This article is a good summary of how the recession affected the accounting firms.  It may all sound a bit unsettling as I found myself easily substituting “law firm” for “accounting firm” and finding it spot on the money.

 A couple of quotes deserve special attention.  This first quote is about getting closer to your clients and getting work.  Gary Boomer said, “The clients out there need you more than ever.  You just need to go talk to them and ask them what’s keeping them up at night and listen.  Not go out on a sales call, but go out and find out what’s making them tick.  If you talk to a client and sit there and listen for a while, you can find a lot of new work.”  This is so perfectly stated, but often not as well executed.

 The second quote is more about the perils of not making tough decisions when they should be made.  Addressing the cutbacks that were made during the recession, Gary Shamis said, “If we had done what we needed to do when we should have done it, we would have released them into a better environment.  I think the recession was good.  It forced us to be more proactive and look at workflow.”  Unfortunately, this is a lesson that is taught during each economic downturn.

 I was also quite interested in the changing dynamic in partner compensation as described by Allan Koltin at the end of the article.  Allan said, “The “new school” train of thought instead asks, ‘Who did you recruit to the firm last year?’  ‘On the upward evaluation, how many identified you as the reason they are with the firm?’ and ‘How many current and future partners would identify you as their sponsor?’”