A Time for Change

Effective May 1, 2010, I will leave R&A CPAs and become an equity partner in the CPA firm Eide Bailly, LLP (EB). There are numerous times in everyones life when change is inevitable. Then there are those times when we seek change. In most cases I would say change is good for all parties involved. I have reached one of those times where I have sought change AND I believe the change is good for all parties.

After 10 wonderful years at R&A CPAs in Tucson, AZ I came to realize it was time for a change! The last 10 years have without a doubt been my most professionally productive, educational, emotional and rewarding of my life. I took on many new challenges personally and professionally and, as usual, some of those worked out and some did not...oh well that's how life goes. Because of my experience at R&A I have some great connections with some incredibly talented CPAs (the remaining partners) and have some special friends (all the past and current staff) too. Those relationships are invaluable to me.

So why is this change good for all parties? Well I have become the "square peg" within the R&A senior management group, so with me out of that picture R&A will have a more cohesive vision to execute...big winners! I, on the other hand, will be involved with a much larger organization whose management is much more inline with my professional business management philosophies. I also get to pursue the development of a service I am passionate about using today's technology over a large enterprise with total support of senior management...huge win for me too! Finally, EB gets me, my dedication, passion and knowledge but probably the most important thing they get is someone with the passion and leadership skills to take on a service area that needs some attention...another huge win!

I'm going to miss R&A but I relish the opportunities that lie ahead. As a final note, I hope everyone gets to experience change in their life. Whether change is good or bad is based on your attitude and ability to seek out opportunity. Make the best of your life every day!

Victor

Share The Knowledge

One of the most important things we can do to help our organizations, associates, employees, and any one else we care about is to share what we know with them.  After all, that is what teaching is.  At R&A we have recently taken this to a new level.  Just this month, our efforts in an international collaboration with other CPA firms went "live".

R&A is a member of an international organization that teaches CPA firms how to provide consulting services to small and mid-sized businesses.  This group provides us with phenomenal training and "best practice" tools and techniques to deliver these services.  With Ran One's

assistance, a group of about 12 CPA firms from across the globe launched a new website to assist business all around the world during the horrific economic crisis.  Please visit the site at http://www.economicrecoveryresourcecenter.com.  The information on this site is as valuable as you can find any where.

Keep the American dream alive, stay focused and use the resources around.  We are all in the same boat, and we all need each other to make it through to better days!

Victor Puchi, CPA

Managing Shareholder

R&A CPAs

www.RandAcpas.com

Happy Holidays

As we rapidly approach the end of another incredible year and the holiday festivities get cranked up I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year!

Reflecting on my fortunate past comes so easy to me this time of year. Regardless of personal or professional struggles I may have had the super majority of my life has been blessed with loving family and friends and a very successful professional career.  I challenge everyone to put their own lives in perspective this holiday season.  Take a few moments to remember the tragedies that have occurred in our own back yard and around the world.  The victims of 911, the floods in New Orleans and surrounding areas, the fires in California, the thousands of children inflicted with life-ending disease and the millions inflicted with mental/psychological challenges.

Be grateful and appreciative, loving and caring, sensitive and honest.  Give with heart not only with money.  Give with respect not for respect.  Love those that are with you, inspire those that are influenced by you and offer a prayer for those you haven't met.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Victor Puchi, CPA

R&A CPAs

www.RandAcpas.com

   

Succession Planning

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenges small to mid-sized business owners face is that of succession planning.  Finding the right person or people to hand the reigns over to should be a process that lasts years not months.  It is difficult to accept that whoever that next person is, they won't be you and they won't run the place like you either.

So what can be done to increase the success of handing things over to the "next generation"? First of all, don't limit your options and plan plan plan.  One of the most important things I have learned over the 20 plus years of being a business owner and advisor is to make sure you have an exit strategy as early in the game as possible.  I now teach young entrepreneurs to make sure part of the business plan is an exit strategy.  What options are there?

For the most part there are 3 options to exit.  First is to hand it over to an insider.  That would be someone that has been working for you that understands how the business works and is willing to pay for the opportunity to drive the bus going forward.  Second, is a sale to a competitor or larger enterprise that has an interest in your market and your brand.  The third is a variation of the second and that would be to merge with a competitor or a complimentary business that gives both entities a benefit.  There is the option to liquidate or close the business but I don't think of that as succession planning even though it is an exit strategy.

Finding the right player is always the difficult part.  A successful business almost always has clearly defined core values and you want them to stay in tack so you need someone that understand and believes in yours.  You also want to make sure there is strong leadership and passion for the business along with aptitude, compassion and strong business acumen.  Now you start seeing why this is such a challenge!  The good news is that this happens all the time so you aren't the first person to have to do this.  The bad news is that at least half of these fail within the first 3 years.

The point here is to take your time and think about how you can best transfer what you know about the business, people, customers, process, market, industry, and all the tricks of the trade to that lucky chosen one.  Invest time and money to educate and edify or to investigate a potential buyer/merger candidate to find the best fit possible.  Understand that there is great value in mentoring, shadowing, selecting a protege, or whatever you want to call it.  The training for the next leader should be much different than any other position in the business because the business owner is a unique position.

