At the Crossroads E-Book

Gale Crosley

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 340

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

If you'd like to know how to change your underachieving firm, At The Crossroads: The Remarkable CPA Firm That Nearly Crashed, Then Soared may hold the key to a bright new future. This innovative book is told in story form, drawing the reader behind the scenes of a dysfunctional team that applies Crosley?s Practice Growth Model to overcome the defects to produce a highly functional team.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Introduction

PART I - NO DISCIPLINE, NO GROWTH

Some Bad News

The Problem

“Do You See It, Joe?”

How Did This Happen to Me?!?

What Would Old Man Potter Do?

The Usual Suspects

Joe in the Snow

Culture Shock

Indigestion for Breakfast

A Toast to Hope

Joe’s Dreams . . . Joe’s Mission

And We’re Off!

Dream On, Joe!

Fancy Notepaper

“I Know the Controller!”

Charles’s Big Tuna

Ty Lays an Egg

Tiff’s Big Surprise

Time for a Change

Bombs Away!

Not in the Bag after All

Looking for a Fall Guy

“I’m Licked”

PART II - SHALL WE GROW?

Egos and Prejudices

Setting the Stage

The Calm before the Storm

Sharpening the Knives

Diving In

To Grow or Not to Grow?

The First Sticky Wicket

Some Tough Talk from Alex

Best Practices and More

Ty Takes It on the Chin

So Long, Farewell

Wringing Hands

It All Rests with Joe

The Practice Growth Model

The Practice Growth Model in Action

PART III - BUSINESS DISCIPLINE BRINGS PRACTICE GROWTH

Dawn of a New Day

Welcome!

Some Success, Then a Huge Blunder

Old Dogs, New Tricks

“It Works! It Really Works!”

Moving Up, Moving Down

Growing Pains, Then More Growth

Full Circle

APPENDIX - THE PRACTICE GROWTH MODEL

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2008 by Gale Crosley. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Some material in this book previously appeared, in altered form, in Accounting Today; CPA Practice Management Forum, a monthly journal published by CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business; and Partner Advantage Advisory, published by Martha Sawyer and August Aquila.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Crosley, Gale.

At the crossroads: the remarkable CPA firm that nearly crashed, then soared/Gale Crosley and Debbie Stover.

p. cm.

The story of a mythical Minneapolis CPA firm, Crandall & Potter, a composite based on various firms the author has worked with as a consultant.

ISBN 978-0-470-14817-4 (cloth)

1. Accounting firms--Management. 2. Organizational change. 3. Organizational effectiveness. I. Stover, Debbie. II. Title. III. Title: CPA firm that nearly crashed, then soared.

HF5628.C73 2008

657.068 - dc22

2007036514

To God our Father Who has given special gifts to each one of us, so that we can help each other to do His good work on earth. And who has given me such rich blessings in my family: Erica,Jeff,Kim, Kristin, and husband SteveG.C.

for Chris and, always, throughout time, for ClevelandD.S.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

GALE GUNDERSON CROSLEY, CPA, was selected one of the Most Recommended Consultants in Inside PublicAccounting’s “Best of the Best” annual survey for the fourth consecutive year, was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today for the last two years. She is founder and principal of Crosley + Company, an Atlanta-based firm dedicated to helping CPA firms achieve “the business discipline of practice growth.” Gale has a degree in accounting from the University of Akron (Ohio) and is a CPA in Ohio and Georgia. Her background includes nearly 30 years of business development and senior management in the corporate world, including IBM and several small technology companies. She has been responsible for developing high-performance rainmaking organizations, bringing more than 30 services and products to market, and closing dozens of multimillion-dollar and smaller opportunities. Gale can be reached at [email protected], by phone at 770-399-9995, or on her Web site, crosleycompany .com. Gale lives in Atlanta with her husband, Steve, and their children.

DEBBIE STOVER is a freelance writer with extensive writing and publishing credentials. She served as chief editor of two business newsletters published by McGraw-Hill, as senior editor of four magazines published by Advanstar Inc., and has written innumerable non-bylined pieces that have appeared in publications including the Washington Post and the New York Times. For several years, she served as legislative and press aide to United States Congressman Ron Paul. She lives and runs in St. Louis, aided by her partner, Chris, and their mostly furry family. Debbie can be reached at [email protected].

INTRODUCTION

The last few years of my career have been the most interesting and fulfilling Ive ever experienced. Since I started working again with CPAs and their firms, I feel like I’ve “come home.” These are my people.

When I began my career as an auditor, working for Arthur Andersen and then Price Waterhouse, I was constantly being reprimanded for talking too much to the clients. Eventually I found my way into corporate America, working in the “growth” disciplines: sales, marketing, and product management. After 25 years, circumstances caused me to return to my roots—but this time my clients are CPA firms. And this time, talking is allowed!

