Could your accounting firm operate without you living and breathing in its day-to-day operations? For most owners, it’s an unthinkable notion. The idea of removing yourself from client interactions, sales, proposals, and even tax returns during the busy season sounds absurd.
But pause for a moment to consider what you would do with your time and energy if you gave your team the ability to run the firm without you. Would you be out selling and growing your business? Putting systems in place that smooth out your operations – while clocking out at 5 p.m.?
Giving yourself time to work on the business instead of in the business is essential. But even if it feels completely unattainable at this moment in time, it becomes much more realistic when you break it down into clear, actionable steps.
The first thing to do is give yourself space to find clarity in what you want for yourself and your firm. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What other services could your firm provide?
- What does the market need?
- What do you enjoy doing and what could your team do in your place?
- What’s your five-year vision and how can you build toward that now?
Scotty Scarano, president of Padgett Business Services in Raleigh, North Carolina, was a recent guest on The Modern CPA Success Show. He told us that he initially thought that as his firm grew, the natural next step would be adding advisory and CFO work. But after doing the above exercise, he realized it would be a bigger lift than he or his team could handle.
“If you’re ingrained in everything every day and you can’t get out of that hamster wheel at all, then you need some space, too,” Scotty explained. “You may think you know what you want, but you don’t because you don’t have any time to even decipher what it is you want. You’re just chasing something else.”
Instead of turning Padgett into a CAS firm, Scotty let his team take the reins and decided to focus on passion projects. He started a podcast for accounting professionals and went on to build Accounting High, an education platform, and even launched an accounting rap persona.
This process will look different for everyone and you need to be honest with yourself about what’s in store for the industry’s future. If all you do is tax returns, that may not be sustainable as self-service technology becomes better and better with AI. Creating a realistic vision for your firm’s future is a step you can’t afford to miss when planning ahead.
The next step in removing yourself from the daily operations of your firm is to build a team that can handle the big decisions without you. If you’re completely honest with yourself, you probably know that there are staff members doing work that’s a little bit beneath them.
Instead of having them do manual work like reconciling client bank accounts, find ways to free up their time for bigger responsibilities. You could offshore those tasks to professionals in other countries and then train your domestic team to review the work. That frees up more time and allows you to delegate some of your own responsibilities, especially the ones you don’t love.
Scotty used technology to streamline operations and then trained his team to handle sales calls. “Psychologically, it is hard to get yourself out of the way. You’re always going to want to insert yourself because the things you were doing is what got you to that point,” he said.
As you begin to step away, however, you need to create (and track) clear metrics to know that things are going well in the business. That way you feel confident things are running smoothly without being personally involved in everything. Look at data points like turnaround times, on-time delivery rates, and rework rates to gauge what areas need more attention and training.
On top of that, standard procedures are a must-have. Even if you invest in staff development, your progress can fly out the window if someone suddenly quits and you don’t have any workflows in place to track what they’ve been doing. Practice management software can help identify the current status of deliverables and outstanding task lists for each client.
These systems also improve your sales process. If one individual handles a sales call and promises monthly pipelines and forecasts, the client’s going to be disappointed when their actual accountant comes in and doesn’t deliver. Every service needs to be clearly defined so the standards are consistent no matter who owns a client relationship. Once you have all of these processes in place, you’ll be amazed at how confident you are in letting go because you know there’s transparency and oversight in every part of the business—every CPA’s dream.
Here’s the reality for every accounting firm owner. At some point, you’re going to be looking for an exit, whether it’s to retire or go work on another project. In order to do that, you need to personally step away from the daily operations and still have a valuable business. You build a firm solely around your personality because your clients will jump ship as soon as you leave. No buyer wants that.
On top of the long-term strategy, running a firm can actually be fun! But it’s never going to feel that way if you’re always fighting fires. Developing the staff and creating the systems that work without you is hands-down the best way to enjoy your life now while also preparing for an exit on your own timeline.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
As a partner of the Virtual CFO group at Anders, Tom Wadelton guides company leaders in their organizational planning and execution strategies through a financial lens that includes forecasting, reporting and accounting operations. Tom is often recognized for his curiosity and his ability to build relationships with a sincere interest in helping people achieve their goals.
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Tags: burnout, Firm Management, stress
