Rating: Summary: Old Schoolers will cringe at some of the suggestions Review: This book champions many of the beliefs I've held for years at working at Big 4, regional, and small public accounting firms. Mainly, that time sheets, hourly rates, billable hours, etc. is a completely misguided and outdated manner to try to capture costs and price services.I just resgined from a firm to start my own practice. While there, I was discussing this book with one of the firm's Partners. When I suggested the radical idea of no timesheets, he replied, "how will you know the people are working." As this book effectively points out and analyzes, firms just aren't hiring the right people! The book does get a bit redundant at times, and does put forth some ideas that seem a bit crazy (such as 100% money back gaurantees in your engagement letters if the client doesn't like the service). However, I think that overall the book does make some very excellent points. Firms that are courageous enough to make changes based on ideas generated from this book may be the "firms of the future" Finally, despite the title, this book is for CPAs and CPA firms. Lawyers and other service providers will not get as much out of it. For those starting firms, or for those looking for ideas to improve their current firms, this book should help.
Rating: Summary: Old Schoolers will cringe at some of the suggestions Review: This book champions many of the beliefs I've held for years at working at Big 4, regional, and small public accounting firms. Mainly, that time sheets, hourly rates, billable hours, etc. is a completely misguided and outdated manner to try to capture costs and price services. I just resgined from a firm to start my own practice. While there, I was discussing this book with one of the firm's Partners. When I suggested the radical idea of no timesheets, he replied, "how will you know the people are working." As this book effectively points out and analyzes, firms just aren't hiring the right people! The book does get a bit redundant at times, and does put forth some ideas that seem a bit crazy (such as 100% money back gaurantees in your engagement letters if the client doesn't like the service). However, I think that overall the book does make some very excellent points. Firms that are courageous enough to make changes based on ideas generated from this book may be the "firms of the future" Finally, despite the title, this book is for CPAs and CPA firms. Lawyers and other service providers will not get as much out of it. For those starting firms, or for those looking for ideas to improve their current firms, this book should help.
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