10 tips for designing the firm of your dreams

August 30, 2023 9:42 AM

All too often, accounting firms are run on the default model, with new owners simply recapitulating the business practices and structures of the firms where they started their careers — but it doesn't have to be that way.

Firms are freer than ever to change how they operate, and three forward-thinking firm owners shared how they've reshaped their practices to suit their own needs, their clients' needs and their employees' needs in a session at the 2023 Unique CPA Conference, "Bridging the Gap," being held this week in Chicago.

Below are 10 of some of their top pieces of advice for those looking to build a more ideal firm.

1. It's OK to grow at your own pace

"A huge roadblock I had was getting comfortable with the idea of building my firm slowly," said Terrell Turner, the CEO of TLT Turner Group, which offers accounting services to law firms. "I grew up playing football, living life 15 seconds at a time. So when I started the firm, I thought I had to hit a million dollars in X amount of time."

That led him to accede to unreasonable delivery demands, and promise quicker delivery than was feasible (or healthy) for himself and his staff: "When a client said they needed something tomorrow, I'd say "Sure,' and you can do that when you only have two clients, but it won't work later on."

Particularly early on, it's important for firms to set reasonable expectations around deliverables, schedules and growth rates. "You do not have to live 15 seconds over time," Turner said — though he acknowledged that it can be difficult for accountants: "I still have to remind myself that it's OK not to be moving at someone else's pace."

2. Pick your clients

All the panelists stressed the importance of carefully selecting your client base, using as wide a range of criteria as makes sense for you: everything from how profitable they are to how they treat staff, how reliably the deliver source documents, and even the cadence of communication they expect from the firm.

"If you think you need access by text to us 24 hours a day, you're probably not a good fit for us," said Al-Nesha Jones, founder of the ASE Group, a virtual accounting firm. "Now that we've figured all that out, it's much easier for us."

3. Figure out how much money you all need

Dawn Brolin, author of "The Designated Motivator," and a long-time firm owner, noted that her firm had far too much work, but she was worried about being sure she could make payroll — so she sat down with a key employee and asked her how much she wanted to earn to be happy. The employee came back with the figure of $104,000 (roughly $2,000 every two weeks, plus some extras), and then Brolin and she went through the firm's client roster.

"I told her, 'We're going to find the clients we like and how much we charged them last year, and we're going to do relationship pricing — and by the time we picked 17 clients we liked, we had got to $35,000 in revenue a month — way more than we needed."

That left them with a reasonable workload, and no concerns about payroll. "Having the money in the first of the month means I don't have to worry about it when it comes to paying her," Brolin said. "And we're servicing those clients better than ever."

4. Get out of your own way

Recognizing your own flaws is a key talent for leaders.

"99.6% of the time, what's getting in my way is me," said Jones. "I'm a dreamer — I always have to be brought back to reality. I am what you would call a professional procrastinator — I'll do other things instead of what I'm supposed to do; I'm very busy, but not on the things I need to focus on."

Difficulty delegating is another issue for entrepreneurial accountants. "I finally realized I don't have to do it all myself," said Brolin.

5. Get help getting out of your own way

Sometimes, you can't solve your own problems or fix your own flaws, and need to look outside yourself for solutions.

To help with her procrastination, for instance, "I put someone other than myself in charge of me," Jones said. "I have an operations chief who used to be in events management, and she's good at coordinating lots of things at the same time. She sets our schedules — she helps me get out of my own way."

6. Say no more often

You don't have to serve every prospect who comes your way; in fact, it's much healthier not to; instead, the panelists suggested identifying the specific ideal clients you do want to work with and stick with those.

"I've started to take on less work," said Brolin. "I've started to be much more selective, and being comfortable saying I'm not qualified to do that work and referring it away. If you want, say, international tax, I'm not your girl."

7. Reach out

Accounting has multiple formal and informal membership groups, and plenty of forums like the Unique CPA Conference, that bring CPAs and firm leaders together — and one of the hallmarks of the profession is its members' willingness to share ideas and solutions with each other.

"When I'm struggling and I can't figure something out, I reach out to people outside the firm," said Brolin. "If I can find another person who has the same experience, I can get answers and help. If you don't have someone outside of your organization that you connect with, find them."

8. Set your own terms

All too often, accounting firms do whatever their clients want, however their clients want — but they should stop doing that and start asserting themselves.

"You want payroll?" asked Jones. "Use ours — I'm not learning your system. You want accounting? We use QuickBooks. I'm not learning your system."

Even more important is establishing the sanctity of deadlines. When it comes to tax documents, for instance, Jones suggested telling clients, "This isn't your first tax season — you know these things are due. If your materials aren't in by the deadline, you're on extension, and we're charging for it. I'm not doing taxes while my kids are on spring break."

9. Not everyone needs to be excellent every day

It's simply not possible for everyone to operate at peak performance all the time, and Turner suggested that great leaders recognize this and will be flexible when an employee is having a difficult time because of, say, an issue at home, relying on the strengths of other team members: "I don't need you to be excellent right now; someone else can be excellent during this period of time," he said. "We're operating as a team. Not everyone needs to be excellent every day."

(He also offered definitions of how employees can be average, good and excellent that are particularly apropos for accounting firms: "If you want to be average, do what you're asked to do; if you want to be good, be aware of what comes before your part of a process; and if you want to be excellent, know what came before you, but also have some awareness of what comes after you in the process.")

10. Highlight the value for them, not you

When it comes to explaining your pricing and your services, all the panelists insisted it was important to clearly explain the former in terms of the value that the latter offer to clients.

"'I went to a conference and they said, 'Do yoga and charge your clients more' — that's not a reason to raise your fees. You have to know the value for them," said Jones. "You need to be comfortable explaining the value you bring. All too often, accountants go in with what we care about — 'I'm going to get your taxes done on time,' and the clients are like, 'So?' They value increased access to us, and clarity and simplicity."

That value proposition will necessarily change over time, Turner added. "Businesses change over time, and we need to help clients see the connection between the work and the price," he said. "I meet with them and say, 'What problem do you have that I can help you with? We priced based on those problems — and now that you have these new problems, what's the pricing for that?' That helps them connect the dots between the problems we're solving and the prices they're paying."