really is greener on the other side, and he’s taken steps in that direction; taking an unsolicited call from a head-hunter, chatting with them about his career to date in public accounting, when he earned is designation, and his career goals and objectives.

That frank and productive discussion evolved into meeting the recruiter for an initial interview for them to assess his suitability for some of the roles they are working on.

The interviews seemed to have gone well, and the day after his second interview with a progressive firm, the recruiter called him to make an offer on behalf of her client.

At first the adrenaline rush kicks-in and Simon accepts the offer on the spot. Even after a day or so, while references are being taken up, he is confident that he has made the right decision, and the recruiter called him back to say the references have checked-out well, and the offer is now firm.

A starting date is agreed upon, and Simon prepares his resignation. Not wanting to leave his present firm short-handed during busy season, he gives four weeks notice and plans to start his new position on 1st May.

In tendering his resignation, Simon sat down with his boss, Terry, a partner with whom he has worked for the last five years, and basically spills his heart out.

He let his partner know why he had decided to leave, citing three main issues:

A lack of opportunity to advance – It has been four years since he was promoted to manager, yet apparently no room for another senior manager in the firm.
Boredom with dealing with the same clients for the last four years with the same simple requirements – one Notice To Reader file and tax return after another.
Disillusioned at working for one of the firm’s Partners (who treats Simon like his own personal door mat and really takes him for granted, often making totally unreasonable demands).

On hearing Simon’s ‘gripes’, Terry expressed genuine concern. Terry had high hopes for Simon, seeing him as genuine ‘partner material’ and decided to do something about this situation.

Terry asked Simon to sit on his resignation for just a couple of days while he digests what Simon had just told him and considers what actions he could take to try to remedy the situation and thus make life better for Simon at the firm in order to try to keep him at the firm.

The next day, Terry approaches Simon and invites him out to lunch to discuss some exciting developments.

During their lunch, Terry confides that the firm had been thinking of promoting him to Senior Manager, and they have decided to implement that effective 1st May.

The firm has also decided to move some of one of the Partner’s clients over to Simon to manage on his own, as his own clients, which will also provide him with a wider variety of work.

And finally, Simon would no longer have to work for the ‘troublesome’ partner anymore.

Just to make it all too good to be true, they are also offering a raise of $12,000 a year if Simon were to withdraw his resignation and stay on.

Simon doesn’t know what to say.

All his dreams seem to be answered – this is just what he has been waiting for, and now he finds himself in a quandary.

Simon calls the recruiter who he has been working with and explains the new development.

Now this is the stage at which a really good recruiter will show their true colours.

The recruiter, of course, wants to keep her client happy and fill the open position, yet, she also wants the candidate to make the best decision for their career.

At this point, the recruiter should ask Simon:

“Why did it take a resignation to make the firm react?”

“How do you think these changes will affect your relationship with the Partner you ‘complained’ about?”

“Why is there suddenly twelve grand available as additional salary now, when apparently it wasn’t before you resigned?”

“Can you see yourself becoming a partner in the firm in a few years time?”

“Do you really think all the changes the firm is proposing will really happen?”

“And if they do implement them all, how long will it be before other issues arise that could unsettle you again?”

Usually, when I come across a counter-offer, it becomes a real test of the candidate’s ‘mettle’.

If Simon is totally committed to leaving, it does not matter what his present employer comes back to him with, his mind is made up and that’s that. It could be a case of being too little, too late.

If Simon was reluctantly leaving in order to move up, and these changes are the answer to his prayers, then the recruiter may well have to go back to square one. Whatever Simon says, it’s his decision, and one that cannot be taken lightly.

In my own experience, when a good candidate has made up their mind to move, there is little any employer can do the tempt them to stay. Throwing money at a problem (a resignation) in order to solve it will only keep a less than ideal person in a less than ideal job – basically proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re simply in it for the money.

And while, sure, money is important, it’s far from everything. Sometimes it’s simply a change of scenery, a new firm, a new location or a new challenge that is more important that the cash, but, of course, only you can decide.

