Partners’ Network Newsletter | January 2015

Partners’ Network Newsletter | January 2015

Letter from the Editor

To our colleagues,

We are getting ready for tax season and the kick-off is our Pre-Tax Season CPE Program which is free for Partners’ Network members and one guest. I hope you can come and take advantage of it. We will have six of our tax people presenting on areas they specialize in. We work hard to provide up-to-the-minute information you can immediately apply to your practice and hope you benefit from these efforts.

The Partners’ Network has been expanded to include programs in Manhattan as well as New Jersey. This Pre-Tax Season program will be the same in both locations. The CPE programs also introduce you to colleagues you can call if you have questions about what they speak about. You can also call me, Heather or Danielle with your questions and we will find the right person among our 80 partners and over 500 staff that could assist you. We draw on all our staff. An accounting firm that has had administrative issues now speaks directly with one of our office managers.

Another free benefit of the Partners’ Network is the monthly Q&A that over 1200 people receive monthly. You must request it since it is a bulk email, and if you are not receiving it simply send me ([email protected]) an email requesting it. You should also be reading the www.partners-network.com blog which addresses issues our clients have. This is free also, just sign up and confirm it when requested.

The full Pre-Tax Season program and schedule is on the next page. The handout will be posted on line and provided on a USB flash drive and will be valuable reference source you can refer to in the future.

Be sure to sign up today for this valuable CPE program on Feb 2 in New Jersey or Feb 5 in New York. We all look forward to seeing you.

Cordially,

Edward Mendlowitz
President

Heather Campisi
Administrator

Danielle Atkinson
Administrator

P.S. We perform many services for CPAs including peer and quality reviews, business valuations and forensic services, and audits that you may not be in a position to perform. Please keep us in mind when you are in need of these services. We can also lend a hand to controllers who need assistance on special projects including tax basis conversions to GAAP, tax return preparation and state tax compliance issues.

Pre-Tax Season CPE Event

TWO LOCATIONS | 5 CPE CREDITS IN TAX

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

5:00pm-9:40pm
333 Davidson Avenue
Somerset, NJ 08873

View Directions

QUESTIONS?
Contact Heather Campisi
[email protected] | 732.828.1614

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015

8:00am-12:40pm
1411 Broadway, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10018

View Directions

QUESTIONS?
Contact Danielle Atkinson
[email protected] | 212.751.9100

Program Cost

Free for Partners’ Network members.
$145 for non-members.
$40 to purchase conference materials (if you cannot attend).

WithumSmith+Brown,PC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.learningmarket.org. For information regarding refund, complaint, and program cancellation policies, please contact Ashton Abby at [email protected].

Program Level: Intermediate Prerequisites: Must be a CPA in own practice or a Partner/Manager in a firm
Advanced Preparation: None Delivery Method: Group-Live

Interview with…Frank Boutillette, CPA, Partner

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION?

31 years.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BE AN ACCOUNTANT?

When I was in high school, my mom told me that my Dad’s accountant made more money than he did, so I considered becoming an accountant. I decided to take an accounting course in high school to see if I would like it even though all my courses seemed to be geared toward the sciences. I did well in that accounting course, so in college I decided to double major, Accounting and Chemistry. My path to accounting became apparent when in my junior year, I took organic chemistry. My grades in Organic were terrible. I was getting 50s, but with the curve that was a C. While in accounting I was getting mid to high 90s – I was setting the curve. I decided that a grade of 50 meant I had a 50/50 chance of blowing myself up in the lab. Based on this fear, I decided to major in accounting and drop chemistry. I was actually the first one in my family to go to college.

HOW WAS THE TRANSITION WHEN YOU MERGED INTO WITHUMSMITH+BROWN? WERE THERE ANY AREAS THAT WERE HARDER TO ADAPT TO THAN OTHERS?

