It's nearly 20 years since I was headhunted by a 12 partner of accountants in North London, who wanted to recruit their first tax partner. I explained to the headhunter why I wasn't interested. In the event I agreed to meet with the managing partner who tried to persuade me to reconsider.
For as long as I have been writing and speaking about the future I have been stressing that finance professionals need to develop their business skills. Being technically competent and up to date is not enough. That's like having a basic cake mix - without any flavouring, decoration or colour. It's rarely
The biggest issue facing accountants in practice these days isn't the rise of robo-accountants, AI or cloud computing. The challenge that seems to hold many firms back is the same old chestnut it's always been. It's the difficulty in finding good people to join the firm. Almost every week I get approached by the
A Thomson Reuters survey of 350 UK accountants in June 2018 revealed six key areas to consider "as you step into the next decade". I have added my own commentary and views to the headline topics below: 1. Accept business model change The accountants believe that compliance will continue to sit at
When you need additional help with client work in your office, do you look beyond the idea of simply recruiting a new member of staff? Many of the smaller accountants I speak with are struggling to do everything themselves. And those who have regular help, want more but are reluctant to take on
The main topic for discussion at last month's meeting of The Inner Circle was: How do you get the right staff and support for your practice? The topic had been raised during a number of the conversations I had with members after the previous meeting. Not all have staff however. We met at The Eight Club
Another day, another request for me to to help find someone to fill a vacancy at a smaller firm. On this occasion it's for a sole practitioner in the Berks/Oxfordshire area. I thought it might be helpful to list out some of the elements of my advice: - Create a simple job spec that identifies
Since posting the first part of this blog on filling vacancies at professional firms I have been delighted by the general agreement that has met my observations. I have also received a number of requests to share what I think could be included on professional firms' websites to attract the best candidates. And let's
I thought I'd share some thoughts here that I have raised with many firms over the years in the context of their recruitment needs and how they fill vacancies. I touched upon this in a recent series of postings 'winning the war for talent'. Imagine for a moment that your firm has placed a
In parts one and two of this series, I summarised the first four steps that accountancy firms and other ambitious professional service firms need to consider if they want to attract and retain the right people to work for them. Having made a job offer and had it accepted we can now move onto
Accountancy firms and other professional service firms have long been competing in what has become known as the 'war for talent'. I've never liked this epithet but the only alternative one hears (the 'battle for talent') also sounds as if it belongs in a bygone era and is more relevant to the armed forces than
A friend of mine, Stephen Harvard Davis, is an expert at helping businesses retain top talent. I've just been inspired to add this item to my blog having read something similar on Stephen's blog which focuses more on job transition in larger corporate businesses. 1 - Don’t presume that good prospective partners will always be
A friend of mine, Stephen Harvard Davis is recognised as the UK’s leading authority on job transition and retaining top talent, He is the author of “Why do 40% of Executives Fail?” The following observations were inspired by an item on Stephen’s blog in which he addressed the retention issues relevant to top executives in
