Understanding the best and brightest: here's the scoop on what your highest achievers want from your firm.It's a stubborn stubborn Vox populi → medtalk Refractory; unresponsive to therapy fact that just isn't going away: Finding and retaining qualified staff is the top concern of CPA (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. firms--still. The latest AICPA AICPA See American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). PCPS PCPS Primary Care and Population Sciences PCPS Partners for Child Passenger Safety PCPS Pleasant Corners Public School (Canada) PCPS Plymouth Counselling and Psychotherapy Service (UK) "Top Issues in Practice Management" survey showed that result again, as it has done since 1997, when it began polling. Even though enrollment in accounting programs has gone up, the demand for accounting expertise also has grown tremendously as firms and companies scramble To encode (encrypt) data in order to make it indecipherable without having a secret key to "unlock" it. The term came from the early days of cryptography which camouflaged analog transmissions with secret frequency patterns. to find qualified staff. The National Association of Colleges and Employers  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. says accounting is one of the most popular majors among employers hiring at the bachelor's degree level. To address the staffing challenges, the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) set out to learn more about the attitudes and aspirations aspirations npl → aspiraciones fpl (= ambition); ambición f aspirations npl (= hopes, ambition) → aspirations fpl of the most promising young accounting professionals in order to provide valuable insights for firms seeking to recruit and retain them. Its "Top Talent Study," much like one performed in 2000, asked the most highly valued nonpartner employees about their hopes for growth opportunities, job benefits and firm culture, and how those elements affected their decisions to join or stay with a firm. For comparison purposes, PCPS also asked partners to offer their opinions on the importance of all the same issues in hiring and retention. CPAs clearly appreciate the value of knowing what bright prospects want. "The most important thing we can offer our clients that makes us different from other firms is the quality of our people," says Deborah Sessions, a partner of Porter Keadie Moore Moore, city (1990 pop. 40,761), Cleveland co., central Okla., a suburb of Oklahoma City; inc. 1887. Its manufactures include lightning- and surge-protection equipment, packaging for foods, and auto parts. in Atlanta. "So we need to develop good relationships with the promising people who work here." WANTING IT ALL The talented staff members who took this survey are a complicated group, people who appear to place a balanced emphasis on their careers and their personal lives. Their top reasons for joining a firm are career growth opportunities, paid personal/vacation time and salary--in that order (see exhibit 1, page 44). The good news is that the partners who are hiring and working with this group of young people seem to understand that they are a multifaceted mul·ti·fac·et·ed adj. Having many facets or aspects. See Synonyms at versatile. Adj. 1. multifaceted - having many aspects; "a many-sided subject"; "a multifaceted undertaking"; "multifarious interests"; "the multifarious generation. While both sides are not always in lockstep lock·step n. 1. A way of marching in which the marchers follow each other as closely as possible. 2. A standardized procedure that is closely, often mindlessly followed. Noun 1. in terms of how they would order their priorities, the two groups are on the same wavelength (see exhibits 1 and 2 on pages 44 and 46). Career growth expectations, time off and salary continue to be important to hires and are a big factor in retention. Again, partners were generally in sync with this group, understanding their ambition and their desire to be associated with a great firm (see exhibit 3, page 47). But while firm leaders may be aware of promising younger staff members' expectations, other AICPA research raises questions about whether they have taken concrete steps to meet them. In the "Top Talent Study," 76% of the young CPAs said they were interested in being groomed groom n. 1. A person employed to take care of horses or a stable. 2. A bridegroom. 3. One of several officers in an English royal household. 4. Archaic a. A man. b. for a senior position. Another recent PCPS study of firm staffing policies found, however, that 93% surveyed did not have a leadership development program, 90% did not have a career professional program and 89% did not have a partner-in-training program. Such programs can reassure re·as·sure tr.v. re·as·sured, re·as·sur·ing, re·as·sures 1. To restore confidence to. 2. To assure again. 