The transition into Withum was easy. It was at a time when Mendlowitz Weitsen was growing, and we were expanding into more complex areas. We didn’t necessarily have the resources to handle that type of work or engagements. Coming into Withum made it easy for me to reach out for help on those types of areas. As a testament to how an upward merger can really grow your book of business, upon notifying our clients and contacts of our merger, a fellow accountant referred me to a friend of his who needed a new auditor. Now that we were a larger firm, we had the ability to do this type of work. We proposed on a $250K opportunity whereas the largest audit fee we had at Mendlowitz Weitsen was $50K.

Withum is firm that allows you to maintain your entrepreneurial desires while giving a structure to help you thrive. I appreciated merging into a Firm with this mentality. I also had the opportunity to voice my opinions on processes and procedures to help improve them.

One of the challenges of merging was giving up control – we were a 14 person firm coming into a large 200 person firm. I had to realize that my dream of having my name on the letterhead wasn’t going to happen. I also had to contend with having to answer to someone above me. I was giving up my own identity and becoming part of a firm identity. While this was something I had to get used to, it was a smooth transition and one that I would do 100 times again.

AS YOU WERE ASKED TO TRANSFER TO THE FIRM’S NEW YORK OFFICE AFTER IT WAS ACQUIRED THROUGH A MERGER, DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUR MERGER EXPERIENCE BETTER POSITIONED YOU TO BE THE WS+B LIAISON FOR THE NEW OFFICE?

Yes. I understood the feeling of losing your identity. I appreciated the fact that the merged in firm would lose some of its identity when it began to mesh into the culture of WS+B. They would now have to think more across the lines of how they impact a firm of 400 people as opposed to 55 people. I understood the frustrations of doing something your own way for a long time and then having to learn that there are other processes and procedures that you have to adopt. I already knew what WS+B expected of a firm that merged in; I knew the struggles and opportunities to grow that came with it; so it was easier for me to empathize with this in the new firm and help them along the way – be their mentor in a sense.

SINCE YOU’VE BEEN WITH THE FIRM FOR SOME TIME NOW AND HAVE SEEN IT MORE THAN DOUBLE IN SIZE, IS THERE ANYTHING THAT HAS STAYED THE SAME REGARDLESS OF HOW BIG WS+B GETS?

I always liked being in a small firm because I was in charge and felt like I had a close relationship with the clients. As Withum grows, we’ve still be able to keep our small firm feel when it comes to client service – we still practice the hand holding that we’ve always had. Our clients are still individuals to us rather than just one of many audit or tax clients. I enjoy that part of the Firm and feel that’s why we’re as successful as we are.

YOU’VE TAKEN ON THE ROLE OF NJSCPA PRESIDENT ELECT. HOW HAS THIS IMPACTED YOUR CAREER – PERSONALLY AND WITH THE FIRM?

Taking on the role of President Elect in NJ is a challenge as my office is in NY. This position is kind of a natural progression for me. I’ve been involved with the NJSCPA and the profession for so many years. Now I’m just in a more prominent role with more responsibilities. Accounting is a profession that I’ve made a good living at. I believe we all should give back to our community and our profession. Withum, as a Firm, encourages everyone to follow their desires and give back to our local communities and those in need, whether it’s volunteer work, sitting on not-for-profit boards and such – it’s been a huge part of our culture. Personally, I have volunteered much of my time to the NJSCPA taking on speaking roles, committee chair roles and board membership. In addition to the President Elect position, I am currently on the Peer Review Executive Committee of the NJSCPA, the Quality Control Materials task force of the AICPA and the Joint Trial Board of the AICPA. Yeah, I know, not much free time for work. I want to make the professional a better place for accountants to practice. We all want to be able to say thanks to where we came from, and this is my way of giving back and saying thanks.

The hardest part of taking on this position has to be managing my time. I’m learning how to maintain my book of business, grow it, and also keep the consistent level of service my clients have come to expect from me for so many years.

WHAT OCCUPIES YOUR FREE TIME WHEN YOU GET IT?

