For the last year and a half, accounting firm leaders have had the challenging task of navigating their practices through a global pandemic, not only making sure that their businesses survived (and often even thrived) amid the economic turbulence, but also ensuring the health and safety of their people and serving the rapidly changing needs of their clients.
The leaders comprising the 2021 class of the Managing Partner Elite rose to the occasion on all these fronts and more, in many ways by building on strong foundations that they themselves had previously established at their firms — to be eligible for the MP Elite, managing partners/CEOs must have been in their role for a minimum of four years.
But, in the true test of strong leadership, the MP Elite also successfully adapted to the crisis and found new ways to lead a workforce that will likely never be the same following the events of 2020.
One common thread was the speed with which this year’s outstanding leaders moved their teams to a fully remote environment, and their plans to evolve that work-from-home setup to a more flexible (and employee-friendly) model post-pandemic.
The sentiment shared by Plante Moran’s James Proppe also applied to the rest of his 2021 co-honorees: “Looking back at 2020, I’m particularly proud of three things: the way we took care of our staff, the way we kept our teams intact, and the way we stepped up to serve our clients virtually.”
In a profession often labeled reactive, the 2021 MP Elite were notably proactive — two honorees even described their retention efforts in the pandemic as “aggressive,” which paid off for both of them — as it did for most of the MP Elite — in their ability to avoid a single layoff.
In addition to considering how this year’s MP Elite candidates responded to the pandemic’s complications, the 2021 applicants were asked to share their plans for their firms over the next five to ten years.
Here, too, were some impressive commonalities. The MP Elite are all focused on growth, both organic and transactional, but it was their plans to support that growth that revealed their very strategic long-term visions. All of this year’s class recognize that the next generation of leaders will play a starring role in those master plans, including those who will succeed them — some of whom have already been identified.
The MP Elite all have formal succession plans that are most crucially predicated on exemplary recruitment and retention efforts, which they have achieved in low turnover numbers but remain hyper-focused on, recognizing their firm’s talent as its most valuable resource.
As the last year made clear, the accounting profession must prioritize the needs of its people now more than ever. It’s a long-term strategy that’s well worth the investment, as it will produce the next generation of MP Elite leaders.
KLR’s Alan Litwin shared an outlook echoed by the rest of the MP Elite, explaining that his firm focuses on “the importance of creating an environment where we can aggressively grow the firm, successfully service clients, and create a company where our people can enjoy a long, gratifying career.”
The MP Elite should all feel gratification in their own careers, which we showcase here, sharing just a few of the many, many highlights accomplished (so far) by this year’s honorees. Congratulations to the 2021 MP Elite!