The firm of the future : a guide for accountants, lawyers, and other professional services

Provides accountants in small and medium sized firms the tool to expand services beyond attest and compliance functions. Shows how to transition to other professional services that clients value. Provides a pro-forma business plan for mapping a three to five year plan for the transition to a successful practice. Positions consulting as an extension to traditional services, not just an alternative. Includes many real world examples of accountants who have made a successful transition to new services, discussing the challenges and the results achieved. Focuses on quality of life issues and how to get there.

Author Notes

A sixteen-year veteran and former member of the Farmington, New Mexico Police Department.

Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xxi
About the Authors	p. xxvii
How to Read This Book	p. xxix
1 Introduction	p. 1
2 A Flawed Theory	p. 9
"Analyzing" the Predominant Practice Equation	p. 10
Summary and Conclusions	p. 17
3 A Paradigm Worthy of a Proud Profession	p. 19
Why Are Professionals Successful?	p. 21
Cognitive Dissonance	p. 27
Why Are We in Business?	p. 28
Study Success: It Leaves Clues	p. 33
What Business Are You In?	p. 35
Where Do Profits Come From?	p. 38
Summary and Conclusions	p. 39
4 Intellectual Capital: The Chief Source of Wealth	p. 41
The Physical Fallacy	p. 42
The Scarcest Resource of All	p. 43
The Three Types of IC	p. 46
Is All This Stuff Good?	p. 49
Summary and Conclusions	p. 50
5 Human Capital: Your People Are Not Assets, They Are Volunteers	p. 51
Becoming a Lightning Rod for Talent	p. 54
Retaining Your Firm's Human Capital	p. 68
The Importance of Continuing Professional Education	p. 73
Rewarding Your Firm's Human Capital Investors	p. 74
When Human Capital Turns Negative	p. 77
Summary and Conclusions	p. 79
6 Structural Capital: If Only We Knew What We Know	p. 81
Leveraging IC and Creating the World's Second Largest Currency	p. 84
Converting Tacit to Explicit Knowledge	p. 87
Knowledge Lessons from the U.S. Army	p. 88
Summary and Conclusions	p. 91
7 Social Capital: Man Is Not an Island	p. 93
Is There an Accounting for Tastes?	p. 96
Leveraging the Social Capital in the Firm of the Future	p. 98
Reputation, Brands, Referral Sources, and Networks	p. 98
Suppliers and Vendors	p. 100
Shareholders and Other External Stakeholders	p. 101
Joint Venture Partners and Alliances	p. 101
Professional Associations and Formal Affiliations	p. 104
Firm Alumni	p. 105
Consider Creating a University	p. 106
Putting It All Together: The Concierge Service Model	p. 110
Summary and Conclusions	p. 111
8 You Are Your Customer List	p. 113
What Do Customers Really Buy?	p. 114
The Value Proposition	p. 122
Moments of Truth	p. 128
What Is Beyond Total Quality Service?	p. 130
Is Being a Trusted Advisor Enough?	p. 134
From Zero Defects to Zero Defections	p. 136
Why Do We Lose Customers?	p. 139
Customer Complaints	p. 142
The 100-Percent Money-Back Guarantee	p. 144
Bad Customers Drive Out Good Customers	p. 148
Adaptive Capacity	p. 150
Firing Customers	p. 154
The Forced Churn	p. 155
Thoughts on Requests for Proposals (RFPs)	p. 156
Summary and Conclusions	p. 157
9 You Are What You Charge	p. 159
A Tale of Two Theories	p. 160
A Better Theory of Value	p. 165
Cost-Plus Pricing: Epitaph	p. 166
Deleterious Effects of Cost-Plus Pricing	p. 168
Lessons in the Subjective Theory of Value	p. 169
Professionals Subject to the Laws of Economics	p. 171
The Four Ps of Marketing	p. 173
Are Professionals Commodities?	p. 175
The Five Cs of Value	p. 179
Fixed-Price Agreements and Change Orders	p. 181
Fixed-Price Agreements	p. 181
Explaining the FPA	p. 184
Change Orders	p. 192
Negotiating Skills	p. 194
The TIP Clause	p. 209
The Wrong Mistakes	p. 211
Value Pricing and Self-Esteem	p. 215
Value Pricing and Ethics	p. 216
American Bar Association's Commission on Billable Hours Report	p. 218
Summary and Conclusions	p. 219
10 Measure What Counts: Effectiveness over Efficiency	p. 223
The Gospel of Efficiency	p. 225
Frederick Taylor Enters the Professions	p. 228
Economists Posit Theories	p. 229
Accounting Is Not a Theory	p. 231
It's 12:41 A.M.: Do You Know Where Your Package--and CPA--Are?	p. 234
KPIs for the Firm of the Future	p. 237
Selecting the Right KPIs for Your Firm	p. 241
KPI Summary	p. 249
Refuting the Efficiency Defense for Timesheets	p. 251
Refuting the Cost Accounting Defense for Timesheets	p. 254
Is There One Best Economic Denominator to Track?	p. 264
Summary and Conclusions	p. 266
11 The Timeless Practice	p. 267
Paradigm Drives Vision	p. 268
Vision Drives Leadership	p. 268
Leadership Drives Internal Quality	p. 269
Internal Quality Drives Team Happiness	p. 270
Recasting the Roles	p. 275
Would You Want Your Son or Daughter to Work There?	p. 277
Core Ideology = Core Values + Purpose	p. 279
Leadership	p. 282
What about Strategic Planning?	p. 284
Summary and Conclusions	p. 285
12 Some Words on the Future	p. 287
Is the Audit an Edsel?	p. 289
Financial Model Reform	p. 293
Substituting Government Failure for Market Failure	p. 295
Multidisciplinary Practices	p. 298
Summary and Conclusions	p. 300
13 Epilogue	p. 303
What Is Calling You?	p. 305
Continuously Develop Your Intellectual Capital	p. 306
Adventure	p. 306
Leaving a Legacy	p. 307
References	p. 309
Index	p. 317

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Author Notes

Table of Contents