I enjoy boating and being on the water. The water is very calming, soothing and tranquil. I play tennis a couple times a week as a more personal outlet rather than using it as a business development tool. That’s where golf comes in, and I’m terrible at it. A little known fact about me… I’ve played the organ since I was 13. I took about 9 months of lessons and self-taught the rest of the way. During college I even took several music theory classes to expand my knowledge.

WHAT IS THE MOST REWARDING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER THUS FAR?

Most rewarding moment was when Ed Mendlowitz and Peter Weitsen asked me to become one of their partners. It was a life goal that I had set for myself – I always wanted to have my own practice. Even though I’m now one of 80 partners at Withum, I still feel like I have my own practice. The way that the Firm runs allows me to be entrepreneurial and feel like I’m in charge of my own practice in the context of a large growing regional and soon to be national firm.

Teaching Judgement!

[author-style]By Ed Mendlowitz, CPA, Partner[/author-style]

Everyone working for you has and uses judgment – they have homes, families, organizations they belong to and they manage their career. Each of these requires exercising judgment many times a day. They all have judgment.

What they might not have at work is experience and the empowerment to use their judgment – and that is usually their boss’ fault. It could be their fault if they are supposed to be, or want to be, positioned to grow and they aren’t given the opportunity and don’t reach out for that opportunity. Then they remain in that dead ended position without trying to better it. Putting that aside, it is their boss’ fault for not seeing that they get the proper opportunities to be able to exercise reasonable judgment.

The boss, who is the one that complained about their direct report not exercising judgment, is the culprit. Their subordinate has not been given the opportunity of exposure to accumulate the experience to be able to make the right decisions most of the time, and where they have, they have not been empowered to make it – even if it is a wrong decision. The mistakes are where they will learn. They should not be put in the situation where a client can be lost, or a bank loan called, but mistakes come from exercising judgment, and growth and responsibility – and experience comes from learning from those mistakes.

Peter’s Tax Issues

[author-style]By Peter Weitsen, CPA/PSA, Partner [/author-style]

I couldn’t help but notice that many of the mail slots looked almost completely stuffed, especially those that housed what we popularly call the master tax guide.

It was actually the RIA Federal Tax Handbook 2015. On one hand I was somewhat appalled that so many books remained in the mail slots more than 2 weeks after their delivery. I actually took a screenshot. (It is understandable that some of our staff are out in the field for weeks at a time and do not get to visit the mailroom. However, there are some who are in the office almost every day who do not seem to get there.) On the other hand I was prompted to reflect on the amazing book that arrived.

Firstly, I was visually impressed by its picturesque cover (ours is even customized with the WS+B logo), size (1 and 1/2 inches thick), weight (2.8 pounds), and volume (over 800 pages). I was even more awestruck with what was inside, a veritable treasure of federal tax knowledge. Considering just the opening sections of Highlights of the 2015 Edition, What’s New on the 2015 1040 and the Tax Calendar of 2015 Due Dates there is a dazzling array of information in just the first 16 pages. The ensuing 26 Chapters explain the Federal Tax Code from A to Z, or from Tax Rates to Income and Deductions, to Estate Gift and Generation Skipping Taxes, and everything in between.

Now if only the book, which was printed at the end of October, was accurate as to actual Extenders reinstated or modified by Congress in December. Happy Tax Season!

Client Service Techniques

[author-style]By Scott Mariani, JD, Partner [/author-style]

His ideas were right on point and we wanted to share it with you here. It is presented [with some editing] in the bullet point manner of his powerpoint which accompanied his oral comments. There are tips here that we feel every personal service provider would benefit from.

1. We always have a sense of urgency for servicing our Clients.

• We service our Clients using a “WS+B team approach.”
• We regularly schedule, prioritize and reassign our Client work based upon the importance to the Client.

2. We are trusted advisors to our Clients and are always available and responsive.

• We are never in a meeting or out to lunch.
• We return Client phone calls and emails daily.
• We do not want our Clients to feel neglected.
• We send our Clients Friday afternoon e-mails or make phone calls then.

