This is my 364th weekly column and completes seven years without missing a post. Much thanks goes to Michael Cohn, my editor and occasional sounding board for ideas. It has been a great collaboration and friendship. I also could not have done this without readers and the many colleagues that call me with questions and a once in a while view contrary opinion.
I am grateful to have been in good health, along with the energy and ideas to be able to maintain the weekly pace and deadlines. Along the way this column was the 2018 recipient of the Eddie Award from Folio magazine for the best series in its category. The award’s name is pure coincidence with no connection to me.
Writing a weekly column forces me to always be looking for ideas and has made me much more observant of what goes on in the public accounting profession as a whole and also within firms of all sizes. The calls I receive are from three groupings of firms: very small (which comprise 45,500 of the 46,000 accounting firms), midsize from about the 100th to 500th largest, and from Top 100 Firms with an occasional call from a Big Four person. Some of the calls are even from outside the United States, as far away as Australia, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, Israel, India and England.
Each group has different types of issues and problems. The small firms are concerned about staffing, determining fees, retaining clients, acquiring practices, and their own exit strategies. The midsize calls are from people looking to sharpen their expertise, niche development, better delegation, staff growth and retention, firm growth, and concerns about their exit strategies. The larger firm callers are concerned about client and staff management, their positions within their firms, how succession planning will affect them, the profit distributions to older partners, and how and when they will get their ”rightful” share. Managing partners have different sets of concerns than engagement and technical partners. All callers seem to want help on developing advisory services, new pricing models, and bundling subscription services. Of course, I also get a lot of calls about tax season and tax practice management, as well as the whole gamut of practice concerns in one way or another. Every caller’s question is super important to them, and I treat it in that manner.
What surprised me is the dearth of calls on marketing and getting new business. My conclusion about this is that getting new business is not as big of an issue as I guessed it was when I started these columns. However, client retention appears to be an issue firms are grappling with.
When I look at questionnaires and surveys, I see many “hot button” issues covered, but my callers do not seem to be as concerned about many of the issues expressed there. This provides me with an enviable vantage point. I hear about problems that the “organized” profession does not seem to recognize or know how to deal with. Perhaps that is what has been keeping me busy with the calls. My columns try to address the real concerns busy practitioners have. I hope that differentiates what I do and is what keeps it being read.
I also have some pet concerns that I float from time to time and sometimes I get upbeat responses. However sometimes I get nada — nothing — no interest at all. Part of the reason may be that I could be off base, or perhaps there is a lack of awareness of the overall effect of that issue, or it could be due to a tiring overabundance of work that thwarts the desire to change and innovate or just the interest in trying something new.
I do not have all the answers. I also do not have all the questions. But I keep trying. And I keep expressing my views with solutions in these columns. It creates energy for me and sharpens my observation skills. So, keep reading my columns and keep calling me with your concerns. And thank you for making me a part of your practice these past seven years.
Do not hesitate to contact me at
Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, is partner at
