In the last few months I’ve watched a couple of firms start a business development function and hire a new person to serve in that role. The question I’ve been asked is whether I think having a discrete bd function is a good idea.
In general, the answer is yes, absolutely yes for one simple [...]
Wouldn’t it have been great to have been a CPA at a firm in Palo Alto in 1993. And some guy walks into your office looking asking you for some help with his company that’s getting started with something called “the Internet?”Think about where your firm would be today.
Here’s an interesting exercise. Take the most recent list of Top 100 firms and find the firms in the Bay Area. Assume a 30% to 35% profit margin and $225,000 – $250,000 revenue per partner. (These are averages from the AICPA MAP survey). Calculate profit per partner for those firms (margin x revenue per professional x leverage).
I’m working on a new book for the AICPA about new business development opportunities for CPAs in the current economic environment. More about that at a later date.
But in my reading and talking to CPAs and thinking and all that research stuff, I’ve come to believe that there are three CPA archtypes.
I’m talking about LinkedIn, which is Facebook for the professional class.
Users maintain online résumés, establish links with colleagues and business acquaintances and then expand their networks to the contacts of their contacts. The service also helps them search for experts who can help them solve daily business problems.
But I’m not talking about the personal networking [...]
A while back I did an interview with Ed Offterdinger, managing partner of Beers + Cutler. We talked about the scholarship programs the firm has endowed and other ways the firm gives back to the profession.
I was doing some research this morning and came across the the Bennett Thrasher Foundation.
In giving back to the community [...]
What is Web 2.0?
I’m not sure.
One thing I do know is that it’s a means to an end, but not the end itself. As with so “it” technologies, firms are looking to embrace the technology, thinking that implementation is what it’s all about. But it’s not. The technology is only the enabler.
So what is it [...]