How Local Firms Can Succeed in the 1990s (1991)

Local CPA firms are facing increased competition and a severe retrenchment in many industries and areas of the country. will it take to ensure their survival, let alone prosperity, in the coming decade? Basic services, a commitment to quality and a willingness to try new approaches, according to Jerrell A. Atkinson. Atkinson has demonstrated his strong interest in smaller firms through, among other things, his chairmanship of the American Institute of CPAs private companies practice executive committee. He applies his ideas about successful firm management as managing partner of Atkinson & Co., a 60-person firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In a Journal interview, he discussed the challenges he sees facing the profession and how he believes CPAs can rise to them. FIVE CRUCIAL FACTORS Atkinson believes five things are necessary to ensure a local firm's health in the 1990s. * Specialization. Atkinson recommends choosing an area--whether it's a particular industry, a sector of the economy, such as small business, or a certain service--and gaining recognition for expertise in serving We've made a market in construction, he says. We've made a name for ourselves in do that in part by speaking a lot on the subject. He cautions, though, that CPAs shouldn't try to take on all aspects of even the narrowest sector. You can't be all things to all people. work with general contractors and subcontractors, but we don't work with a lot of highway contractors. If we had one come to us, we'd take the time to ensure we had the right expertise or could find it outside the firm. While expanding one's base is a good thing, we in public practice must be very careful not to take on work in which we don't have sufficient expertise because the potential liability is worse than any profit it will bring. * Timely service. Atkinson stresses that CPAs should put clients' interests first when it comes to deadlines. Over the years a lot of us have taken extensions on tax returns, but with financial statements you have to be prompt or else you're dealing with history, he notes. Most of attest clients like to have the information as soon as possible, and we've made a real effort to speed up delivery process. If it once took us three months to produce financial cutting that down by one month gives clients another 30 days in their decision cycle. Atkinson believes the time a task takes is directly related to the time allocated to He says that speeding work doesn't require more staff and rarely means longer hours if firm members reorganize their priorities and make a commitment to earlier deadlines. * Involvement with clients. Local firms give themselves an edge when they demonstrate a sincere interest in serving clients, Atkins asserts. As competition heats up across the economy, our clients will want to know that we're behind them. That means when they have a need, we must be able to respond to it. Atkinson thinks a commitment to service starts at the top. Even though I manage the firm, there are still clients who have my home phone number. They know if it's important they can call me and I'll respond. If it means reorganizing my schedule, meeting with them at night or on the weekend, I'm willing to do That tells them I'm involved with them and want to help. Atkinson trains his staff to make the same kinds of effort with clients. Clients know the difference between firm members' billing rates and thus don't bring all their problems to the managing partner. Responsive service also ivolves innovative approaches to what CPA firms offer--and how they present their work. We need to consider how we can help clients by presenting them with more than the traditional information, Atkinson says. What about preparing graphs of client data over the last few years? Or we could give them ratios and compare them with national statistics, such as those from the Construction Finance Management Association for construction clients. …