The “available” executive is almost always available for a reason.
This is the fourth and final installment in our series on the structural forces reshaping executive hiring at accounting firms. The first three installments covered private equity consolidation, the collapse of the CPA pipeline, and the compensation reset that has caught most firms flat footed. Together, they have made one specific mistake more expensive than it has ever been.
The replacement search now happens in a smaller pool against a higher comp benchmark, often with a PE sponsor watching the value creation clock. Here’s the mistake. The available executive is almost always available for a reason. It’s the most preventable failure that I’ve seen in an executive search. A senior executive comes on the market and the firm needs to fill the seat. The candidate looks great on paper and the offer goes out.
Unfortunately, 12 to 18 months later, the executive is back on the market and the firm is running the search over again with less time, less leverage, and a partnership that has cost and lost confidence in the process. What got missed on day one was the why. Why is the candidate available? What was the actual reason for the last departure? Where are they in their career arc and does this role match where they say they want to be in three years?
Now, I know these are all uncomfortable questions and the answers typically come very slowly, but a search partner who hasn’t asked these questions isn’t doing the work. The diligence on why now is what separates a great search that holds in place rather than costing the firm twice.
If your last executive search didn’t ask the why, your next one needs to the first three installments in this series on PE consolidation, the CPA pipeline, and the compensation reset are all on the Friedman Williams blog. The links are also in the caption below this video.
