At the Crossroads - Hardcover

by Gale Crosley (Author), Debbie Stover (Author)

If you'd like to know how to change your underachieving firm, At The Crossroads: The Remarkable CPA Firm That Nearly Crashed, Then Soared may hold the key to a bright new future. This innovative book is told in story form, drawing the reader behind the scenes of a dysfunctional team that applies Crosley's Practice Growth Model to overcome the defects to produce a highly functional team.

Front Jacket

At the Crossroads

The Remarkable CPA Firm that Nearly Crashed, then Soared

Joe Abriola has a problem--a big problem. Managing partner of a prosperous Minneapolis CPA firm, Joe has just learned that his partners are on the vergeof mutiny. Why are they so upset? It's him!--or, rather, it's the way he's let their practice slide intocomplacency. Why are other CPA firms growing so fast when theirs isn't?

The partners want answers--fast. If not, Joe may find himself out in the cold . . . and it gets awfully cold in Minneapolis in the winter. What will he do?

What Joe does forms the backbone of this delightful new growth parable from Gale Crosley and Debbie Stover. In years of teaching CPA firms how to grow, Crosley--who heads Crosley+Company, an Atlanta-based CPA consulting firm--has developed a dynamic approach called the Practice Growth Model.

In At the Crossroads, that model gets put into place, and in the process, we learn what it takes to transform a sleepy, uninspired CPA firm into a powerhouse. Will all the partners survive? Will Joe survive? What about know-it-all Frank, too-lofty-to-care Charles, orcounting-the-days-till-he-retires Harold?

And what about the staff? The business developer who dresses like a dream but doesn't have a clue about bringing in business . . . the marketing director the partners won't take seriously--even the mailroom guy gets in a few licks!

Does this firm, with its head in the sand, blithely ignoring the complexities of a changing marketplace, look anything like yours? Would you like it to? Especially when the makeover is complete, and they're chalking up phenomenal growth, with a win rate on highly qualified opportunities of seventy percent?

If your firm is underachieving or growing inefficiently, and you'd like to know how to change all that, At the Crossroads may hold the key to a bright new future.

Back Jacket

Praise for At the Crossroads

The Remarkable CPA Firm that Nearly Crashed, then Soared

"Here's a bird's-eye view as told from the inside of exactly how a CPA firm went from a five percent growth rate to a twenty percent growth rate. You'll find it hard to believe this is a work of fiction, since its message is so true."
--Stuart Kahan, Executive Editor, CPA Wealth Provider

"Using a brilliantly realized novelistic approach, the authors, with rare understanding of therelationship between managing a professional firm and marketing, break through the long standing resistance that firms have to change. A remarkably successful and profoundly useful work for both professionals and marketers."
--Bruce W. Marcus, Editor, The Marcus Letter on Professional Services

"Every reader will see themselves or someone they know in Crosley's compelling first book about a CPA firm doing it right."
--Allan D. Koltin, CPA, President and CEO, PDI Global, Inc.

"There isn't a partner out there who won't recognize themselves somewhere in this book. GaleCrosley takes the reader by the hand and sometimes by the neck down the path to becomea remarkable CPA firm. Read this book with an eye toward learning and you will see what I'mtalking about."
--August J. Aquila, CEO, Aquila Global Advisors LLC and Chantrey Capital Advisors, Inc.

"At the Crossroads: The Remarkable CPA Firm that Nearly Crashed, then Soared is a compelling fable with an inspirational lesson for every CPA firm. It's an entertaining page-turner of a novel that shows how a little vision, courage, and knowledge can transform any group of also-rans into a team oftrue champions. More than merely a lesson in business, Gale gives us a lasting lesson in life. Everymanaging partner should take a dose of this book each morning before going into the office.Every aspiring CPA should embrace the message. They won't succeed without it."
--Rick Telberg, CEO, Bay Street Group LLC

Author Biography

Gale Crosley, CPA, is founder and principal of Crosley+Company, which specializes in "the business discipline of practice growth." She has consulted with dozens of CPA firms on revenue growth issues and opportunities, and designing strategies and tactics for achieving aggressive revenue growth objectives. She transfers knowledge involving opportunity development, marketing, and service line management to managing partners, partner groups, marketing directors, and staff. Her approach is designed to generate optimal revenue from every aspect of the practice. Gale lives in Atlanta with her husband, Steve, and their children.

Debbie Stover is a freelance writer withextensive writing and publishing credentials. She lives and runs in St. Louis, aided by her partner, Chris, and their mostly furry family.