Be aware that businesses, like people, have a period when they are in their prime so don't wait too long if you want to maximize the chance of success and value.

Victor D Puchi, CPA

vpuchi@randacpas.com

People Care

So I've been pretty quiet on the blog front for quite some time. I was just recently inspired to continue by one of my staff members that said "I miss reading what your thoughts are". If one person is interested, I suspect there are more, so here I am.

In todays market place, the accounting profession is still experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals. This environment causes businesses to be extra efficient and excellent at retention if they are to compete. We've been struggling with this for years now and every day we get better at transforming our young and not so you team from takers to givers.

Last Friday we launched the annual R&A Employee Retreat. For the first time ever, we closed the office and took all employees to a resort for a day of education. The key was that the education had nothing to do with accounting but everything to do with personal development and what R&A CPAs was all about and how or why each individual makes a difference. We had a great guest speaker, Robert Van Arlen, that started the day off and really got things moving in the right direction. For eight straight hours we educated and learned like never before. Sometimes all you have to do is ask and you'll find out where the interests are and even more important you find out where you can help. People really want to do the right thing for the most part and in order to help/teach them you must listen. In this case it helped by asking away from our typical environment in a setting that was built to show we care. We learned that we have a lot of very special people that care too! Everybody there on Friday won a very special prize and we all will benefit.

If anyone out there is in need of a keynote or motivational speaker Robert Van Arlen is your guy! Check him out at www.robertvanarlen.com. I need to make sure I let you all know that I met Robert through Main Corridor, www.maincorridor.com, another great organization you should check out.

Favorites

Why does it seem like everytime you get a group of new students you end up with a favorite?Does this damage your ability to teach everyone else fairly? For one thing, we are humans with feelings and so I believe its a bit natural to be "pulled" or to "pull" that special one a little closer to us. I also think we want to have a success story, so we look for that one student that is just soaking it up and try to make sure they succeed.
That may be all fine and dandy but our purpose should be to teach all of them. I was reading Tony Dungy's book and in one of the chapters he quotes his father, his greatest teacher, as saying "all students deserve an A". To me this means that every student deserves your attention and you should try to find a way to help them succeed.
It's too easy to get frustrated with those that don't "get it" right away. I have a new crew in my office as I write this and some are faster than others but I'm determined to give them all a fair shake and challenge myself to be the teacher that actually taught them something and made a difference in their lives.
As a teacher and mentor, every student should be your favorite! I guarantee you each and everyone one of them is special and they deserve the attention.

The Basics

Well how many times have you been frustrated after having spent so much time teaching someone something only to find out that they "just don't get it"?



I know we've all heard that not everyone learns the same way and that maybe we need to change the delivery and various similar hints. There are two components to this I would like to discuss that I believe are key to anyone's success as a teacher.



First and most important, in my book, is we must learn to listen! Don't just listen for the question but listen to learn about the person and how their brain works. We give hints about ourselves by the way we speak, the words we use and the way we try to explain things. We can even learn by watching the way someone doesn't ask questions or get involved in discussions. Learning, and hence teaching, is just as much about trust as it is about knowledge. You need to make your audience trust you in order for them to really want to listen and learn from you. Get to know them and let them get to know you....priceless.



The other component to this is making sure you don't get frustrated when the message doesn't seem to be reaching the audience. There could be numerous reasons why, some of which I just mentioned. I was reading a book on how to trade options in the stock market by Wade Cook (yes I've made some dumb decisions too) some 10 years ago and he quoted someone but I can't remember who or what the name of this book is. Anyway, the quote has remained very fresh in my mind and I find it holding true time after time after time. So here it goes, "when the student is ready, the teacher shall appear".



Look, we are in our leadership positions because we have talent and don't forget that you have done something good in order to get to where you are...don't take that away from yourself. If the person(s) you are trying to teach don't want to learn they won't, so don't beat yourself up.



Be proud, be productive, you are the reason this country is so successful!

Clear Message

Well that sure was a long break....I recommend not catching the flu if you want to be productive....ouch!

So right after I  posted my first blog "Teach to Win" I started getting comments about the real ability to teach someone how to win.  It didn't take long for me to realize that I hadn't been clear enough in my original message.

I'm not sure if you can teach someone how to win and that isn't what I intended to communicate. My message is that if you teach people what you know then they get ahead (win) and you fulfill what I believe is each and everyone of our obligations to society (educating).  So when you teach someone you fulfill that obligation and that is winning in life, hence the title "Teach to Win".

You see, I believe that everyone has something of value to teach someone else but we never know when or what that might be.  Those of us that can look at our lives and feel like we've done "OK" and have a sense of accomplishment probably have actually achieved quite a bit.  Whether you have graduated top of your class, reached middle management, raised a family, become a politician or started and run your own business you have experienced many things and struggled through things that thousands of others that follow that path will undoubtedly struggle with and experience too.  Why not share your struggles and experiences with them so that they need not struggle as hard?  Isn't that what you wished would have happened to you?  Maybe it did happen to you, so return the favor!  If so, then you too believe in Teach to Win and I thank you and so does your fellow man.

I hope my message is clear now.  I want to share my experiences as a business owner, a husband, a father and a student.

Please give me your thoughts and share your wealth of knowledge with us all.