Survey says: keep clients

According to a survey titled Managing a Public Practice Part 1: Billing Rates,Compensation and Benefits, conducted by the provincial institutes of chartered accountants/ordre and the CICA, 88% of managing owners, managing partners or sole proprietors of Canadian CA firms rate attracting and retaining quality clients as their top business issue, listing it as very important or of critical importance. Attracting specific clients ranked third on the survey with 79% of CA firms rating it as important or critical.

Other issues emerging from the survey’s results relate to change. At the top of this category, at 84%, is keeping up with change in accounting and auditing standards. Adapting to changes in the rules of professional practice ranked fourth(79%); staying on top of professional development requirements ranked fifth (77%); balancing work and personal time ranked sixth (75%); balancing work volume placed ninth (66%). Hiring and retaining qualified staff places seventh in order of importance, yet for firms boasting10 or more staff members this categoryjumps to the No. 1 priority position.

John Tabone is CICA's manager of innovation