The Rising Star Roundtable

A certified CPD accredited program for ambitious career orientated young accounting professionals

The Rising Star Roundtable is the progression from Martin’s original ‘Passport to Partnership’ curriculum which was developed in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Institute of Public Accountants back in 2014-15 and indeed ran as a regular elite programme in the PICPA schedule through to 2018.

Taking that content and building a community structure around it, The Rising Star Roundtable has been designed to provide a speakeasy or a confidential environment for Rising Stars to get peer-level support, expert-level support and even let off a bit of steam about frustrations they may be facing in their employment, which is a much stronger option than issues remaining under the radar and risking a resignation.

In the Passport to Partnership Programme, we created 17 partners out of our intake of 45 when it was last measured. However, we are aware that the partnership model is not necessarily the future of 21st-century accountancy and therefore it is ‘leadership development’ we are focusing on in the USP community.

Whether the ambition of the individual is to become a partner, an owner, a director, an associate, a departmental head or whatever their ambition is, our design is to have a vehicle to accelerate that process for you and the firm you are part of.

For the young accounting professional who is ambitious and serious about their future career progression, and with the full support of the firms they work for, I am pleased to be able to offer the Rising Star Roundtable as a monthly program. 

1. It's a Win for The Rising Star

Win number one is for the participating Rising Star. This demonstrates you, as the firm, are investing in The Rising Star's future, that you, the firm, are willing for them to put time into this project and that you see them as leadership material.


2. It's a Win for The Accounting Firm

The second win, therefore, is obviously for the firm, especially considering how difficult it is to recruit in the profession at this time. Most firms report they find it easy to recruit people but very hard to recruit quality people and given that these are quality people nominated to access The Rising Star resources or The Rising Star Roundtable programme, we are obviously bringing a benefit to the firm to avoid any unnecessary attrition from the headcount.


3. It's a Win for The Clients You Serve

Thirdly, it’s a win for the clients you serve. Much of the Rising Star content focuses its gaze on commercial awareness. (Having technically trained professionals act like business owners, deal creators and value creators.) We are looking to turn what are sometimes cost centres into profit centres.

This, of course, improves the perception in the marketplace of your firm and your people and therefore creates opportunities for a greater level of value to be delivered to those clients over time.

So it’s a 3-way win we are offering to all involved in The Rising Star Roundtable.


Watch Intro Video

Meet Martin Bissett

About The Rising Star Roundtable

About The Rising Star Rountable

What young accounting professionals will achieve

The Rising Star Roundtable program is a twelve-lesson, commercial awareness class taught by Martin on the subject of practice leadership in the accounting profession.

Martin and his teaching team will sail you through The Seven Cs of practice leadership in the accounting profession, and much more, in both self-study and group formats.

What is the Objective of The Rising Star Roundtable?

This 10-month program puts rising stars in accounting firms in control of their career, their future and transforms succession planning for existing partners.


How Do I Measure the Success of the Program?

A combination of observed performance improvement in the firm and the passing of the program’s end of year exam provides demonstrable metrics of how much improvement has been created by those participating in the program.


What Outcomes have been Produced from The Rising Star Roundtable to Date?

1. At a US CPA Society The Rising Star Roundtable program has so far delivered 17 new partners from an intake of 45 future leaders.

2. At an international association of accountants, an earlier version of the program is in its 4th consecutive year of roll-out to its entire Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

3. At a UK Institute of further education, a section of The Rising Star Roundtable course content now forms part of the AAT level 3 and 4 curricula.

Level of Investment

This 10-month program is delivered for £249.99 per month per delegate over this duration.

It is envisaged that when delivered within a membership organisation, the per delegate part of the fee is paid by each firm who nominates a member of their team to attend to give a sense of investment in the program at an extremely affordable level.

What's Included in The Rising Star Roundtable?

The Rising Star Roundtable employs the accelerated learning model and caters for audio, visual and tactile learning styles. The program includes:

  • A 90-minute monthly meeting with Martin

  • 10 x monthly self-study lessons delivered direct to the inboxes of all participants in video and pdf formats

  • The Future Leader's exam, as used by the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants

  • Certification upon course completion

Meet Martin Bissett


Martin Bissett is the founder of the Upward Spiral Partnership (USP), the international consulting firm that specialises in enabling the accounting profession to win higher-end clients, create leaders from their ranks and save lives.

His professional purpose is to alert the accounting profession to the profound outcomes that their advisory expertise can create in the lives of their clients.

At the same time, he also alerts the accounting profession to the profound difficulties that can arise in the lives of their clients when they choose not to educate their clients about the impact that their advisory expertise can have.

The Upward Spiral Partnership is the 4th business Martin has played a key role in building and the first of his own. 

