We all know that improving profitability on a sustained basis generally is a long-term play that requires significant planning, discipline, accountability, implementation and patience.
Unfortunately, the senior partners at many small and midsized CPA firms do not possess all of these attributes and therefore are unable to make significant strides in their bottom-line distributions to their partners. While it’s an uncomfortable scenario, it’s a reality and almost understandable as many small and midsized CPA firms are thinly managed and do not have the leadership necessary to change the inevitable path of merging up.
While improving long-term profitability is a complex challenge, there are several basic principles that have the potential for significant operational improvement. Once they’re applied, many small and mid-sized firms can incrementally move the needle on the bottom line. Nevertheless, we have found that even these basic principles, tried and true, aren’t consistently used at many small and mid-sized CPA firms because of a lack of organizational discipline.
