I started my CPA practice in 1995 with a home office and a Yellow Pages ad. Business was slow the first two years and then doubled over the next four years. However, after moving into an office space and hiring too many staff who did too little, my expenses outpaced my revenues.

During tax season, I would come home, make dinner, put the kids to bed, and go back to work till 2 am. The next day, I would get up at 6 a.m. to do it all over again.

I regularly received IRS notices of staff errors in our clients’ returns; I paid the penalties and interest myself. Since the staff got paid regardless, they didn’t care about their mistakes. They had the same attitude about their clients’ unpaid bills; it didn’t matter because they got paid anyway. I was working ridiculously long hours for no return.

A broker who bought and sold accounting practices called me every six months to see if I was burned out enough to sell my CPA practice. He would say, “You are working for your employees!” and almost convinced me to sell. Thank goodness he didn’t. Instead, I signed up for Sterling’s practice management program. That is when everything started to turn around.

Sterling worked with me to develop an organization chart, along with policies, procedures and a statistical management system. We tied staff compensation to their production. The staff accountants now get paid a percentage of what they personally produce. If a client’s bill doesn’t get paid, the accountant doesn’t get paid. If the IRS fines us for an error in a client’s return, the preparer pays. As soon as I put the responsibility back on the producers, they became accountable for their work. The difference was like night and day.

Now I have half the number of staff with higher billings. Collections are up by 32% and profitability has increased by 600%. Before Sterling, my partner used to bill $3,000 a week which we thought was a lot. This past tax season, she regularly billed $15,000 per week. Back in the day, if I had told her she needed to bill $15,000 per week, she would have thought I was crazy. Now we do it with ease; it’s fun and we all get to go home to our families by dinnertime, even during tax season. Despite my reduced hours, I am making more money than ever before.

If you are feeling similar to how I did, I encourage you to contact Sterling at 800-933-7538 or click here for their DVD and a no-charge consultation. These days, I feel happy and lucky in my life and my CPA practice. For that, I thank Sterling. — Rochelle Chandler, CPA