By Edward Mendlowitz, Accounting Today October 9, 2017 The reality of being a partner in a firm, regardless of the size, is that you are running a “one-partner business.” That is so since it is your responsibility to manage the relationship with your clients, staff it, see that the deliverable reaches the client on time and coordinate everything to make that occur, that the pricing of your services is agreed to and paid when due. You also are responsible for budgeting the work and the realization and making sure the proper mix of staff are assigned and doing what they are supposed to be doing. You ensure that coordination with other…

By Edward Mendlowitz Published September 04 2017, 4:24pm EDT I have seen firms that use time sheets provide staff evaluations based on total chargeable hours, the ratio of chargeable hours to total hours, realization based on their time charges and sometimes collections per hour they charged. This is then compared to other staff at similar levels to determine “performance.” Alternatively I know firms that do not use time sheets and use the following measures to evaluate their staff. Look this over, compare to the time sheet evaluation methods and decide which you think is more appropriate: Type of and range of clients worked on; Gross fees collected from clients worked…

By Edward Mendlowitz Published July 24 2017, 1:11pm EDT You may or may not feel different the first day you wake up as a partner, but you will be different. People’s perceptions of you will have changed. You will now be a partner and as such an owner, a prestigious person within the profession and someone whose voice will speak with greater authority. Your clients will view you as someone who can represent the firm and bind the firm with mere utterances floating from your mouth—or in some cases from an unaware emotion or distempered facial expression. Your presence will also generate more excitement and authority. Your previous co-workers will…

By  Joanne S. Barry, CAE July 2017 Issue, Publisher’s Column, Featured July 2017 In 2015, the NYSSCPA leadership established the Moynihan Fund as a way to recognize the contributions of recently deceased past president David J. Moynihan. The fund would be composed of the two education-based initiatives that since their inception have been programs of the Society’s Foundation for Accounting Education: Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP), a five-day college readiness program established in 1987 by NYSSCPA President Bert N. Mitchell that sought to increase racial diversity within the profession, and the Foundation’s scholarship fund. Dave was a fierce advocate of both programs. The challenge became raising money for this newly…