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Keep Talking
California CPA : December 2009As Your Firm Grows, so Should Your Communications
One of the hidden challenges to growth, however, is the poor management of communications. While the benefits of growth are obvious— increased revenue, enhanced ability to recruit and economies of scale that make operations more efficient—getting bigger increases the potential for communication problems. As your organization becomes more complex, your employee, client and prospect communications must keep pace. The experiences in my firm present a good case study. Between 2005–09, we grew from about $30 million in revenue to $70 million, increased our workforce from 100 to 275 and opened two offices. Having spent nearly four years focused on growth, we realized we needed more frequent and formalized communication processes and a new way of thinking about our business. One of the ways we formalized our communications was by creating three integrated advisory boards. Two boards are internal: one is composed of managers and another of junior and senior staffers. The third board is composed of executives working outside of the CPA profession. We then linked the boards to increase the flow of information used to solve problems and to capitalize on opportunities for the firm. The benefits have been immediate and tangible—we are getting great ideas from both our own employees and external experts. These ideas are influencing our strategy, benefitting our culture and helping our firm to operate more efficiently. AMLLP Advisory Board (AAB) : Five high-level executives from Bay Area industries outside the accounting profession comprise this board. This group meets with me and other executive committee members quarterly to discuss business strategy. For instance, we will soon query the group about potential expansion and where opportunities lie in both organic and inorganic growth. Management Advisory Board (MAB) : This group was the idea of the most recent graduates from our firm’s leadership program, Leadership Excellence for AM Professionals (LEAP). It consists of managers from a broad range of practices in the firm. The board identifies and champions initiatives that foster growth and development of both our firm and our people through increased communication among offices, departments and staff levels. Members apply to become part of the group and are appointed by our executive committee. Our COO leads the group, which links the executive committee and Staff Advisory Board through periodic joint meetings and collaborative technology. One of MAB’s first initiatives has been to implement Manager Action Plans that are aligned with our firm’s three-year strategic plan and to mark managers’ progress at specific intervals. Staff Advisory Board (SAB) : Created in 2007, this board consists of 10 junior and senior staff members representing all firm departments and practices. The board collects ideas, voices concerns and provides solutions to management that favorably affect the experiences of staff. Members serve two-year terms and are elected by peers within their department or practice teams. One of the group’s responsibilities is to oversee the “suggestion of the month.” The board solicits ideas from throughout the company via our intranet and selects what it believes are the best ideas for implementation. These suggestions have been implemented with very few exceptions. A recent example is the creation of an online forum where employees can share volunteer opportunities with their colleagues. Culture, Communications & Perspective If your practice is growing, here are three suggestions for managing and senior partners:
Andy Armanino, CPA is managing partner of San Ramon-based Armanino McKenna.
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