Ronald J. Baker has been a ubiquitous leader in accounting practice management for almost three decades. He first came to my attention when I read his book "The Professional's Guide to Value Pricing" toward the end of the 1990s, and I have been reading most of what he has written since.
Ron is a strong advocate for trashing the time sheet, which I think is a valuable management tool. However, setting that aside, I believe his efforts to elevate practice management are innovative, insightful and venerable and should be understood by everyone managing a practice or who wants to.
I heard him speak at an American Institute of CPAs national conference more than 20 years ago and soaked up everything he said. Earlier this year we shared a podcast on Accounting High moderated by Scotty Scarano, as I wrote about in this
That program was full of ideas, logic and was thought-provoking. I took some notes and want to share some of Ron's ideas here.
- A strategy is a detailed plan for achieving success.
- You cannot have a strategy without planning.
- You cannot plan without a strategy.
- A strategy is not selected, it is created.
- A strategy is not a plan; it is a theory that must be tested in the marketplace.
- The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do (Michael Porter).
- Strategy is not a choice from alternatives; it is designed.
- Don't start with goals: Good strategic goals are the outcome of strategy, not its input.
- In its simplest form, a compelling positioning strategy lives at the intersection of the crosshairs of: Being something … for someone.
- Diversification is what we do when we don't know what to do. It's a lack of focus that imposes a complexity tax.
- Be customer-focused rather than competitor-focused.
- Focus provides you with well-defined criteria for identifying the types of clients who want you for what you do best.
- Focus gives you a stronger win ratio when soliciting new business because you are playing to your strengths.
- Focus leads to a business development program based on a meaningful unifying theme.
- With focus you have more pricing power because you are offering tailored differentiated services with better experience outcomes.
- Focus ultimately leads to a clearer direction for how your firm should spend its attention, money and resources.
There is a lot more, and condensing his riveting presentation into a few bullet points does not do him justice, but the ideas presented here should raise some awareness of the important process of determining strategy for your practice, and perhaps for yourself.
I also recommend reading his books, and there are plenty you can pick from. If you want a start, get "Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms."
My "Memoirs as a CPA" has been published and is available in Kindle and print editions at amazon.com. Buy it, read it and enjoy it! Do not hesitate to contact me at
