According to this survey, conducted by Novak Marketing of New York, client satisfaction ratings were very close among all the Big Five firms. Arthur Andersen came in a close second. These executives were asked to rate their current firm and their perceptions of the other firms according to nine quality service attributes. Novak then weighted the results based on how important the clients regarded each characteristic. For example, among the largest companies, executives most admired Arthur Andersen's reputation for possessing a wide range of skills, understanding the client's business, displaying industry expertise, offering practical advice, deploying a capable staff and taking initiative.
Business Let's try a little exercise.
Have each partner in your practice group take a blank sheet of paper and list the partner's largest and most important clients. Include clients who represent emerging companies that currently have or soon may have some form of international business transactions. This list represents the most likely targets of future accounting firm interest. We're not finished. Be assured your accounting competitors will score well with this exercise.