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Art of Accounting: Strategic planning meetings

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It looks like we will be having another never-ending tax season. Right now, I know your mind is filled with getting your tax season work done, but you are also running a business and should not halt thinking about that. This includes doing what it takes to plan for the longer term.

Just getting through tax season is not a strategy. If you are in the same position now that you were in last year and the year before that, you need to take a few steps away from your daily routine and look at your practice with a big picture strategic view.

I recently had a phone call with a partner in a three-person firm who asked me to explain what I meant by strategic planning with respect to a small accounting practice. Strategic planning is a fancy title for the process of trying to figure out where your business will be at a given point in the future, for instance, in five years. It provides perspective around what you are doing today to get nearer to or past what you might imagine for the future of your business. In talking to many accountants, I know this means different things to different people. However, some things seem to be universal. Here are some questions to ask to get started:

  • Are you happy with where your practice is today? If not, then identify what you are not happy about and suggest how you would change it so you would be happy.
  • Do your partners agree with you, or are you the only one not happy with something? If you are the only one, that is a different issue than would be covered in a strategic planning meeting and should be worked on separately.
  • Where would you like your firm to be in five years?
  • What would you change or do to get to where you would like to be in five years?
  • Will you have the infrastructure necessary for your firm in five years, and how and when would you start developing that?
  • Do you really want to be where you said you wanted your firm to be in five years?
  • Do your partners agree with you? If not, identify the differences and see if you can agree on where you all want the practice to be.
  • Are you happy with what you are doing today?
  • If there were no constraints or money issues, what would you prefer to be doing in five years?
  • Would you want to be doing it with your current partners?

These are just a few questions, but if you can answer them honestly, it might set a direction for you and your firm. There are other ways to approach strategic planning meetings, but the above is a good place to start. Part of the process is knowing where you want to be.

Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.

Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, is partner at WithumSmith+Brown, PC, CPAs. He is on the Accounting Today Top 100 Influential People list. He is the author of 24 books, including “How to Review Tax Returns,” co-written with Andrew D. Mendlowitz, and “Managing Your Tax Season, Third Edition.” He also writes a twice-a-week blog addressing issues that clients have at www.partners-network.com along with the Pay-Less-Tax Man blog for Bottom Line. He is an adjunct professor in the MBA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University teaching end user applications of financial statements. Art of Accounting is a continuing series where he shares autobiographical experiences with tips that he hopes can be adopted by his colleagues. He welcomes practice management questions and can be reached at (732) 743-4582 or emendlowitz@withum.com.

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Tax practice Strategic planning Practice management Ed Mendlowitz
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