Part of the job description of a staff accountant in public accounting to find good clients?

You can't "take" a client anywhere...a client may choose to follow a particular professional, but there's no guarantee.

I don't know what accounting firms do (I'm sure there are some that do almost every conceivable thing) but many other professional partnerships have "non-compete" agreements which would you from opening another office within a close distance of the current location which might even include the city itself.

A regional med center near here just recently was successful in enforcing such a clause in a lawsuit against four former members who went off and formed their private hospital in the same city...shut 'em down cold.

You may have to sign legal agreements upon signing on with the firm to the effect that you cannot solicit "their" clients for a period of time after leaving.

wrote

One of the things you look for in a staffer is the ability (read connections) to bring in new work. While not always the case with every potential employee, you would hope that everyone knows someone that needs the services of the firm.

So yes, I expect a new hire to be able to bring in new business on their own. And I compensate them for that. This, in addition to any company sponsored marketing efforts.

Friends, family, etc and so on. I encourage the staff to market to and through their business contacts. Bankers, lawyers, insurance agents, realtors andall the other people we come in contact with while working with and for other people. You keep mentioning the work you do, asking for referrals, and talking up your services. It pays off when someone calls in and says "Joe from the bank suggested I call you...."

As someone else said, the clients can do what they want. I'll add that this is a business of (and many other businessses are too) relationships. The client has a relationship more with that individual than with this firm. I hope a staffer wouldn't 'cut-n-run' to open their own firm in town. I try to treat them as equal (well not quite) partners especially as far as any clients they bring in.

Unless the client needs a type of service that the staff person can't provide themselves, for the most part, that client you found IS your client, and since you found them, you do the work. At least that is how things are here.

just one word: hookers

"bird flu shot" wrote

Maybe, but it's a bitch of a disclosure item in the engagement letter.

Have you ever had an employee who didn't bring in much work but who, on the other hand, was very good at his accounting work? Timely, accurate, etc., could actually explain things to the clients that he talked to...

Would that person simply usually end up in industry?

If they have good report with the clients they work with, those clients, coupled with attending/getting involved in some community/business events will lead, very quickly, to some introductions to others, and then referrals from clients and other potential referral sources.

Good work doesn't stay in a vacuum unnoticed.

...

That is a folk myth.