Over the last couple of decades, the role of a partner in a CPA firm has evolved from simply maintaining a significant book of business to a much broader leadership role.
If you are a partner, you should be a role model for the entire team. It’s no longer about being highly billable, working extremely long hours and maintaining a book of business.
Partners must now be willing to be held accountable for a variety of activities. In fact, not too many years ago, becoming a partner was viewed as being “let off the hook” for performance. You had it made! Those days are history and you must now expand your role and become future-ready.
Here is just a partial listing of what is expected of a partner. You must:
- Bring in a significant amount of new business.
- Generate additional business from current clients.
- Cross-sell the expertise of your other partners and associates.
- Be active in recruiting and retaining top talent.
- Be visible and active in your community.
- Serve as a mentor to less experienced CPAs and groom them for leadership as part of the firm’s succession plan.
- Develop, and be a champion of, new service offerings.
- Become known for being an “expert” at something!
- Serve, as needed, on the Executive or Compensation Committees.
- Free up time by delegating a significant portion of your billable work so that managers and other team members have the opportunity to learn and expand their own expertise.
Where can you improve? What more do you need to do? Use this list to help you identify and set personal goals for 2020 and beyond.