PBN 2020 Leaders & Achievers Awards
Edward “Ned” McCrory | Managing partner and certified public accountant, PKF O’Connor Davies LLP
IF LEADERSHIP INVOLVES the hard skills of business acumen and the softer skills of caring about the well-being of people, Edward “Ned” McCrory and his partners nailed both parts perfectly during a problem-solving conversation about 12 years ago.
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McCrory said the partners in the accounting firm Batchelor, Frechette, McCrory, Michael & Co. were discussing in January about how to keep the company busy and fully staffed after it had scaled and defeated the annual tax preparation mountain in April. The question was how to bring in new clients and keep all staff employed through the rest of the year.
McCrory hit on an answer that turned into a rich lode of business for years to come: Develop accounts in the private-club industry, such as golf clubs, beach clubs, country clubs and civic clubs. The important point was that these clubs have fiscal year-end deadlines throughout the calendar year, thereby keeping the firm’s accountants busy year-round.
The strategy worked. McCrory gained expertise in that industry, writing articles and giving speeches on the matter. He said the firm now has the third-highest number of private-club clients of any accounting firm in the United States, making it an industry leader in that slice of the financial services industry.
In early 2019, Batchelor, Frechette, McCrory, Michael & Co., with about 30 employees at its Providence office, merged with the New York-based PKF O’Connor Davies LLP. McCrory said the whole company now includes 850 workers in 12 offices from Maryland up the coast to Rhode Island.
One of the objectives of that conversation from a dozen years ago, McCrory said, was to create more chargeable hours of work. Therefore, employees wouldn’t be laid off.
He believes a major value of any good leader is to treat people with respect.
“My mantra,” McCrory said, “is if you take care of your people, your people will take care of the clients and the clients will take care of the business.”
