Specializing and Innovating

At a recent conference on accounting firm growth, several co-panelists described the process they used to enter a new market or launch a new service. One detailed a successful rollout in the litigation support area. Another spoke about taking a local tech-related offering national.

To judge by the number of blog posts and articles I’m seeing on the topic of consulting these days, you might think advisory services have been widely embraced by accounting firms.

You don’t have to be a gym rat to know that when they go unused, muscles atrophy and are less able to help the body function and thrive. As for how to build muscle, everybody has an opinion. But whether you ask a bodybuilder or a doctor, the recommendations all acknowledge that the more you train a muscle, the more you trigger its growth.

The 19th century English clergyman William Pollard said, “Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.” Pollard’s words reflect something I’ve observed for some time: Our profession has a built-in bias toward passivity.

Reprinted with permission from Accounting Today. For years, I’ve been talking about, writing about and, yes, some might even say nagging about a tactic that continues not only to deliver, but to dazzle. The focus of my attention is the Research Call℠. It is nothing more, and nothing less than an interview, ideally in person,…

Innovation is a sizzling hot topic in our industry, the subject of countless articles, conferences and memos from managing partners. Much of what I read and hear, however, focuses on how to be more innovative, and fails to address the foundation upon which innovation is built. And that is product management.

Reprinted with permission from Accounting Today. A client recently shared a story about a magical desert oasis where apricot trees flourished and merchants harvested the abundant, low-hanging fruit, weighing down the low tree branches. One day a new merchant appeared. He was an ambitious young man who started climbing the trees, seeking and harvesting the…

Reprinted with permission from Accounting Today.  One of the hottest concepts in business these days is “disruption.” In fact, a KPMG survey found that three in four CEOs surveyed worldwide said their companies are striving to be market disrupters. In many sectors, effecting dramatic change in how business is done (disrupting) is a deliberate pursuit.…

Reprinted with permission from Accounting Today. If thought leadership was not a contender for phrase of the year in recent times, it should have been. It’s a motherhood-and-apple-pie-flavored bite of business jargon defined by Business News Daily as “the honest and admirable ambition of being viewed as a credible industry expert, one who cuts through…

Reprinted with permission from Accounting Today. You’ve attended the conferences and participated in the webinars, so you know that current best practice favors the evolution beyond just a practitioner to a consultant. It’s one thing to acknowledge the apparent logic of such a shift. But it’s another matter to successfully transform from CPA who collects…

Reprinted with permission from Accounting Today. In our profession, the word practice typically conveys a fairly narrow meaning, as in “the practice of accounting.” But successful niche development, which I consider an essential tool for growth, requires a different type of practice – practicing to perfect a new niche or service line. The most successful…

Reprinted with permission from Accounting Today. It’s official. Client accounting services (CAS) has come into its own. This once ho-hum commodity has evolved into a promising service line with solid value for clients and strong upside potential for accounting firms. One of the most accomplished practitioners in this space is Ian McBane, partner in the…