More Yesterdays than Tomorrows

The other day I received a hefty-sized letter with a Florida return address and a last name that rang faintly familiar. Since it was stamped I knew it wasn’t likely to be one of the 43 credit card offers that overpopulate my mailbox with promises of a .0002 interest rate should I decide to transfer my current balance.

No, to my surprise and admittedly no small sense of shock, it was an invitation to attend my (add your own choice of year here because I’m not telling) high school reunion. The event, staged over three days in July includes a pool party, a meet and greet at one of the local watering holes, a gala event on Saturday evening and finally, a Sunday barbecue on one of Long Island’s more famous beaches.

Curiosity if nothing else will have me RSVP’ing  the Saturday event, but the wincing thought of hundreds of middle-aged classmates in swimwear most of whom haven’t seen the inside of a gym since the Carter Administration, will likely prompt me to send a “regrets only” for the pool party and beachcomber shindig.

As I’d indicated above there was also a bit of a shock factor to accompany the invite. 

All those years cannot have passed that quickly. It doesn’t seem all that long ago, I donned a white dinner jacket, fumbled with my cumber bund and cufflinks and in an outdoor ceremony on a beautiful late afternoon in June, received my diploma.

After I thought about how many family members and loved ones who helped me celebrate that  milestone are not around today, it was then I realized that I have far more yesterdays than I do tomorrows.

Unfortunately, as owners or managing partners of CPA firms, the same holds true for you. Currently more than 60 percent of CPA firm partners are over the age of 50. The AICPA says that 75 percent of its membership will be eligible to retire by the year 2020.

If you’re keeping score, that’s just seven years down the road.

So what have you done in terms of succession? Sadly many have done little or nothing.

To be fair, many have painstakingly made inroads to ensure a smooth transition, whether via internal or external methods, but in truth, far more have not. I won’t bore you with grim statistics but let’s just say that more firm owners will have to execute their exit strategies out of sheer necessity than on their terms.

And even though that’s the cornerstone of our business, it’s never pleasant to have to help someone at the 11^th hour who is pigeonholed into either merging or turning off the lights because there was always a client or an issue over the years that trumped getting down to succession planning. You worked hard to build your firm and you should be rewarded as such for your years of sweat equity.

Otherwise, you’ll end up wondering where all those years went. And unfortunately, unlike my reunion, you won’t be reminded with a letter.