Art of Accounting: Strategy from Ron Baker

Ronald J. Baker has been a ubiquitous leader in accounting practice management for almost three decades. He first came to my attention when I read his book The Professional’s Guide to Value Pricing toward the end of the 1990s, and I have been reading most of what he has written since.

Ron is a strong advocate for trashing the time sheet, which I think is a valuable management tool. However, setting that aside, I believe his efforts to elevate practice management are innovative, insightful and venerable and should be understood by everyone managing a practice or who wants to. 

I heard him speak at an AICPA national conference more than 20 years ago and soaked up everything he said. Earlier this year we shared a podcast on Accounting High moderated by Scotty Scarano, as I wrote about in this column. A month ago I had an opportunity to attend a live CPE session presented for the NJCPA by Ron on Strategy and Positioning for Profitability and finally met him and we even took a selfie.

Ed Mendlowitz

That program was full of ideas, logic and was thought provoking. I took some notes and want to share some of Ron’s ideas here. 

• A strategy is a detailed plan for achieving success.
• You cannot have a strategy without planning.
• You cannot plan without a strategy.
• A strategy is not selected, it is created.
• A strategy is not a plan; it is a theory that must be tested in the marketplace.
• The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do (Michael Porter).
• Strategy is not a choice from alternatives; it is designed.
• Don’t start with goals: Good strategic goals are the outcome of strategy, not its input.
• In its simplest form, a compelling positioning strategy lives at the intersection of the crosshairs of: Being something…for someone.
• Diversification is what we do when we don’t know what to do. It’s a lack of focus that imposes a complexity tax.
• Be customer focused rather than competitor focused.
• Focus provides you with a well-defined criterion for identifying the types of clients who want you for what you do best.
• Focus gives you a stronger win ratio when soliciting new business because you are playing to your strengths.
• Focus leads to a business development program based on a meaningful unifying theme.
• With focus you have more pricing power because you are offering tailored differentiated services with better experience outcomes.
• Focus ultimately leads to a clearer direction for how your firm should spend its attention, money and resources.

There is a lot more and condensing his riveting presentation into a few bullet points does not do him justice; but the ideas presented here should raise some awareness of the important process of determining strategy for your practice, and perhaps for yourself.
I also recommend reading his books, and there are plenty you can pick from. If you want a start – get Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms.

My Memoirs as a CPA book has been published and is available in Kindle and print editions at amazon.com. Buy it, read it and enjoy it! Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.