Unique Areas

Superior performance, the holy grail of an accounting firm, is not only in your reach, but can be had through proper leadership, systems and rewards. This one day workshop will provide you with the tools to take back to your firm. Topics include:

• Workforce trends affecting performance and rewards
• Exploring superior performance variables and how to align them
• Linking individual goals to strategy
• Getting your partners and employees engaged

The day will end with an open topic 30 minute Q&A session.

August Aquila has been a frequent presenter at SME conferences and has been described by Accounting Today, as one of the profession's key strategic thinkers. August focuses his consulting practice on succession planning, mergers & acquisitions, compensation plan designs and operational/partnership issues. In 2004, 2007, and 2009 through 2011 he was selected as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in The Accounting Profession by Accounting Today. August has authored and co-authors several books including: Compensation as a Strategic Asset; Client at the Core; CPA Firm Merger Strategies That Work; Breaking the Paradigm: New Approaches to Pricing Accounting Services; and CPAs That Sell: A Complete Guide to Promoting Your Professional Services.

It is said that change creates opportunity and that the Canadian CA profession has recently seen its fair share of both. There's more to come! Join Nova Scotia Institute CEO, Michele Wood-Tweel, for a fast paced update on the profession's efforts and more about what lies ahead. Highlighting profession directions and trends, the session will consider changes afoot and possible opportunities.

This interactive session facilitated by Ric Payne will start with an overview of the results of a survey completed by the conference participants. You will then move to Designated Topic Tables moderated by an experienced roster of facilitators to exchange your thoughts and experiences with your peers on the topics of your choice from the following selection: capacity and productivity management; value creating and value capturing issues; work-life balance initiatives; gender shift issues (including succession planning, leadership and management structures); partner/team member leverage including the issue of delegation; and time-based versus value-based billing and fixed price agreements.

This session provides a valuable opportunity to interact with your peers from across Canada, forming relationships for the duration of the conference and beyond. In addition, you will also gain insights into the relative performance of your firm on selected KPIs, together with an understanding of your peers' thoughts in relation to various issues confronting today's accounting practice.

As you start planning for your retirement what is the transition strategy for your practice?

• Transition to the next generation of partners?
• Sale or merger?
• Turn out the lights?

How can you maximize value for your practice while ensuring your clients are well served in the process? Learn how to develop your strategy and identify the critical success factors and failure risks.

While benchmarking is important, what is more important is for firm leaders to know what is driving the results in their firms. Is it the culture - i.e., what is acceptable behavior in the firm? Is it lack of systems? Or perhaps lack of leadership? Why does one firm get higher performance than another?

Not only will we look at key drivers such as: net income per partner, billing rates, leverage, and so on, but we will also explore how to get better results.

This session builds on the earlier session: Practice Performance Matters - How Does Your Firm Compare?

Auditing micro-entities can be a low risk, high margin business, but it is not for everyone. Join Phil Cowperthwaite, an experienced micro-entity auditor, as he lays out the skills you need to be both efficient and effective in this growing specialty area.

Mergers can be successful. It's just that most of them are not. Most mergers are contemplated to create a competitive advantage or synergy between firms but rarely address the value proposition for the client. This session will allow you to develop a critical assessment tool to determine the criteria that a merger must meet to be successful by leveraging on a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and PEEST (political, environmental, economic, social and technological) assessment.

Based on two years of research interviewing firms in the US, UK and Canada, this session examines a leadership model that was developed and the 4 key elements that firm leaders need to embrace to make their firms better. The four elements are: Set Direction; Gain Commitment; Execute; and Personal Example.

These elements work within the context of the firm and hence are the activities that are unique to each firm. This is a hands-on presentation that provides attendees the knowledge they need to implement the concepts in their firms.

As our private clients move from pre-changeover GAAP to ASPE, we have all run into some unexpected difficulties and questions about application of the new framework. This session discusses some of the practical intricacies of adopting ASPE such as off-market rate loans, disclosure of fair value bumps and financing and transaction costs.

In his keynote address, David Chilton will bring his unusual mix of common sense, unique insights and humour to the world of personal finance.

One of the biggest challenges facing professional service firms is how to replace the failing traditional management model with a people centric management system that will tap into the full creative and productive potential of tomorrow's (and today's) generation of knowledge workers.

Forces of change such as: social networking, globalization, work-life balance issues, and the shift in the gender balance within firms, are redefining the business landscape. In this session we will examine the development of new innovative management models to address these changes that seek to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through the way people are led and managed. You will take away an outline of how you might change the way your firm is managed so as to tap into the creative talent, sense of purpose, responsibility, personal accountability and passion of today's talent pool.

Do you want to take charge of your career? Do you want to be a strong and respected partner who achieves a truly positive impact for your clients, your firm, your colleagues, and for your own life?

