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The most important issue is staff recruitment, training, retention and work conditions. While each of these is a separate issue, the whole staff issue is a neglected area when it should be the top area of concern. This has been so since I started practicing, and I am perplexed that meaningful actions are not taken to remedy the situation. I did, and many firms do, and they are much more successful than the others, but too many do not deal realistically with this.
Recruitment: Starting salaries have not kept up with overall business conditions, and I do not believe they have remained competitive when about 15 years ago they were at the top of the curve. This can be easily corrected by firms increasing their starting salaries. Many refer to the added 30 credits as a hindrance, but I don’t believe this is a more important objection than the lower starting salaries being offered. Staff recognize having master’s degrees as an enhancement that makes themselves more valuable and they feel good about it … after they get their degree.
Training: Training is a significant area and is done by many firms, particularly smaller practices, as a cookie cutter obligatory process, not focused on the staff person’s responsibilities and expected work assignments. Firms send staff to available CPE courses when they should be developing customized CPE, either in their firm or in partnership with similar firms or through their state society committees. (I’ve done all of these and it works.) Firms also need to become training organizations using error disclosure as immediate training opportunities and deliberate on-the-job training by everyone in a supervisory position. Firms’ cultures have to be to train and develop. In conjunction with this, all supervisors need to be trained on how to train.
Retention: Turnover is terrible. Two years ago, a Big Four firm had 25% staff turnover. Last year it was 17% (and they were voted one of the Top 100 best places to work both years! Huh?). Many firms neglect “marketing” the benefits of working for them and take the current staff for granted. Retention needs a deliberate effort by every supervisor, manager, partner and owner. It needs work and will pay the best dividends. This effort might not stop a person from leaving, but it could retain them for an extra year or more. An attitude that you want them to stay forever also helps.
Work conditions: Tax season hours are untenable at most firms, while some larger firms maintain tax season conditions after tax season ends or add mini periods of extended hours. In my own informal and unofficial exit polls, most people provide as the primary reason for leaving a lack of work-life balance. I know people from top 10 firms that leave public accounting for reasons that indicate a complete noncompliance by their employers with the stated “favorable work-life and caring atmosphere and culture” in those firms’ recruitment brochures. Firms show a total lack of attention to this.
Solution: This is an industry problem, but it can only be solved one firm at a time. My solution is to acknowledge the problem at your practice and then make every change necessary to eliminate that problem. You might not be able to do it immediately, but you can start immediately and work on these issues as they come up while starting a serious and meaningful training program. Every change needed can be implemented within a year. Let that year start now!
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