So here’s what I want readers to do: For young people, here are the reasons why working at a CPA firm is a great job and why it’s great to become a partner. For partners, consider this blog a crash course on how to get your staff champing at the bit to work at your firm, stay at your firm, and eventually become a partner. Why It’s Great to Work in a CPA Firm 1. Here is what a CPA is not: a “numbers” person or a personality-less math nerd. It used to be so, but not anymore. Computers do all the math work for us so we can focus on what’s more important—helping clients solve their business problems. One caveat: You can’t suck at math. But you don’t have to be anything more than average at it. 2. When young staff are asked what the best part of their job is, the hands-down winner is the social aspect. They love the opportunity to interact with their peers and create a social network they value highly. 3. It helps them build their interpersonal skills—a key to their future success, regardless of what they do later in their career. Forming effective relationships with clients and firm personnel is just as important a career-builder as filling out a 1040 or reading up on Section 957(d) 2(a) transactions. 4. The work is interesting and challenging; you help clients run their business, advise them, and solve their financial challenges. 5. Staff get paid a handsome salary and benefits package while the firm provides intensive training. You can’t get better than that! 6. Staff get to work with a diverse number of businesses; there’s lots of variety. 7. They learn how companies run and how the business world works. 8. Formal, continuous mentoring of partners. 9. Access to cutting-edge technology. 10. Should staff decide not to continue working at a CPA firm, they have a solid foundation for their next job, whatever it may be. Accounting is the language of business. 11. Tremendous flexibility in how they work: They set their own hours, have remote work options, and decide when and where they work. 12. Job security: Most CPA firms are recession-proof, thus being immune to layoffs. 13. If you do well, the ultimate reward is being a partner—see the next section. Why It’s Great to Be a Partner in a CPA Firm Why would anyone say no to this? 1. Functioning as an entrepreneur in a small business. 2. Unlimited flexibility in how, when, and where you work. 3. Working with clients you love and who love you back. 4. Challenging and interesting work as you help clients grow and solve problems. 5. Having staff to delegate lower-level work to. 6. Mentoring young people. 7. Having tenure, just like professors (firms almost never fire partners). 8. Earning more than 99+% of all people. For 2021, CPA firm partners at local firms earned almost $600,000. It takes hard (though not excessive) work, but a staff person doesn’t have to be a genius to earn the partner promotion. 9. Earnings security—most CPA firms are recession-proof; almost every year, their revenue and profits increase. 10. Having almost no accountability (pardon the sarcasm). There is one obstacle: When we talk to staff about being a partner and they don’t seem excited, the most common response by far is that they observe the partners working all the time, and they don’t want to work like that. They feel there is more to life. When we discuss this with partners, they slough it off. Common responses: “I like my work and I don’t mind working the hours. Why should I stop doing what I love?” “I don’t work that much time. The national average of 2,350 total work hours is only 270 hours of overtime. That ain’t so bad. Besides, maybe 120 of those hours are additional vacation that staff don’t get.” “I tell staff that yes, some of our partners may work long hours, but it isn’t required. There are no rules that require partners to work long hours. We do it because we love it. And we get paid based on our overall performance, not how much overtime we work.” “A top executive in any business works overtime. If you want to be successful and rise in any organization, it’s very hard if you only work 9 to 5.” I honestly don’t have an answer to this dilemma. Should partners work fewer hours to encourage their staff to remain with the firm? Possibly. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what partners can do to dispel the image that they work all the time. This article is reprinted with permission from Marc Rosenberg, CPA. To view the original, please visit https://rosenbergassoc.com/ why-working-at-a-cpa-firm-is-phenomenal. Marc Rosenberg is a nationally known consultant, author, and speaker on CPA firm management, strategy, and partner issues. The managing partner of the Chicago-based consulting firm Rosenberg Associates, he has consulted with more than 1,000 firms throughout his decades-long consulting career. Rosenberg is recognized annually by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting. For more information, contact him at (847) 721-4888 or marc@rosenbergassoc.com. 23 www.nescpa.org
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