1. Talk to your current firm.
This is #1 and #1A to me. If you're good, your firm is going to want to
keep you. Your role will not be in jeopardy if you raise the question
of what your future there holds. Talk to your firm's leadership and get
your concerns out on the table. Maybe your issues are resolvable. The
bottom line is, don't invest all your time and energy in a job search
only to find out that your current firm will do a lot to keep you. I
would even go so far as to suggest you say that you aren't 100% sure
your future is there without these changes. It is all too common these
days for firms to offer a lot more money and/or promises to make things
better if you go in to resign. Because of that event, what happens
afterward is really not a true indication of their intent. 95+% of the
time, things really don't change.
2. Discuss it with your spouse.
It is most important that you both agree with the idea of you making a
change. If your spouse doesn't buy into the idea fully, then you really
shouldn't be doing it. What I hear frequently when I meet partners
considering a change is "my spouse is behind me in whatever I decide
regarding my career. " My point is that a major decision like this
warrants a serious discussion.
3. Read your partnership agreement.
You need to know what your contractual rights and obligations are.
Interestingly, I find that partners often don't have a copy of their
contract, can't find their copy, or have to get a copy from their firm,
which, as you can imagine, is pretty awkward. At any rate, get your
hands on your partnership agreement and read the restrictive covenants
very carefully. Some are stricter than others, but that's a topic for a
different conversation. And.... see #5 below.
4. Get a sense of market conditions. Talk
to industry colleagues that you can trust to be discreet and get their
input. Read relevant articles from trade publications such as Accounting
Today, Inside Public Accounting, and The CPA Journal. Talk to
recruiters and other experts in the field who know the CPA world very
well and who work primarily with partners.
5. Talk to an attorney. Ideally this should be an attorney who specializes in partnership agreements. Meet
them in-person, show them your partnership agreement, and have them
clearly explain what you can and cannot do. If you don't know such
attorneys, I would be happy to recommend a few.
6. Update your resume. You
may have a firm bio with a photo and some brief background information
and that's enough to start. At some point though, you will need a
traditional, chronological resume with your job history, education,
license information, professional and community organizations, etc. This
is something I help partners with quite often and will gladly provide
assistance.
7. Assemble a client list or create a marketing plan.
Nothing fancy, just a simple excel spreadsheet that includes client
A,B,C etc, industry or individual, length of time they've been a client,
services, recurring fee revenue, and the probability from 0% to 100% of
their coming with you. If you don't have a potential book of business, I
recommend creating a marketing plan. (It's a rare partner opportunity
where business development isn't a prime topic) The marketing plan will
be a short document outlining how you will attract new business by
tapping into your relationships with bankers, attorneys, wealth
advisors, insurance agents, etc., whom you've met over the years as well
as how you will be involved with industry, trade associations, and
other specialized groups for business development purposes.
8. Engage a professional recruiter.This
is a strong suggestion for the reasons that follow. Professional
representation has value in terms of discretion, confidentiality, and
awareness of below-the-radar screen opportunities such as boutique firms
or confidential situations. And, you definitely want to work with a
recruiter who knows the public accounting market, has relationships with
the managing partners, and works regularly with partners.
