Spotlight On: Todd Lisle, Managing Partner, FORVIS

Spotlight On: Todd Lisle, Managing Partner, FORVIS

2 min read April 2023 Todd Lisle, managing partner at FORVIS, shared his perspective with Invest: on growth and changes in the industry. He highlighted economic trends, increased demand for work-life balance and how the successful merger of DHG and BKD was a stepping stone for the company.

What were the key highlights for the organization over the last year? 

The merger itself is one of the biggest highlights. We’re in the process of aligning systems, technology, and methodologies to get coordinated in that regard. It’s been very exciting actually, and very fulfilling. What we’ve found is a really high consistency of culture and value alignment between the two firms. You don’t realize until situations like this the minutiae of detailed decisions you have to make to align different systems and get them in sync with one another. We’re in the process of doing that now, but it’s going along the timeline that we had anticipated before the merger. We’ve been pretty gratified about how that has progressed. 

How is the current economy impacting FORVIS?

Last year we talked about interest rates, and I was sure they would be under control by now. Inflation has dipped a little bit, interest rates have gone up and that’s really putting a pretty big hit on the cost of money. Investment opportunities are getting tabled right now, large real estate development type activities that were otherwise shovel-ready are being put on hold right now. The increased interest rates are making them not quite as attractive an idea. 

Over the last two or three years, the biggest challenge is the hyper competitive environment for talent. There has been a little bit of a reduced acceleration of that. That’s not to say there’s not still a very strong war for talent in our profession. There’s been layoffs in the technology space over the last three to six months which are usually the kind of leading indicator in our industry that things may get back to a slightly more normalized environment of talent. The last two years, the demand for talent in our profession has far exceeded the supply more than any time in my entire career. I think the next year or so is going to be a little easier, but it’s still going to be a challenge.

How do you emphasize company culture?

One of the things that we have valued with both legacy firms is really investing in our people to be their best selves. That doesn’t just mean their best professional self. It means creating an environment that allows them to really enhance their overall quality of life. Certainly, an important part of that is enjoying the work that they do, having career opportunities for advancement, and investing in their abilities to grow professionally and technically. It’s also creating an environment that can be enjoyed their entire life, not just during the time period that they’re working.

From a time and location standpoint, the work environment has become much more flexible, which is great. I’m honored that FORVIS was named as a company that is recognized for providing healthy work-life balance. It’s a continuous journey for us to try and create that. We have revisited our benefits plans and our compensation structure. We are right now in the process of moving offices and trying to create workspaces that are more inviting and more attractive for our people. Ours is a pretty collaborative profession where people work together quite a bit and have to interact and talk to each other. Creating an environment that enhances that collaboration is a priority. 

How do you promote diversity, equity and inclusion at FORVIS?

Both firms independently had DEI initiatives pre-merger. That began about 10 years ago, where we became very intentional about gaining a better understanding of unconscious bias. We did a lot of internal education for all of us to gain a better appreciation and understanding of the challenges that exist in our profession for a lot of our people. We’ve made significant strides and increased leadership positions for women and for people from other traditionally less-represented groups. But like many organizations, we can always do better. It is a journey, and I am really proud of the intentionality and progress we’ve demonstrated on this really important issue. We will win over more talent and do even better work for clients by truly reflecting the communities we serve and creating a space where our people can be their best selves.

What is your outlook for your industry over the next year?

I don’t know what the private equity entry into our profession is going to do. That’s a little bit of an unknown variable in trying to analyze what the next three to five years hold. I think that as we’ve seen this demand for talent, one of the things that I believe will be the case—and this is already happening—is we’re going to see firms increase their investment in talent and embrace career mobility to meet diverse career preferences. Our profession has been one where you try to keep people engaged for 10 to 15 years with the incentive of reaching partner and hope that they stayed on board with you during that time period to reach that goal. What we’ve seen evolving over the last several years is that professionals that are entering the accounting profession either are not interested in taking 10 to 15 years to reach their ultimate goal or have no desire to become a partner. That’s prompted firms to rethink their expectations in regard to talent attraction, engagement and retention. 

There are two ways that firms are responding to this trend: Many are taking a fresh look at their total rewards package, including compensation, and restructuring it to engage and retain those who are pursuing a long-term career path to partner as well as those who have different goals within the profession. This may come in the form of bonus programs, lifestyle benefits, and other innovative benefit offerings. Secondly, firms are catching on to the trend of ‘gig’ workers who do not have a desire to be a full-time employee and creating opportunities for these individuals to work within the field without being formally attached to an organization. Overall, we may see reduced margins as a profession due to the need to increase investment in talent and not expect everyone to stay around for the long-term.  

For more information, visit:

https://www.forvis.com/ 

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