Research Reports

For the first time, IOMA Research has turned its expert attention to helping design firm principals strategize and plan for the immediate as well as long-term future.

The two-volume set, Design Firm Strategic Planning 2007, provides exclusive data and analysis from IOMA’s annual design firm survey. It will help you ensure the best possible day-to-day performance in 2007and for the future, with detailed guidelines for developing effective succession and transaction plans for your firm.

Using the survey-based data and accompanying analysis from this two-volume set, you can compare your year-to-year performance to your peers in firms across the country, with key benchmarks and operational data—on gross revenue, operating profit, compensation, billing rates and fees, marketing budgets, and more—all broken down by region, firm size, and other key demographics.

Right at your fingertips, you’ll have key statistics, such as:

• Billing rates for firm partners showed a 6.7% increase in 2005, compared to 2004. The highest gain among non-partners was for interns, who topped the chart at 6.9%.

• 66.7% of firms of all sizes reported higher distributions to partners in 2005 in comparison with 2004.

• Surprisingly, in 2005, senior A/Es at firms with 31-75 employees received salaries over 10% higher than those in the largest firms ($116K vs. $104K).

• Firms of all sizes, gross revenues and regions planned to increase their marketing budget as a percentage of gross revenue by an overall average of 0.5% — from 4.7% in 2005 to 5.2% in 2006.

• And more.

Looking beyond 2007, you’ll delve into the key questions you must ask to develop a successful succession plan and transition:

1. Who are the future leaders of your firm? Have they been fully trained?
2. Should there be a formal plan and a committee in charge?
3. Which is preferable — a CEO with a board or a managing partner with sole decision-making responsibility?

Again, accessing data and analysis from IOMA’s exclusive surveys — and 50+ charts and tables — you’ll go step-by-step through the process of how to begin planning for your firm’s future, how to prepare and execute transfer of ownership, what key issues exist in establishing finance and corporate structures, and, finally, how to best manage the transition itself.

Many recent survey respondents indicate that their firms have not taken the first step in succession planning, despite their acknowledgement of its importance. That’s why IOMA decided to put together this powerful two-volume planning and strategizing tool.