CPAs Tackle Tough Issues With New Ideas

Innovation emerges as strong driver in professional success.

What are the toughest problems? Join the poll. See the results.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

Accounting has been an exceptionally busy profession in recent years, but contrary to that old cliché, CPAs are never too busy to think.

Indeed, as we tread deeper into this new century, CPAs are cranking their gray matter into gear, brainstorming with colleagues and reaching out to consultants to find new and better ways of doing business. More than likely they are trying to find innovative ideas for managing staff, balancing work and life, dealing with clients and making more valuable use of technology, according to the responses we’re receiving to “The Big Lesson: Get Creative.”
Dawn Jessee, a sole practitioner in Richmond, Va., has come up with a new idea for rewarding clients who get their information in early this tax season — “early bird special” fee discounts for the delivery of corporate return information by Jan. 31 and for delivery by Feb. 28 for all other filers.

“Naturally, certain conditions apply to the completeness of the information, the status of their account and the promptness of payment,” she notes.

Brent McClure, a consultant, believes some new thinking by his firm took a client to the next level in internal auditing. As he recalls, his firm helped the client’s internal audit department design and implement a “database driven electronic work-paper package that maintains important information such as audit steps, findings, review notes, sign-offs and edit histories in database tables that allow real-time auditing as well as filtering and sorting of key information. The system is also configured to meet all Sarbanes-Oxley internal audit requirements.”

At DataCraft Inc., an accounting and technology services firm based in Rockford, Ill., the information delivered at seminars can be difficult and vital. Therefore, the firm’s president, Monica B. Glenny, is pleased with its new idea of using “game-play in seminars to make participants laugh and remember more of what they are learning.”

Far away across the Pacific Ocean, Nhing B. Reyes, of the Saipan office of Ernst & Young, notes that his office just recently set up some new team-building programs for staff members to establish rapport among workers and enhance the working environment. It seems that kind of innovation could give birth to all sorts of additional new thoughts.

Here’s an even better way to inspire staff members to come up with new ideas. A CPA at Granite Construction Inc. in Watsonville, Calif., tells us that his company has just implemented a program that rewards people for creative thinking. “It is in the pilot phase, but we are hopeful it will get those great ideas out on the table,” he says.

There’s absolutely no doubt that the accounting profession will welcome innovative ways of thinking that helps firms and their clients. In our latest survey across all walks of the accounting profession, every CPA considered creativity and innovation to be “important” elements for business success. Not a bad idea, huh?

[First published by the AICPA]

Posted at January 28, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] |

Comments

2 Responses to “CPAs Tackle Tough Issues With New Ideas”

  1. Tom Hood on February 2nd, 2007 7:37 am

    Rick,

    You are so right - these times require creative thinking to win in the talent war. While our Profession has made major strides in filling the pipeline with all of the student recruitment campaigns in the past few years (AICPA & State CPA Societies). There continues to be fundamental shortage of the 4-7 year experienced professionals.

    We have seen CPA firms and corporate finance teams solve this with training. Fast tracing key skills and competencies so people can take on more and more responsibility. We also see them using training as a retention tool. Leadership training is a way to deal with retention, succession, and the staff shortage if done right and linked to the business strategies & priorities.

    http://www.cpasuccess.com/2007/02/do_you_have_wha.html

    http://www.cpasuccess.com/2007/01/are_you_creatin.html

    Tom Hood
    .

  2. Wally Johns on February 3rd, 2007 3:25 am

    There is a lot of talk about the coming or already existing shortage of skilled labor in many fields and the need to work with baby boomers about staying in the work force on some sort of more flexible basis. But this doesn’t seem to hold true in the accounting and finance fields. Everyone I talk to who is over 40 seems to have a very hard time changing jobs unless they are at or near the CFO level. There seems to be no impetus to use these experienced people. I would be interested to see a future article on this or hear comments.

    Wally Johns
    Financial Analyst
    ON Semiconductor
    Glendale, AZ
    .

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