How Far Will You Go To Get What You Don’t Want?

2008-01-21T07:05:00.000-08:00

“Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way, what’s the matter with kids today?” If you’re old enough to remember the song, you’ll know what I mean.

What is it with job seekers today, and why can’t they be like we were? How come they have such a difficult time making commitments?

In a North American world that runs on fear, fear of terrorism, fear one of our children will be snatched in the street, fear of the next pandemic, fear of making a mistake, there is a new fear creeping into the accountancy workplace among the ‘Gen Xers” and that is the fear of commitment.

This is a direct quote from an associate of ours when we asked for a referral for tax candidates, “I will do my best to help you. However, what I am experiencing is that almost every time someone tries to leaves their current firm, if the individual is any good, he or she will be offered whatever it takes to get them to stay. I need 4 tax managers in Ottawa. Our Calgary office would employ around 12 if we could find them. Lately I've had an individual sign back a great an offer and then send me an email two days later to advise that she had changed her mind!”

Send an email? Fear. Whatever happened to picking up the telephone, letting the firm that you have accepted an offer from know voice to voice, or even, heaven forbid, face to face that you’ve had a change of heart (or salary)? Doing the right thing? I don’t think so.

In our recruiting work we come across them all too often. The ‘I just want to look around and see what’s out there candidate’, it’s kind of a ‘grass is always greener on the other side’ sort of thing.

We do our best to weed them out of the recruiting process for our clients, because we know when it comes right down to it they have another agenda. Usually we succeed but nobody’s perfect and unfortunately the occasional one slips through the net.

Accounting firms and their recruiters alike have all been burnt one too many times. Even after ascertaining the intention of the candidate with questions like: “If you were offered a job at this firm today, what would be your answer?” and getting the response “Absolutely, it’s a great firm, I would go there in a heartbeat’, somehow things change.

Fair enough, after all everyone has the prerogative to expand their horizon a little, to see what kind of game they could be playing in another field. But what I can’t understand is how far they are willing to go with the big job bluff. Attend interviews with recruiters, sure. Attend interviews with clients, no problem. Entertain job offers, why not? Accept those offers or even worse, give the appearance of accepting them while operating on a different agenda? Unfortunately, yes.

Case in point. I have changed the names to protect the not so innocent, but recently we had a candidate, let’s call her Diana, who went through a two month back and forth process.

Several interviews, negotiating an offer, having the new employer agree to several thousands of dollars worth of pro bono work for her favourite charity included in the terms of agreement, and relentlessly haggling a higher salary, then in the end backing out after having accepted the position and misled both us and our client that she was simply waiting to see the partner she had worked for to agree a leaving date.

In the meantime they have wasted their own time, our time and worst of all, the time and money of the prospective employer. They have also prevented another equally qualified candidate from moving forward who could have been up and running in the position.

And this all happened the day before the Christmas holidays and six weeks before the start of busy season.

Does Diana really think that the extra five or ten grand they wheedled out of their present employer is going to change what previously wasn’t working for them at the firm now?

Will it give them more career satisfaction and allow them to take on greater challenges, enjoy international travel and progress more quickly within an egalitarian organization?

Will we be willing to help Diana in six months time when all the broken promises rise to the surface that made her consider a move in the first place?

No, No and No!

And now there is another more potentially career damaging prospect to fear. Not only does word get around about employee behaviour and impact future opportunities, but does this person really think that their present employer is going to look at them in the same light after having their feet held to the flame for more money?

Statistically, (and by the way did you know that 84% of statistics are made up on the spot?) they won’t last five years in their present firm. Their employer will start thinking about a back up plan should they decide to start looking around again and before you can say ‘breach of contract’ the back up plan will turn into the game plan and that employee will no longer be the starting quarter back.

Can they then flirt with the prospective firm again? In the words of our client, ‘I wouldn’t want them here now, even if they worked for free’.

The irony is that for the ‘just looking around but can’t commit’ candidates in their minds it is all about what’s best for them. What they don’t realize, however, is they are operating in their own worst interests in the longer term.