In returning to the profession, I made a very interesting discovery. I found that the few largest CPA firms had developed sophisticated approaches to driving and managing growth. But I also found that outside this handful of largest firms, there was little understanding of how to sustain efficient and effective growth. Most CPA firms just “got out there and did good work.” There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it is not the whole story, because it doesn’t take into account the processes, methodologies, and consistent execution of best practices that are so necessary to smart growth.

Not only leading CPA firms, but corporate America as a whole, is way ahead of most CPAs in understanding and managing effective growth approaches. And with the paucity of CPAs, we can scarcely afford to waste time on approaches that don’t work!

We have only to look outside our profession to identify the best techniques; there’s no reason for trial and error or starting from scratch. But most CPAs haven’t worked in corporate America, so they don’t know this wealth of knowledge exists.

As I’ve consulted with CPA firms, helping them understand and implement these proven growth techniques, I’ve found the same issues cropping up, and seen recurring themes in terms of behaviors and levels of understanding. These themes, the people involved, and the success I’ve seen them ultimately achieve—using corporate America’s growth techniques, adapted for the CPA environment—form the foundation of this book.

It’s been great fun to breathe life into these characters. They’re an amalgamation of people with whom I’ve worked in countless firms, where I’ve seen managing partners and partner groups grab the reins and craft their own wonderful destinies. The most fulfilling part of being a consultant lies in witnessing this transformation. In firms that make the commitment to grow, the firm grows as the people grow, and they reach their full potential together.

Finally, this book is about hope. Whether your firm is experiencing real growth or not—whether, to jump a few pages ahead, your story more closely resembles Alex’s or Joe’s—you will surely recognize the partners and others you meet here. You may wince once or twice, but I think you’ll also smile along the way. I know you’ll go away understanding that, armed with the right knowledge, you can steer your own firm into a bright and prosperous future.

—Gale Crosley

CAST OF CHARACTERS

At Our Mythical Firm:

The Main Partners:

Joe Abriola, managing partner of Crandall & Potter, a Minneapolis CPA firm that’s going nowhere

Eric King, the firm’s brightest niche rainmaker; he’s still young, so no one takes him too seriously

Charles Krueger, the auditor’s auditor

Kevin McCoy, the tax guru

Harold Brumlow, who’s retired in place, the firm fossil

. . .andassorted other partners, 24 in all, among them:

Ben Spencer, an outgoing guy with a sense of humor, but very nuts and bolts

Smith Smoot, smart, but a bit defensive about his name

Durwood Poole, a senior partner, he’s solid but unexceptional

Frank Pierce, the original no-nonsense guy, who never has a good word to say

Matthew Hanover, the youngest partner, who’s very earnest

Jake Billings, a young CPA who’s never at a loss for words

Joshua Huberman, the quietest member of the firm

The Key Staff:

Jackie Brown, COO, efficient and by the book, she came up through the ranks

Tiff Hollister, marketing director, who does great brochures, but that’s about it

Ty Dukes, third in a line of business developers, who’s got no get up and go, but he’s a terrific gladhander. What does he do all day?

Other Staff:

Sarah Brandeis, a senior tax manager

Josie Fitzmorris, a young manager in real estate

Thaddeus Cox, the mailroom supervisor

Earlier:

Albert Potter, founding partner (deceased)

Later:

Philip Van Landingham, new partner and audit segment leader

Michael Cunningham, business developer; Ty’s very able successor

Lisa Olson, C&P’s first-ever recruiting director

Elsewhere:

Alex Weinstein, of blockbusting Philadelphia CPA firm Weinstein & Federman

Katherine Witt, the very savvy director of practice growth at Alex’s firm

PART I

NO DISCIPLINE, NO GROWTH

Some Bad News

Joe Abriola looked up from his desk as his favorite “son” in the firm, Eric King, slipped quietly into the room and took a seat.

Joe leaned back, linking his hands behind his head. “What’s going on, Eric?”

Eric leaned forward, brought his hands up, and opened his mouth, but no sound came out at first. Finally he shook his head and spoke. “I feel bad about telling you this, Joe. I want you to know that up front.”

“What’s the problem?” Joe asked. “Is it a client?”

“No,” Eric said, and then the words came skittering out of his mouth in a terrible rush. “It’s the partners. It’s a problem with the partners. You’ve got a great big problem with your partners.” Eric paused. “And I don’t think you even know it.”

The Problem

Joe had leaned forward in his chair as Eric spoke, but now he settled back cautiously. “No,” he said at length, “I’m not aware of any problem with the partners. What kind of problem?”

Eric took a moment to collect his thoughts, shook his head briefly, then spoke. “Joe, I want you to know, as I said, that I feel really uncomfortable doing this. You brought me into this firm, you’ve given me a terrific chance to succeed here, and . . . It feels, I don’t know, not like disloyalty, but like . . . carrying tales, maybe. But I really think you need to know what’s going on, and nobody else is going to tell you. So I feel like I’m elected.”