Success as a partner takes both ownership and leadership and making the transition will require new competencies. The business landscape is not the same and what made a successful partner in the past will be different than what will be needed going forward. This session will help you clarify and map out your future role in practical steps - where you are, what will be needed, what are your options, and what you need to do today to prepare for partnership.

Invest an hour to clarify your path to transition successfully to partnership.

CAs are constantly assisting clients with valuation issues, including business acquisitions, sales and mergers. This is an opportunity to "turn the table" and focus on the value of your own practice. This session will discuss valuation techniques appropriate for the valuation of a professional practice and identify common pitfalls.

As we try to build our practices we are constantly aware of the importance of our brand image, or are we? Attend this session and hear Carol Chapman's thoughts on when, where and how to project the best possible public image.

This session will focus on 10 topic areas that are often over-looked by the owners of small and medium enterprises. Examples of such issues include change-in-use rules, the ability to claim input tax credits for certain expenses incurred prior to registration and dealing with non-residents. The consequences of overlooking such areas on the business can be significant.

Participation in this session will give you a better understanding of these areas which will assist you in advising your clients.

Do you want to retain your best people? Succession planning is not only about retirement - it is a process that develops the right people the right way to be prepared for advancement. Studies show that less than 29% have an effective succession process and succession becomes reactive and expensive.

Our session outlines a proactive model to attract and develop the next generation of partners and leaders for your firm to build a competitive advantage by retaining your best talent. You will gain the tools to identify future partnership characteristics, assess high-potential talent, develop people with the business acumen to build, manage, and lead successful firms, and invest in the right people the right way to fit the firm's strategy.

Ensure you have the right people at the right time for successful succession.

This session will highlight technology gadgets, from tablets to smartphones, for today's CA in public practice. It will also demystify cloud computing and discuss new software worth knowing about. Learn how technology can help your practice in the 21st Century.

Corporate governance is a hot-button topic these days. But how relevant is it to you and your micro-and small NPO clients? This session will highlight the governance expertise and skills that auditors already have and then focus on how they can use that expertise to add value to their clients, boost fees and reduce client turnover. After all, the better a client's governance, the lower the engagement risk and the greater the opportunity for increased fee recoveries.

In this session you'll learn how to develop the right online communications strategy for your practice. How does one get more eyeballs on the evolving CA website? You'll learn how to select the right online tools to strengthen your relationships with clients and engage prospective clients to build your practice. Discover what social media offer you and best practices for using them.

The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 explores and celebrates Canada's immigration story. Pier 21, once the gateway to Canada for one million immigrants, is now home to Canada's sixth national museum. Over 1.5 million immigrants, war brides, displaced people, evacuee children, and Canadian military personnel passed through this famous building between 1928 and 1971. The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is a monument to the stories of people who helped build our nation.

Visit Alexander Keith's Brewery and step back in time for an award-winning theatrical tour of one of the oldest breweries in Canada and fun-filled history lesson delivered by costumed animators. It's definitely not your run-of-the-mill brewery tour! The whole family will enjoy visiting the beautifully detailed home & brew house of Alexander Keith, learning about the brewing process, singing a song (or two) in the Stag's Head Pub, playing games, and, of course, sampling Mr. Keith's finest Ale. (Please note: Non-alcoholic beverages will be provided to children.)

Canadians are facing a growing social problem with financial roots. CAs can help. In this session we will provide an overview of the compelling results from the recent Canadian Finance Study which was designed to take the pulse of Canadians regarding their financial management activities, attitudes and confidence levels. We'll discuss the CICA's Financial Decisions Matter program and provide information on how you and your firm can get involved at the grassroots level to improve the financial health of individual Canadians.

All session attendees will receive a copy of Parent's Guide to Raising Money-Smart Kids".

The session will review a number of current tax issues that are relevant to the advice you provide to your clients. This review will include: recent legislative changes; relevant case law and topics that the speakers feel are current tips and traps that practitioners should be aware of.

Tax planning is a significant consideration when planning for the sale or transition of a business to the next generation. This session will explore various tax planning concepts and considerations to minimize tax including: examining business succession alternatives and the tax considerations surrounding each alternative; preparing the business for sale and tax structures to implement as part of your planning, such as holding companies and family trust structures; and reviewing the most common tips and traps in tax planning for transfer to the Next Gen.

We are all aware of the vast number of businesses that will change hands in the next few years. Often the success of that transition will be based upon many factors beyond those factors that CA's have traditionally been trained to support. This session will introduce tools and mechanisms to assist the SME practitioner in helping their client through non-traditional aspects of succession.

A complete succession assignment could have as many as 30 aspects. During our time together we will cover some of these aspects, such as: managing family issues, strategy, shareholder agreements, asset protection, leadership development, advisory boards, conflict management, and family councils, which are all areas a SME practitioner can contribute.