Episode 116

Employer Branding Strategies for Growing Accounting Firms

Lee Frederiksen is an award-winning marketer, Visible Expert®, and business strategist who helped pioneer the field of research-driven marketing. As the Managing Partner of Hinge, a marketing firm for the professional services industry, he draws on his Ph.D. in behavioral psychology and his CEO experience to help clients achieve high growth and profitability. Lee’s research on marketing and business growth has made him a recognized industry name, along with the numerous books he authored on the same topics. He been quoted in a number of mainstream publications, and he regularly speaks at major industry events around the country. Shownotes:

  • Why employer branding is a critical topic for accounting firm leaders to understand
  • The three things you need to build a successful professional services firm
  • The biggest growth challenge for many accounting firms
  • Why the accounting profession has the lowest number of actively looking job-seekers in the whole professional services sector
  • What exactly job seekers are looking for in new roles depends on where they are in their career
  • The importance of being able to work remotely for talent looking for accounting roles
  • Why accounting firms who have not responded well to covid will suffer most in losing top talent
  • The number one factor in creating a really strong employer brand for your accounting firm
  • The futility of your accounting firm having more than 3 core values
  • The number one thing job seekers who are actively looking for a new position actually want
  • The prime times or triggers that make people restless in wanting to leave an accounting firm or role
  • Explaining the trend of people thinking of their career as a series of gigs vz jobs
  • Why loyalty to an accounting firm increases once a critical time has passed
  • The disruptive role of mergers and acquisitions in disruption of workforce stability
  • Why making people stay with 'golden handcuffs' can cause resentment and lowered productivity in accounting firm staff
  • The two stages in developing a compelling 'employer brand' in an accounting firm
  • A strong accounting firm brand in the market place may attract talent to you, but there's one vital thing it won't do
  • The differences in professional services sectors when it comes to how they attract and retain top talent
  • The important of time horizons for restless employees - vital to know for retaining your best people
  • Why it's inevitable in tough times that accounting firms will lose peopl
  • How the business model of 'needing a local and regional presence' has changed for accounting firms
  • What accounting firms can do to attract employees that are not actively looking to move
  • Questions accounting firm leaders should be asking in shaping a strong employer brand
  • Two top tips for accountants who want more career capital and greater promotability


When he’s not traveling to speaking engagements or working at the Hinge headquarters, you’ll find Lee pursuing his interest in hot rods or watching movies with his wife, Candace. You can reach her here...

Lee on LinkedIn

Lee on Twitter

Check out his website here

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About the Podcast

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Accounting Voices Podcast
Accounting Voices helps people in the accounting world stay relevant visible and vocal. Host Rob Brown interprets trends reshaping the profession and gives listeners insight to build authority influence and a stronger voice in firms and markets.

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About your host

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Rob Brown

Rob Brown is the founder and host of the Accounting Voices Podcast, the flagship solo show of the Accounting Voices Network. Each episode offers sharp analysis and commentary on the trends, ideas and people shaping the global accounting profession.

Through this Accounting Voices Podcast, Rob helps accounting firm leaders, decision makers and professionals stay relevant and make sense of disruption in areas like AI, automation, M&A, private equity and soft skills beyond the tech. His perspective blends clarity, insight and curiosity, making complex issues relevant and practical for professionals and decision makers across accounting and finance.

He also leads two monthly panel shows, Accounting M&A and Accounting AI, which bring together senior voices to explore consolidation, strategy and the impact of technology on firms and people.

Rob is the author of the bestselling book Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and a TEDx speaker whose talk The Personal Brand of You has more than 400,000 views. Over his career he has hosted and moderated more than 1,000 conversations with accounting and fintech leaders worldwide.

Based in Nottingham UK, Rob is a stroke survivor living with epilepsy, a black belt in kickboxing, a decent chess player and an average player of four musical instruments.