What if the partners have different succession goals?

Many mergers need to define and address differing partner goals. However, that is not the challenge. The challenge is when a firm elects not to consider a merger and must tackle the differing goals and desires of its partners when the firm infrastructure will not support or cannot support such goals. When that happens, unfortunately, many […]

How do we protect and/or realize our value?

The single most important step to protecting value is to understand how value is determined. Protection of value is achieved through a variety of methods. Before we disclose those methods lets identify current external factors putting pressure on practice value: Aging of our profession. The aging of our professions is producing ever-increasing numbers of firms seeking succession […]

Should my firm consider a merger as a succession solution?

The short answer is that your firm should consider anything that strengthens and provides advantages not currently available in your firm. A merger may or may not be a solution but the potential benefits of a merger should be analyzed, and it needs to be done with an approach of an independent third-party mindset. In this […]

What are some of potential effects of merger mania on my practice?

First and foremost, if another firm gains a competitive advantage, it often puts you at a competitive disadvantage. An example of this would be in the case of firms located in major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, etc. that have historically billed out for services at a higher rate, are now acquiring […]

Why is merger mania gripping our profession?

Much of it has to do with the disclosure in the section about acquiring and retaining younger talent but it does go deeper than that. Let’s take a look at events in the late 1990s which set a foundation for the current merger mania: A 1998 AICPA conference was one of the first to focus […]

How do we attract younger talent for a potential internal succession solution?

This is the goal of almost every firm in the country. So understand you have much more competition for younger talent than you have for new clients. Nearly every firm, regardless of size, struggles with this question. And, often when a firm is fortunate enough to land that star talent, they eventually lose them. This […]