Since 1967 more than six hundred local, regional, and national firms have engaged Donald B. Scholl as consultant to their professional practices. His exposure to professional organizations, particularly those in the field of public accounting, is unique. Don's work in forty-six states (at last count) – as consultant, as trainer, as seminar leader, as speaker – has made him known to thousands of CPAs and other professionals. And the years of hands-on experience have given him uncommon insight into the tough issues of practice management, administration, and growth. Issues of utmost concern to your profession, your practice, and your continued success.
The Approach...
Flexible, adaptable, practical. It has to be that way. Don realizes that no two practices are identical, no two problems quite the same. To each new engagement he brings the commitment to finding workable solutions – solutions your firm can live with. Perhaps most important, he listens. And then he listens some more.
"I'm working with attitudes more than I am with numbers. I pay a great deal of attention to the personal interviewing activity – one of my primary involvements. It is these interviews that provide the data base for identifying the real problems within the practice. Only then can we move on to the development of an alternate approach."
The Engagements...
Consulting. Don's primary activity. Geared to your need, whether that be a single-issue consultation or a comprehensive management audit of your firm. Issues like ownership agreements, owner relations, responsibility distribution, position descriptions, performance evaluation, personnel policies. Merger and purchase negotiations, acquisition searches. The management audit? A wide-ranging review of the systems, procedures, structures, roles, and responsibilities for the operation of the firm – resulting in a written report delivered and discussed at a partners' retreat.
"A significant characteristic of professional firms is that they are not standard. A technique or procedure that works well in one does not necessarily work at all in another. Almost every engagement has got to be adapted, massaged to fit the special needs and gain the total acceptance of the partners. You can't do this kind of thing merely with a drawer-full of forms."
Training. In-house training and development programs for partners and upper-level staff. Created and designed to achieve your specific goals. Improving skills critical to successful practice management. How to motivate, how to operate, how to manage – in an environment staffed with professionals. Workshops, update conferences, partner retreats.
"I'm more a proponent of evolution than I am of revolution. Both training and development have to do with growth, so you must be sensitive and realistic about the degree of immediate change you can expect. Individuals or groups can be moved just so far and only so fast – you've got to work it through with them. The issue of readiness is a highly significant one."
Speaking. Don's ongoing relationship with the accounting profession – as consultant and trainer – enables him to explore areas of particular concern. Changing regulations, shifting expectations, new technologies. Will you prosper and prosper well? Are you on the cutting edge or are you falling off the edge? At MAP conferences, at state society functions, at chapter meetings. And for the past thirty-nine years, at Management For Results (MFR) seminars. Don is the author and presenter of MFR, a three and a half day long development program for owners, sole-practitioners, and other firm leaders.
"The public presentation – for state meetings, regional conferences, MFR – is sort of my keystone exposure to the profession as a whole. You discover what's working and what's not in the offices of CPA firms across the country. And when you get right down to it, that's what we're really interested in. Let's try to get it right, let's find a way to make it work...."
Consulting and training fees are normally calculated per diem. Speaking fees are by arrangement. Expenses additional.
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