When I wrote Passport to Partnership in 2015, it had been prompted by an impasse in my discussions within the walls of many accounting firms.
The Partners would say:
“The younger members of staff just don’t demonstrate leadership qualities.”
“We can’t find the right people.” etc
The managers would say:
“It’s hard to demonstrate a skillset when you’ve no idea what the partners are looking for because they never communicate with you beyond piling work onto you and giving you contradictory instructions.”
Here was the impasse. Were both sides telling the truth? I led a survey of 400+ firms to find out, the results of which formed the basis of the book. We’re now 10 years on. Has much changed?
Well, no, not really. Communication breakdowns, ‘unrealistic’ salary expectations from younger staff and the lack of a purpose, vision, career path for younger professional to buy into remain strong issues to overcome in the profession.
Firms still can’t find the ‘right’ people, firms still aren’t getting to grips with changes in technology and an accounting firm still, in general, is less attractive to work for than a similar sized organisation in industry.
When it’s hard to find the ‘right’ employee, the chances are that the employer is not the ‘right’ employer.
Here are the bullets:
- If you want to attract quality people, offer a quality working experience. This includes items over and above basic pay such as vision, nature of work and firm culture.
- Young professionals now have too much opportunity for you to be able to assume long term loyalty from them, as standard.
- Firms acquired by PE found the right team. How come they found them?
To your success
Martin Bissett