In the last 5 years of USP, Martin has: 

  • Been engaged/retained by 4 of the World's Top 10 Accounting associations and 6 of the Top 10 in the UK. 
  • Authored 9 books including Passport to Partnership, content from which has been adopted into the curriculum of AAT Level 3 courses, and taught in selected UK colleges and US CPA Societies.  
  • Been retained by Accountingweb as a judge of their prestigious practice excellence awards for three years in a row. 
  • Been highlighted as ‘one to watch’ in AccountingToday’s Top 100 Most Influential countdown for 2 years running. 
  • Spoken on 4 continents. 
  • Created several trademarked items of intellectual property including the ACCOUNTS™ system and ‘Martin’s Relationship Pricing™’ Model. 
  • Written for several professional publications including AccountingToday, AccountingWeb, CPA Practice Advisor and Chartered One. 
  • Sat on many international expert panels and guested on professional podcasts in the US, UK, and Australia. 
  • Sits on a parliamentary steering committee tasked with bringing advisory services to the fore in the accounting profession. 

The outcome of Martin’s work is profitable new business for the practices he is engaged by, alongside the fine-tuning of teams of partners and emerging leaders who can develop new business by increasing their commercial awareness for themselves, without significant ongoing third party assistance. 

Previously, Martin served 10 years as a director (appointed at age 26) on the board of a marketing consultancy firm serving the accounting profession. There, he held the responsibility for the growth of the client base including six of the U.K.’s top 30 accountancy firms. 

He now coaches, mentors, speaks, trains and consults with accounting firms worldwide.

In total, he has worked with over 1800 firms of accountants and found it unnecessary to keep track of his contributions to the new business growth of those firms once it surpassed £500m collectively. 

A Selection of Outcomes

What Future Leaders Say

  • Clare Bowen
    Senior Manager

    "Martin and I started working together in January after meeting at a one-day conference. Since then I have seen an average fee increase from £1,500 to £2,750 and a rise in conversion rate from 35 to 50%. Martin has helped me see what I need to offer my potential clients in terms of value, necessity and ability to trust and build relationships. I look forward to continuing our work together and more good things to come."

  • AJ Granito
    CPA Firm

    "I met Martin through his "Passport to Partnership"program which was sponsored by the PICPA. Within the first few hours of the program Martin managed to significantly alter the way I looked at the value we as CPAs can provide to clients. He also provided insights as to how the CPA profession may need to evolve in the near term to better serve our customers given the changing technological environment and perceived commoditization of some of our services."

  • Kelly Butler
    Director

    "Martin has been a career mentor, a professional adviser, support and a friend. He helped me take the next step in my career whilst also teaching me how the industry worked and what was expected of me whilst also emphasising my worth. His advice and support have been invaluable and I would highly recommend his skills and knowledge along with his kindness, politeness and selfless manner."

  • Chad Tyrrell
    Administrator

    I attended a 10-month program with Martin through the PICP, as well as a recent CPE conference. As accountants, we talk about assets and liabilities all of the time. Martin is an asset not just for the PICPA but for our profession as a whole. He gives guidance on ways to think outside the box as well as how to understand our firms on an internal basis. I am extremely grateful that our paths have crossed."

  • Jill Lock
    Director

    Martin knows how to talk to people of all generations and to all levels of employees from management to administrative staff. He understands how business development works with all the different roles of employees in organizations. He knows how to engage people at all levels. His professional dynamic demeanour and his use of relevant case studies and interactive exercises make his presentations exceptional."

  • Brian Kuczinski
    CPA, CGMA

    "Firm succession planning within the accounting industry is and will continue to be critical in the years to come. Martin’s program bridges the expectations gap between those who strive to be in a leadership position and those who already are, including the education of young professionals in the skill sets current leadership expects future leaders to exhibit. His program has helped me to develop a roadmap to achieve my career goals and he has been a great sounding board."

The Curriculum

Propel Your Ambition

  • 1

    An Introduction

    • An Introduction: Passport to Partnership
  • 2

    Module 1: What Do You Want to be Remembered For?

    • Partnership Principle: What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?

    • Rising Star Report: What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?
  • 3

    Module 2: How We Got Here - The History of Lack of Progress in Accounting

    • USP Principle: Survive or Thrive

  • 4

    Module 3: The First C- Competence

    • Passport to Partnership: Competence

    • Competence
  • 5

    Module 4: The Second C - Culture

    • Culture

  • 6

    Module 5: The Third C- Communication

    • Communication

  • 7

    Module 6: The Fourth C - Conversion

    • Conversion

  • 8

    Module 7: The Fifth C - Commitment

    • Commitment

  • 9

    Module 8: The Sixth C - Challenges

    • Challenges
  • 10

    Module 9: The Seventh C - Commercial Awareness

    • Commercial Awareness

The Rising Star Roundtable

Become a Future Leader and propel your professional accounting career.

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