What is the right stuff to become a partner?

Ruben Cardona is one of the best accountants I know. One day Ruben came up with his A.U.D.I.T acronym for the five steps of the audit process.

The following is some of the advice I give when I train or mentor a new tax specialist:

At some point in my practice I had to ask a staff person if he would want to specialize in taxes. The first time occurred over 35 years ago when my main tax reviewer left for a position with another firm where he would be “more important than just a tax reviewer.”

If you don’t want to drop difficult clientele, try giving them priority care so they won’t pester you so much.

Every client, from the largest to smallest, pays part of your salary, so every client should be treated with respect, care and importance.

Everyone has a system for managing tax season. Some are good, some are just so-so, and some stink.

A few accountants recently called me to vent about being shorthanded and asked for suggestions on how they could get through tax season without turning down any business or dropping clients.

A technique I have become comfortable with is Managing by Wandering Around (MBWA).

Checklists are a method of developing a technique where the right things will be done the right way, in the right order.