Comments on: Micromanagement – The Path to Mediocrity http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/uncategorized/micromanagement-the-path-to-mediocrity/ Turning the profession on its head. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:29:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Bill http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/uncategorized/micromanagement-the-path-to-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-334 Bill Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:47:21 +0000 http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/?p=58#comment-334 Mark, You're making a very good point. A great part of our difficulty is that we are too focused on overly bloated PPC checklists and audit programs and too little focused on what our clients are doing. The PPC materials are designed to audit the entire small business world...not a particular business. It's a good examlpe of how user-unfriendly a monopoly can become. Mark,
You’re making a very good point. A great part of our difficulty is that we are too focused on overly bloated PPC checklists and audit programs and too little focused on what our clients are doing.
The PPC materials are designed to audit the entire small business world…not a particular business.
It’s a good examlpe of how user-unfriendly a monopoly can become.

]]> By: Shane Eloe http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/uncategorized/micromanagement-the-path-to-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-287 Shane Eloe Tue, 20 May 2008 15:48:40 +0000 http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/?p=58#comment-287 This line of thinking also explains why SALY is so popular in public practice and change is difficult to handle. Having staff as cogs in a system is also useful for an industry that experiences high turnover and is often delegating work to new staff with little experience. However, it's kind of like what came first, the chicken or the egg. Has high staff turnover made public practice a system to plug new staff into or has the system caused turnover as staff become disenchanted with the system? This line of thinking also explains why SALY is so popular in public practice and change is difficult to handle. Having staff as cogs in a system is also useful for an industry that experiences high turnover and is often delegating work to new staff with little experience.

However, it’s kind of like what came first, the chicken or the egg. Has high staff turnover made public practice a system to plug new staff into or has the system caused turnover as staff become disenchanted with the system?

]]> By: Ron Baker http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/uncategorized/micromanagement-the-path-to-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-285 Ron Baker Sun, 18 May 2008 14:07:14 +0000 http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/?p=58#comment-285 Mark, I love this post, couldn't agree more. Don't think! Fill out the checklist. It's turned our profession into a bunch of rote robots, who no longer use judgment, analysis, synthesis and all the other cognitive skills of knowledge workers. It may be why, as our colleague Dan Morris argues, CPAs aren't really knowledge workers, and we should stop calling them such. They certainly have the potential to be knowledge workers, but they work in systems, and for a leadership, that treats them like factory workers with micromanagement. I recently have had this view validated at a "Big Ten" firm in Minnesota, where I was appalled at the lack of thinking and critical skills necessary to analyze complex issues, such as does the cost of SOX outweigh its benefits. Maybe it's time to stop calling CPAs knowledge workers and acknowledge they are no different than factory workers in Ford's era? Mark,

I love this post, couldn’t agree more. Don’t think! Fill out the checklist. It’s turned our profession into a bunch of rote robots, who no longer use judgment, analysis, synthesis and all the other cognitive skills of knowledge workers.

It may be why, as our colleague Dan Morris argues, CPAs aren’t really knowledge workers, and we should stop calling them such. They certainly have the potential to be knowledge workers, but they work in systems, and for a leadership, that treats them like factory workers with micromanagement.

I recently have had this view validated at a “Big Ten” firm in Minnesota, where I was appalled at the lack of thinking and critical skills necessary to analyze complex issues, such as does the cost of SOX outweigh its benefits.

Maybe it’s time to stop calling CPAs knowledge workers and acknowledge they are no different than factory workers in Ford’s era?

]]> By: Jesse http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/uncategorized/micromanagement-the-path-to-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-284 Jesse Fri, 16 May 2008 19:25:34 +0000 http://www.markbaileyco.com/blog/?p=58#comment-284 It makes me wonder sometimes, even as a new staff accountant, who really benefits from some of our work: The Client or the folks at Practitioners Publishing Company. It makes me wonder sometimes, even as a new staff accountant, who really benefits from some of our work: The Client or the folks at Practitioners Publishing Company.

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