Dateline:  09/07/97

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I read last week in an accounting forum one small CPA practitioner's dour point of view that the accounting profession is dying.  As he said, the bottom is falling out for small practitioners.  Those starting college are looking to other areas and professions, and the investment to become a CPA is no longer worth the effort. He further commented that many CPA's are not making a good living, and are  looking to get out of the profession.   His explanation is that the Big Six are regulating and running the profession now and the small CPA firm cannot exist now or in the future. 

Refuting that point of view, another CPA responded that the future will belong to those firms that can reorganize to adapt to a rapidly changing professional and technology-intensive environment.  He said that smaller firms must be more clever about networking with other firms with narrow areas of specialization. To do that they must take advantage of the new communications technology that makes it much easier to identify individuals with special skills and to communicate the availability of these services to others.

Whatever your personal opinion about the future of professional services and the structure of firms and service delivery, it's clear that technology has sped up the process of practicing, and the firms that embrace technology and use it effectively are those with the greatest likelihood of success. 

As I surf the net each week, I visit law firm web sites, accounting firm web sites and all kinds of other sites related to business and the professions.  If you do that, you get a sense of how different firms have responded to the need to change in order to do business.  I have been surprised to see that some of the largest law firms have the most mundane and uninteresting web sites, in contrast to the largest accounting firms, which have complex sites full of information. And at the same time, many smaller accounting and law firms have excellent web sites that highlight their specialties in interesting ways and are full of information that makes visitors want to know more about them. 

I'm not proposing that a web site is the right answer for every firm.  I'm mentioning this to point out that using the technology that is available today, any smaller firm can compete effectively with larger firms.  As the gentleman above said, smaller firms just have to be more clever. Certainly, if your firm is not making use of voice mail, e-mail and the research capabilities of the Internet, you may want to do some hard thinking about how effectively you will be able to serve your clients in the future.

As we approach the end of the century, the professions are in a state of change. How can you help to position your firm for the future?   The broad and general answer is to be sure you haven't overlooked any key issues in your strategic planning.  A few years ago futurist Jay Nisberg offered these potential problem areas for professional firms:

1. Aging of partners and lack of retirement planning
2. Aging clientele of firm
3. Competition from all sides: up - down - over
4. Lack of sense of urgency by partners
5. Lack of motivated workforce
6. Lack of productivity and efficiency plans to reduce write-offs or downs
7. Insufficient amount of time devoted to planning
8. Lack of succession planning, training and development
9. Lack of corporate and business mentality
10. Insufficient creativity and aggressiveness

I would add two more:

11. Incorporation of communication technology
12. Creative networking/joint venturing arrangements with specialty firms

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Copyright 1997 by Kaye Vivian (kvivian@cloud9.net).  All rights reserved.  Permission to reprint is granted provided this article is not altered and the copyright notice remains attached