Long known for our inability to communicate effectively either orally or verbally (yes there is a difference) as accountants we’ve found new facades to hide behind. Our communication with our clients is typically limited to brief general conversations, and written communications mandated by professional standards, such as engagement letters. The email / text message / voice mail have supplemented the traditional letter facilitating the anonymity so many in our profession seem to prefer, with the frequent result being misunderstanding or no understanding at all. Read more…

Last week we were informed we had been selected by Accounting Today as one of the top accounting firms  to work for in the United States.  I understand there will be an article published in January, 2009.  How did we go from being a firm that had the universal difficulty of other accounting firms – attracting and retaining top talent – to being named to such a prestigious club in four years?: We changed our business philosophy, and consequently our overall approach to providing service, after following the traditional accepted approach for 25 years. Read more…

In a recent post on Trendlines, Gary Boomer held forth on the staffing crisis in our profession.  Succinct and to the point, Boomer lists four reasons.  While all four are valid, my experience over the past five years has identified one as being most significant – Firms with low retention and high staff turnover work their associates too many hours.  It’s not rocket science. Read more…

In a post by Rita Keller on CPA Management she advocates the practice of publishing rankings of the firms associates. It would seem this is a practice of Moss Adams, a large national firm. The post titled Ranking Your Individual Team Members doesn’t provide specifics as to what the criteria that were used in the ranking scheme by Moss Adams. They state that you should rank people by the criteria that are important to your firm. The article goes on to state that the staff felt it was a positive motivator and “no one quit”. (Yet!) Read more…