Don’t have too many: Five objectives and four key results for each is a maximum per quarter, and three objectives is ideal.

Here are some areas of the firm you can start to improve with an intentional annual strategy.

Planning to improve your service in 2021

Moving into a new year is a perfect opportunity to assess the relationship you have with your clients. An effective way for accounting firms to grow is by word-of-mouth referrals. By providing an excellent experience to clients, it’s not only beneficial for the clients, but also a growth strategy.

Business owners today are increasingly looking at compliance as a commodity. For accountants to provide a great experience, they need to provide insights for their clients. The more your firm can help clients look forward and better understand their business, the more you’ll stand out from the competition.

Planning to improve teamwork

Thriving accounting firms are able to play to the unique strengths of their team. Too often, accountants can create silos of communication and lose the power of collaboration.

As a leader, you can create time for professional development and collaborative tools to improve the team culture.

Planning to improve profitability

If your 2021 goals include planning for growth, you’ll need a way to bring in quality leads. Before thinking too much about leads, the first step is thinking about who the right clients are.

Defining your ideal client is a helpful way to increase profits. By specializing your services to suit a specific type of client, you’ll have an easier time getting clients because you’ll be speaking their language. On top of that, you’ll be able to add greater value, by providing meaningful advice catered to their industry.

Once you’ve defined the ideal client, you can model how profitable each client is. Then you can project for the year how many of your ideal client you’d need to achieve your goals.

Once you have a vision of client growth for the year, you can break down your marketing and sales activities into quarterly and monthly tasks.

Planning to grow personally

As you make plans for the upcoming year, it’s important to consider your own personal growth. A big part of building a healthy organization is ensuring you are getting the proper benefit and enjoyment from the work.

If there are travel plans, financial goals or hobbies you want to prioritize in the coming year, build them into your annual model.

You can approach your personal development the same way as your business’ development. Think about where you are now and what you’d like to change. Think about where you want to be 12 months from now, and what would have to change to get there.