Despite a lousy economy, it’s nice to see “leading edge” accounting firms acquire new business systematically, almost like there was no economic downturn at all.  In fact, it’s great to see small accounting firms stick to their marketing plans and fight thru this economic storm like it did not exist. 

At the same time, I have heard from some firms that pulled in the reins last summer and are now struggling with high client attrition rates in certain industry sectors (e.g., real estate, construction, manufacturing, etc.).  In fact, I received a long email from a client earlier this month who pulled the plug on marketing last summer and is now trying to cry on my shoulder about how his practice had too many construction clients…blah…blah.  And because the practice declined so quickly, he can’t really sell the practice for a fair price either.  In response, he got some tough love from me back within the hour about how his marketing expense reductions cut into the bone and did not trim any fat.  Much to my surprise, he agreed.   

Back in the “olden days,” before most professionals learned to quit playing the silly game, it was an annual spring tradition for some idiot journalist somewhere to decide to “test” tax practitioners and publish the results under the guise of helpful consumer information. They’d deliver a pre-determined set of information to different tax preparers and then compare the resultant returns.