2016 ACE Award Recipient Recognized in Baltimore

This annual award is presented by the CPA Firm Management Association (CPAFMA) and has been awarded to some of North America's most experienced and respected administrators since its inception in 1989.

The ACE Award -- which stands for Achievement, Commitment and Excellence -- was formerly known as the Accounting Firm Administrator of the Year Award. Former winners of the award have held titles such as firm administrator, director of administration, chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief executive officer.

Regardless of the title, nominees must be a CPAFMA member and hold a senior-level administration position for a public accounting firm. Criteria for selection focus on leadership and the individual's strategic impact on the firm's profit and growth. Strong candidates for the ACE Award will have made major contributions to their firms by implementing and overseeing programs that:

• contribute to the firm's long-term growth;
• help the firm meet its strategic goals;
• improve firm profitability;
• help create an employee-friendly culture that encourages long-term staff retention; and
• emphasize the value of entrepreneurship, leadership, continuous learning, marketing and client service skills.

This year’s award was presented at our National Practice Management Conference in Baltimore, Maryland during our traditional Evening Out, this year held at the National Aquarium and sponsored by NAPLIA. The presentation followed a very competitive scavenger hunt.

Some fun tidbits about our 2016 ACE Award recipient as presented by the firm’s partner group in the award nomination:

• This year’s recipient is rare in that she joined her firm nearly 25 years ago in an administrative role and is today a partner. This is a nomination many years in the making.

• She is responsible for managing the firm, including staff supervision and training, strategic planning, human resources, quality control and marketing strategy. Additionally, she is responsible for the firm’s information technology, and the automation and management of the firm’s finances and internal accounting. 
  
  
• She forces the firm to think forward and is the driving force of innovation at the firm. This has been crucial to the firm’s strategic plan and also defines how she approaches the role of firm administrator. Since her first day – September 30, 1991 – she has taken the lead on managing the day-to-day needs of the firm.
• Especially outside of tax season, having her oversee firm operations gives the partner group more freedom. She gets involved in business development and practice development, which allows the partners the time to spend with clients and more time away from the office. There are also many client development projects she handles. With more time available, all of the CPA partners can focus more on the big picture and less on how the firm is getting from point A to B.
  
  
• When two partners hired her, they felt stretched to pay her salary, but it was absolutely the best decision they could have made. From the beginning, she showed initiative to get things done. They hired her as an administrative assistant, and she created an administration department from there. She made the place run then and still does almost 25 years later.
  
  
• The partners made her an equity partner about five years ago. It was a natural decision. There are two reasons why you should make someone a business partner: shared vision, and added value to the business. Throughout her time with the firm, she has demonstrated her loyalty and she has been an important part of the firm’s various growth phases. It was a better decision than some other firms make when asking a CPA to become a partner.
  
  
• Her partners state that her work on their strategic plan has been highly valuable. She keeps the other partners moving forward even as they grow weary of taking time to meet about strategy instead of serving clients and working billable hours. However, because she takes time to orchestrate all of this, the firm has gained bigger clients and the talent pool has grown in size and breadth. This has led the firm to additional successes and into a phase of high growth that continues today. While her work on strategic planning has contributed to these gains, it is important to note that she has also challenged each of the partners to take risks in achieving growth. Sometimes that kind of encouragement from a firm manager leads to a whole new level of personal and professional successes achieved by the members.
  
  
• Her loyalty to her firm is a great measure of her integrity. She pushes all team members in forward, innovative thinking - not just as it relates to the firm’s strategic plan, but also in their own lives. She leads by example and supports each employee. She is committed to the success of the firm and the success of everyone who works there and it shows in everything she does.

When CPAFMA asked why this individual deserves to be named an ACE Award recipient, it was stated - based on our experience with CPAFMA (formerly AAA), this individual is light years ahead of many of the firm managers.  She does more for the success of our firm than many of the other firm administrators out there. She constantly pushes the role of firm administrator and is involved in everything that is our firm. Some firms have partners that disagree on things and get caught up in discussions about what direction they want to go. She makes sure that doesn’t happen here; she works with us to make sure the firm is successful and a place we all want to be, every day.

This year’s ACE Award recipient is Jeanie Price, AAAPM, Partner and Director of Administration with DeLeon & Stang, CPAs and Advisors in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  Joining her in the celebration were surprise guests (to her, CPAFMA had them hidden for hours) Brad Hoffman, Partner with DeLeon & Stang and Jeanie’s husband and biggest supporter, Bob Price.

Both gentleman said a few words and expressed managing partner Rich Stang’s disappointment that he couldn’t join the group.  All commented that CPAFMA recognized her outstanding qualities, qualities that the firm has seen for decades.

Jeanie not only received the recognition and title of ACE Award Recipient but her membership dues have been paid for a year and full registration fees will be paid to the 2017 National Practice Management Conference.

If you know of someone deserving of this honor, nominations are being accepted online until April 30, 2017. Self-nominations are welcomed.

CPAFMA Outgoing Chair, Jim Fahey, AAAPM poses with previous ACE Award recipients in attendance at the 2016 National Practice Management Conference: Ronda Lawson, AAAPM, Sarah Galley, AAAPM, Ginny Fedrich, AAAPM, Nigel Jacobs, AAAPM, Rita Keller, AAAPM, Annabella Green, AAAPM and Janine Zirrith, AAAPM.  Each welcomed Jeanie Price, AAAPM to the Club.