Yes, the economy is in a crisis. Yes, the stock market has tanked, Bernie Madoff is a shameful situation and clients are in trouble.
And yes, you are still your clients' most trusted advisor. Now, more than ever, your firms need your leadership, your clients need your counsel and advice, and your people need your guidance.
We have spent the last 30 years learning how to be business leaders, professional managers and good decision-makers. Now, more than ever, the CPA community must do what it does best - analyze problems, create sound business decisions to steady and advance firms, and ask what might go wrong if these decisions are implemented.
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The leadership environment calls this problem analysis, decision analysis and potential analysis. Most of you call this common sense. We are entering uncharted waters for one of the few times in our professional lives and we must now rise to the challenge.
As I travel the country, consulting with firms of various sizes, I am seeing a revisionist attitude move to one of fear and uncertainty. Uncertainty is acceptable - fear is not. Now is the time that strong leadership must be inserted into the culture of your firm. Centralized leadership with the ability to be nimble, flexible, fair and specific must be the order of the day. Those of my clients with a strong, centralized and deliberate leadership style are growing and continue to be profitable. Those without it are floundering and are calling for my help to merge or sell their practices.
Whether you are a $3 million firm or a $50-$100 million firm, we all must rise to the occasion and provide our colleagues with direction, guidance, creativity and accountability for our performance. Firms across the nation are attempting to adapt to their clients' ongoing concerns as the economy continues to play havoc with each client's profitability.
In these "uncharted waters," the rules of engagement have changed. We now have to be more focused on our own growth and profitability, while at the same time being compassionate with longstanding "A" clients having their own survival problems. Partners need to be focused on such concerns as billing, collecting and receivables, while being patient with clients' struggles as well. We need to be more creative or tolerant of our receivable issues, but not allow them to bring our own firms into "risky" areas. Partners must stay in very close touch with their clients' needs, concerns and performance issues. We cannot afford to lose contact with those clients who need us now more than ever, who helped us to build our businesses, and whom we need to nurture for our (and their) futures.
TIME TO RAISE THE BAR
Given the turbulent times, it is ever more relevant to ask partners to raise the bar on their performance. They must be more focused than ever, communicate more with clients, be more helpful to staff and utilize every opportunity to bring in new business. Without it, a firm cannot grow and will disappear.
