Much has been written about the deficiencies of Millenials, all totally irrelevant in my opinion true or not (and mostly untrue), but what about the Gen Xer’s?  As the current and future generation of business management executives are they worthy of receiving the torch the Codgers (those born between 1945 and 1957 who prefer to be called ‘baby boomers’ and can be identified by their bell-bottom slacks and bee-hive hairdos) want to pass them?  Can they handle it? Read more…

Some of the most common complaints expressed by our assurance seniors are that the client “didn’t complete the schedule request properly, or provide adequate support timely, or apply the appropriate accounting principles properly, or, or, or, yada, yada, yada”. And correspondingly the audit team didn’t meet, or, had trouble meeting their due date. (We assign due dates for projects based on budgets, and allow the team members to determine when, where and how they will perform the engagement, rather than attempting to micromanage their time and daily lives.) After hearing this refrain / excuse for the umpteenth time during one of our recent after action reports for a very good client, I reminded the offending senior of the purpose of our use of Client Service Agreements and why we have change orders. Read more…

Long known for our inability to communicate effectively either orally or verbally (yes there is a difference) as accountants we’ve found new facades to hide behind. Our communication with our clients is typically limited to brief general conversations, and written communications mandated by professional standards, such as engagement letters. The email / text message / voice mail have supplemented the traditional letter facilitating the anonymity so many in our profession seem to prefer, with the frequent result being misunderstanding or no understanding at all. Read more…

In the years since I began practicing, our profession has changed radically.  I do not want to sound like my parents and grandparents who lamented the passing of the nickel candy bar, 1 cent stamps, and walking to and from school ( up hill, both ways in the snow of Southern California), but are we progressing or regressing in terms of advancing the profession of public accounting and making it an attractive career?  What are the underlying currents that influence or even drive change? Read more…

Last week we were informed we had been selected by Accounting Today as one of the top accounting firms  to work for in the United States.  I understand there will be an article published in January, 2009.  How did we go from being a firm that had the universal difficulty of other accounting firms – attracting and retaining top talent – to being named to such a prestigious club in four years?: We changed our business philosophy, and consequently our overall approach to providing service, after following the traditional accepted approach for 25 years. Read more…

“Twas brillig and the slithey toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe,  all mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.”

Written by Lewis Carroll, his poem “Jabberwocky’ in “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There” is considered the most famous nonsensical poem in the English language.  It was certainly one of my favorites during my alcoholiclly impaired college years in the 1960′s.  It re-occurred to me today as I read a post by Ric Payne on the Principa blog titled Time Based Billing is Unethical – What Rubbish.  Read more…

Earlier this week David Maister posted Satisfaction Guaranteed on his website.  You can read it for yourself, but the essence is committing to a service and performance guarantee for the services you provide.  Several years ago we began including this language in our client service agreements:

“Our work is guaranteed to the satisfaction of the customer.  If you are not completely satisfied with the services performed by Mark Bailey and Company, Ltd., we will, at the option of the Company, refund the price or accept a portion of said price that reflects the Company’s level of satisfaction.” Read more…

Several years ago we discontinued using time sheets as a basis for doing our billing, and began pricing our services based on our conviction that the amount of time committed had absolutely no relationship to the value of the service being delivered. Read more…

In the December 17, 2007 issue of Accounting Today, Gary Boomer asked three questions in his article titled Pricing and Partner Compensation. (1)Does your firm have a documented strategic plan; (2) Does our partner compensation system integrate with the strategic plan, and; (3) Am I still pricing by the hour?

Read more…