By ALLISSA KLINE
akline@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1612

Michelle Sullivan wasn't sure, in the beginning, how far she'd go in accounting.

The 42-year-old CPA entered the field as a staff accountant at a small firm, then moved to Freed Maxick & Battaglia CPAs PC and climbed the corporate ladder for 12 years. She reached the top in 2007 when she was named partner at the Buffalo-based firm. Now she's one of the company's leaders.

"I knew at the management level that I wanted to be partner," said Sullivan, whose specific title is director, a reflection of the firm's corporate structure as a professional corporation and not a partnership. "I really started to have access and leadership within the firm and for me, at that point, it really solidified my decision."

Partnership is viewed as the pinnacle of both the accounting and legal professions. The term refers to high-ranking firm administrators who share vested interests in the firm, and the number of partners at each firm is based on the total number of employees. Partners secure clients, lead departments, train staff and develop long-range plans to keep firms on track - all aspects related to growing the business.

"Our motto is, ‘Grow or die' ... and we need to develop business leaders who want to do that," said Freed Maxick's top partner, Robert Glaser. "When you find a good person, whether they're on the outside wanting to come in or they're homegrown, it doesn't matter. You know them when you see them."

The path to partnership is fairly standard at most public accounting firms:

• College graduates begin as staff accountants in entry-level positions geared toward projects.

• Three to five years later, staff accountants may be elevated to senior accountants in charge of fieldwork.

• Seniors transition to managers and training to become a partner begins.

• Successful managers are elected to partnership by existing partners of the firm.

There are lots of alternate titles and time frames for these positions, but it generally takes 15 years or so of work experience to become partner. CPA Denise Neamon is the exception. She was named partner at Gaines Kriner Elliott LLP at age 34. She was the first female partner in the firm's history.

Neamon knew right away that she wanted to attain partnership. She started with the firm in 1995 after she graduated from Medaille College and achieved her goal in 2008 after demonstrating the ability to bring in new clients, market the firm and lead staff.

"When I came out of college, if you intended to go into public accounting, it was because you wanted to be a partner," said Neamon, who works in the East Aurora office. "You work all of these years and it's sort of the ultimate goal to be a partner in a firm."

Ensuring a "fully functional firm" is the primary job of the 13 partners at Gaines Kriner Elliott, managing partner Rocco Surace said. Each partner is responsible for a specific work division, such as the accounting and tax practice or the auditing and accounting compliance service.

"You'll make partner if you're a go-to person," Surace said. "The surest way ... is to really keep close to your clients and develop more business for the firm."

He said he is currently working to formalize the process of becoming partner so that candidates know early in their careers what they need to do to reach that level.

Something similar already exists at The Bonadio Group, a Rochester-headquartered firm with an Amherst office. Philip Mann, managing partner of the Amherst office, said the firm created a partner selection overview and admission policy in 2004 that clearly lays out the steps necessary to be named a partner.

"We realized we needed to set up a very specific program for people," Mann said. "It's really helped the growth of our firm because people now have a clear plan and they focus on that. It's made the decision-making process (about who becomes partner) a lot easier."

That's how Denise Gueli knew the steps she needed to take to get offered partnership at Bonadio. She lists some of the criteria, such as retaining clients, training employees and giving back to the community. In return, she gets higher compensation, a flexible work schedule and a voice in the firm's future.

"Who wouldn't want to be a partner?" said Gueli, one of four top executives at the Amherst office. "You have a lot of flexibility and you have a say in the culture of the firm. I feel like I'm in a good spot because I feel like my opinions are valued. We have jerk-free policies among partners."

The firm is now working to get future partners in the mix earlier in their careers, Mann said. Staff accountants, senior accountants and managers are getting more involved in the firm's future so it has a solid pool of candidates to someday elevate to partnership.

"We're trying to give them more of a business perspective about how the firm works so they can see the light at the end of the tunnel and understand how to get there," he said.