3. We offer value added services through thought leadership and sharing of industry information.

• We always give the Client something extra.
• We know their industry.

4. We visit our Clients and give our Clients personalized attention.

• We get out of our office!
• We look around our Client’s office to determine their interests.

5. We communicate regularly with our Clients and provide timely services. We are good speakers and better listeners.

• We implement work plan and timelines with our Clients for WS+B deliverables.

6. We learn what our Clients like to do with their personal time outside of their job and we let our Clients talk about it.

• We try to develop personal long-term relationships

Bill Hagaman’s Monday Morning Messages

[author-style]By Bill Hagaman, CPA, CGMA, Managing Partner, CEO[/author-style]

Today, I’d like to continue discussing Pat Williams’ book, Leadership Excellence: the Seven Sides of Leadership for the 21st Century, covering the third side of leadership:

People Skills. “Excellent leaders… have empathy and compassion for the ones they lead…. To be a great leader, you have to love people…. Clearly, leaders can’t do it all. They can’t achieve their leadership vision alone. Leaders work through people to accomplish their goals. That’s why leaders need people skills.” –Pat Williams

Yes, we are in the accounting, audit and tax business, but really… we are in the people business. Relationship building- whether as a trusted advisor to our clients or as a member of an engagement or niche team within our firm, it is the core of what we do. Thus, the key to being successful in our profession is possessing people skills. Williams describes them in this way: “People skills are simply the learnable skills that enable you, the leader, to understand the people you lead, to empathize with them, and to build harmonious relationships with them. People skills are the social skills that enable you to get along with people, to negotiate with people, to avoid and resolve conflicts with people, and to interact with people in a way that is mutually beneficial.”

Great leaders enjoy spending time with their people, lifting morale, encouraging spirits, and empowering minds. President Bill Clinton would single out people in a crowd and speak to them at a very personal level. George Washington would never leave his troops, even though he longed to be home. Hal Moore was the first one on the battlefield, and the last one off, demonstrating loyalty to his troops. Jesus never abandoned his followers, despite the proverbial stones some may have thrown at him. Here’s a list of Williams’ recommendations on how to sharpen your people skills:

• Be visible and available. Here’s an important acronym to remember: MBWA – “manage by walking around.” Take the time to speak with your staff every day.
• Be a good listener. Everyone has a need to be heard. The most uplifting leader of all is a leader who listens.
• Empower your people. Give them the encouragement and tools they need to succeed.
• Delegate. Accomplish goals through other people. Organize efforts of others in order to achieve what no one person could ever achieve alone.
• Take care of your troops. A leader must be loyal to those he or she leads.
• Don’t avoid conflict – manage it. Great leaders don’t fear conflict. They face it and resolve it.
• Level with your people. Be honest and open with your team.

I encourage you to take the time to practice your people skills every day, both personally and professionally. The effort has exponential reach, resulting in the teams in your life reaching greater heights.

Have a great week,
Bill

How to Join Partners’ Network

Why should my firm join The Partners’ Network?

• To broaden your firm’s services and expertise
• To help you build your business for growth and
  profitability
• To obtain answers to challenging audit and tax
  matters with a phone call
• To get ideas and tips on how to better manage your
  practice

What does The Partners’ Network offer a firm like mine?

Again, many answers:

• Free Power Breakfast covering timely topics.
• Discounts to the annual CPE Conference in June.
• Invitation to the Pre-Tax Season CPE program.
• Answers to your questions on tax, accounting, auditing, or practice management at no charge. Just pick up the phone and call, or send one of us an e-mail.
• Contacts with peer CPA practitioners, and opportunities for exchanging ideas, resources, and information with your colleagues.

How do I join?
Membership is $175 per year ($500 for firms of 100+). Phone or e-mail Heather or Danielle with your credit card information, or put a check and business card in the mail. It’s as easy as that. Contact Heather to join our New Jersey Chapter at 732.828.1614 or [email protected], and reach out to Danielle to join our New York Chapter at 212.751.9100 or [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Download PN Member Form