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Understanding Your Firm Growth Math - The Visionary Group

Written by Doug Lewis | Feb 7, 2018 6:00:00 AM

Most CPA firms across the country generally set a growth goal.

That can be as simple as growing 10% in one calendar year, or more long-term thinking like growing five million dollars in revenue over the course of three years. It is easy to set a goal, no matter how achievable or aggressive it might be. The difficult part is meeting or exceeding those expectations. We speak with Managing Partners across the country daily, some of which are the smartest people our team have ever gotten to know. A common trend when firms seek to grow is not breaking their goals down into manageable and tangible steps. Growth does not just happen, it takes a solid foundation of organic growth initiatives blended with inorganic merger and acquisition tactics.

Let’s say your firm wants to grow by two million dollars in the next year.

How much new business do you have to bring in each month for the next twelve months? Are you “accounting” for client runoff which could potentially increase the amount of new business needed to meet your goal by up to 15%? What would your new business goal be if you infused a merger or acquisition into your numbers during this year? These are the questions that firms should be asking themselves when developing your growth roadmap.

A good place to start is sitting down with your Partners and looking at your 2017 year-end metrics. What is a realistic growth achievement for the remainder of 2018? Breaking down your revenue goals into monthly averages is a good way to tackle this exercise and solidify a strategic growth plan. If you are having difficulties getting this process started, seek outside help to jump start the initiative. Our team specializes in these growth modeling sessions and would be happy to offer the first detailed planning call at no cost to your firm.