Chair's corner.

The majority of our members practicing in public accounting firms are working in smaller firms. Working to address the unique challenges facing small firms is among the AICPA's most important functions. I want to talk this month about some of the recent activities of the Institute's Private Companies Practice Section, our membership section devoted to the needs of all small firms. More than 6,000 firms are members.

I hope practitioners have familiarized themselves with one of the section's most important offerings, the PCPS Firm Practice Center (www.aicpa.org/pcps), an online resource that channels a host of news and information to enhance all aspects of practice. Although a portion of the site contains resources for all AICPA members, for a limited time all AICPA members have free access to every area of the site, including those normally reserved exclusively for PCPS members. Be sure to visit the Firm Practice Center and find out what it has to offer.

We have learned it's highly valuable for firms to know what they have in common with other practices, so PCPS regularly conducts research to gather comparative data on important practice management issues.

Results of the 2005 PCPS Survey of Top 5 Practice Management Issues will be out this spring. PCPS plans to use the data from this survey to tailor programs specifically for each category of firm.

The PCPS/TSCPA Management of ah Accounting Practice Survey is another source of valuable benchmarking information for practices. This survey provides comparative inter-firm data allowing partners to identify relative practice strengths and better understand the areas where they compare less favorably. Given the importance of the topic of staffing to respondents, PCPS has released extracts on this subject from the last survey, conducted in 2004. These extracts yield insights into trends in hours worked and billed, compensation, benefits and gender issues.

As I stated in my previous column, I am committed to helping the profession attract and retain young aspiring CPAs. So I'm happy to report that, to assist firms in this effort, PCPS has published a free white paper titled Best Practices in Recruiting and Retaining Talented Staff. The paper reviews recent survey data on firm staffing programs and offers practical ideas and best practices for a host of challenges and opportunities, including working with colleges, motivating staff, nurturing future leaders and building competencies in business development. Hiring qualified staff is an important issue for firms of all sizes, so the paper offers tips on how smaller firms can adapt best practices for their own situations. Both the white paper and the staffing extracts can be found at pcps.aicpa.org/Resources/Staffing/Staffing+for+Hot+Topics.htm.

In addition, succession planning, another hot topic for smaller firms, is addressed in the free PCPS white paper Preparing for Transition: The State of Succession Planning and How to Handle the Process in Your Firm (pcps.aicpa.org/NR/rdonlyres/D1C10A9F-6592-43 15-B686FD27CB55B6BA/0/PCPSWhitePaper_SuccPlan.pdf). [See article on page 8 or this month's public accounting supplements for more information.]

One other ongoing PCPS effort is their Technical Issues Committee, which acts as the voice for local and regional CPA firms and their clients in the technical standard-setting arena by monitoring emerging guidance and offering comments on proposals. TIC frequently alerts standard setters to changes that might have particularly difficult or unintended consequences for small firms and their clients and points out areas where further clarification or examples are needed, thus benefiting all small practitioners. You can find out more about TIC's work at pcps.aicpa.org/Memberships/PCPS+Technical+Issues+Committee.htm.

As you can see, PCPS has been very busy addressing issues of interest to smaller firms. We'll keep you up to date on future initiatives as they unfold.

Tel.: [e-mail]