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Remote work isn’t going away—it’s shaping the future of accounting firms. With talent retention a top priority, flexible work arrangements help firms expand their talent pool, boost productivity, and enhance client service. Success requires clear management, intentional communication, structured policies, and a culture of feedback. Learn why embracing remote work is still a smart business strategy for firms today.

Inclusive practices can drive better team performance in your accounting firm. Discover practical steps to build a high-performing team.

Build a strategic process to integrate new hires into your firm's culture, vision, and team for lasting success.

Build a strategic process to integrate new hires into your firm's culture, vision, and team for lasting success.

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” – Joseph Pierce If you’re a rising star in your firm, you’ve most likely been asked, “Do you aspire to reach the partner level?” The answer could be “absolutely,” “never” or “I have no idea.” The challenge is that most of the time, the answer has a second part: “Not the way current partners are today.” So, how do you design a career that includes going to the ownership level in a way that feels authentic to you?

The word change pops up in nearly every article we read, conference we attend, internal planning meeting we hold, or client conversation we participate in. In some, it elicits a feeling of excitement. For others, it is uncomfortable or downright scary. Our world is certainly moving, and change has become a part of the everyday landscape. One way we can calm uncertainty is through knowledge and an action plan. Let’s look at a few changes coming our way and the positive steps

CPA firm leaders must continue taking an equity-minded approach to talent management to drive profits, innovation, attraction and retention.

Learning and development are the cornerstone of a thriving firm culture. If that seems a bit hyperbolic, consider this: LinkedIn Learning's 2022 Workplace Learning Report says “opportunities to learn and grow” is the number one driver of a great work culture. Remarkably, just two years prior, it lingered in ninth place. This leap in the ranking underscores the seismic shifts occurring in learning and development (L&D). But what’s driving this shift? Let’s dissect the four maj

Developing subject matter experts (SMEs) is a critical success factor in today's accounting firms. Accounting professionals face an unprecedented pace of change in standards, regulations and technology. Client expectations extend past traditional tax and audit services to include advisory services, consulting on KPIs, talent, strategic planning, and more. This dynamic environment demands specialized expertise and requires young professionals to start developing that expertis

Based on my conversations with talent and learning and development (L&D) leaders from firms across the country, the profession is finally starting to “get it.” Every individual within a firm needs to be upskilling and reskilling. Leaders from forward-thinking firms recognize the critical role that L&D plays in ensuring their teams are competent in their current roles and equipped with the skills necessary to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing environment. Upskilling and

Most of us have days when we cannot stay “in the zone.” We stare at the computer, realizing we’ve done nothing for several minutes. Or, we have a to-do list that is quite long, but at the end of the day, nothing is crossed off. Tomorrow looks bleak before it even starts. How do you prevent these wasted days from happening to you? By learning–and implementing–a few new habits. Most of us have some time-wasting habits. We need to identify and focus on changing them to overcome

For managing partners, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day responsibilities of running the firm and forget about employee appreciation. However, recognizing people and showing gratitude positively impacts employee engagement and team performance. According to Quantum Workplace, companies with formal employee recognition programs have 31% less voluntary turnover than companies without a program, and they're 12 times more likely to have strong business outcomes. So let

For today's firm leaders, one of the most pressing challenges isn't just attracting talent, but also holding on to them and preparing them for partnership. The traditional trajectory to partner status took well over a decade. However, many firms are accelerating that pathway in today's fast-paced and highly competitive accounting labor market and with changing generational expectations. Leading firms are looking at faster promotion tracks to stay competitive and hold onto the

More firms are expanding their advisory services and looking for ways to help their staff develop the skills needed to deliver high-value services to clients. In many firms, only partners provide advisory services to clients. Those partners learned their problem-solving skills over decades of working in the profession, supplemented by occasional "soft skills" workshops. But to meet the changing demands of clients, we need to be able to develop staff at all levels to be more c

Compensation—particularly partner compensation—often leads to considerable debate in most firms. The discussion has only become more complex with the addition of non-equity and non-CPA owners. Most firms created their existing compensation model when the firm was small, the profession was less commoditized, labor was abundant and they relied on technology much less than they do today. In that environment, compensation was traditionally based on stock ownership and book of bus

Building a strong culture within your firm is essential to keeping your team motivated and rowing in the same direction. However, it takes more than just having each person know their professional roles and being technically skilled—it requires engagement. Businesses in every industry invest a lot of time and money to foster engagement in their team members. But, unfortunately, their efforts sometimes encourage camaraderie rather than engagement, and that's a whole different

We are thrilled that our very own Sandra Wiley, Shareholder and President and Arianna Campbell, Shareholder and Consultant were selected...

The complexity and rate of change in the accounting profession today require firms to juggle multiple projects throughout the year: evaluating technology decisions, handling recruiting, training and onboarding, process improvement initiatives, strategic planning, mentoring and coaching, to name a few. Often, responsibility for all these projects falls on partners already busy with marketing and business development, client service and practice management. If that sounds famil

At a recent Boomer Leadership Academy session, there was a lot of discussion about what happens when leaders don’t lead. Some of the young managers in the group feel they’re not getting the help they need from partners to meet their goals and move in the right direction. For example, several passionate professionals expressed frustration with business development expectations. It’s not that they don’t want to help the firm bring in new clients and offer new services to exist

Ask any partner in an accounting firm what’s keeping them up at night, and many will answer it’s retaining their staff—especially the superstar employees they hope will lead the firm into the next decade and beyond. Unfortunately, many young professionals in your firm aren’t interested in “making partner.” The problem isn’t a lack of motivation or ambition. It’s that they can’t picture their future in a firm that isn’t transforming to remain successful. When you create a visi