3. To reinsure. ambitious staff members about the career opportunities within a firm and clarify firms' expectations. The same study also found that most firms did not have a documented pay-for-performance plan to align align (  līn),v to move the teeth into their proper positions to conform to the line of occlusion. compensation with firm strategic initiatives. Such plans can reinforce firm goals and reward talented staff members for efforts that help achieve them. WHAT WORKS AT OTHER FIRMS The "Top Talent Study" provides insights into some of the benefits, perks perk 1 v. perked, perk·ing, perks v.intr. 1. To stick up or jut out: dogs' ears that perk. 2. To carry oneself in a lively and jaunty manner. and opportunities that are likely to be of importance to your most valuable young staff members. In addition, PCPS asked partners at some firms with particularly low turnover to what they attributed their success. Here are some of their best practices for recruiting and retention. Line up your incentive pay programs with your firm's strategic goals. In the race to create a place where people want to work, begin by determining your firm's unique values and long-term goals Long-term goals Financial goals expected to be accomplished in five years or longer. . Then create policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental that support them, says former AICPA Board Chair Leslie Murphy, group managing partner of Plante & Moran Moran equitable councillor to King Feredach. [Irish Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 728] See : Justice in Southfield, Mich. This focus is important to top talent, whose "respect for [the] firm's mission statement" is a chief reason they stay. "It's a matter of thinking through the firm's core philosophy and determining what people should be rewarded for," Murphy says. "Is their compensation commensurate com·men·su·rate adj. 1. Of the same size, extent, or duration as another. 2. Corresponding in size or degree; proportionate: a salary commensurate with my performance. 3. with their overall contribution to the firm?" Does it appropriately reward recruiting, mentoring "and other nonfinancial areas?" The program needn't be elaborate to be effective. It can address simple issues such as whether this person is a good technician See PC technician and software technician. , relates well to clients and gets along well with other firm members, she says. Understand what matters to your staff. "Staff members today want more quality time," says Herb Schoenfeld, managing partner of Schoenfeld Mendelsohn Goldfarb in Woodbury, N.Y. He points out that while people used to be willing to work overtime for just pay, for instance, today many "want comp time comp time n. Informal Compensatory time. and more vacation." Once firm leaders determine their own strategic goals, they should consider what incentives will motivate their staff to achieve them. The answers may be different at each firm; it's worth asking staff in order to find out. Provide a clear career path. "Understanding the next step is important to getting ahead," Murphy notes. "We always try to paint staff a picture of what happens next." You can create your own career paths and competency COMPETENCY, evidence. The legal fitness or ability of a witness to be heard on the trial of a cause. This term is also applied to written or other evidence which may be legally given on such trial, as, depositions, letters, account-books, and the like. 2. assessment continuums or adapt a resource such as the AICPA Competency Self-Assessment Tool (CAT) for your own needs (www.cpa2biz biz n. Informal Business. biz Noun Informal business Noun 1. .com /CS2000/Products/CPA2BIZ/AICPA+Competency+SelfAssessment+Tool.htm). Training is a vitally important prerequisite pre·req·ui·site adj. Required or necessary as a prior condition: Competence is prerequisite to promotion. n. to advancement, Lattimore, Black, Morgan & Cain in Brentwood, Tenn., created a continual learning platform that establishes the technical and systems knowledge benchmarks and the marketing and business development skills for each level. A learning coordinator works with departmental managers to design courses that appropriately address the firm's training needs, says managing principal David Morgan David Morgan may refer to:
Make the best use of your talent. At many firms staff members perform some clerical functions that could be handled by administrative staff. Adding support staff to cover these tasks could pay for itself if it generates more billable hours Billable Hours is a Canadian comedy series, which airs on Showcase. Set in the fictional Toronto law firm of Fagen & Harrison, the series focuses on three young lawyers struggling to balance their expectations in life with the difficult realities of building a career or marketing time and helps retain key people. Share some financial information with staff. Sessions and her partners believe that doing so shows employees" 'we're proud of what we're doing and we want you to understand it.' We don't share all the details, but we give them snapshots of what matters," she says. "We want them to know how we make money and how we create value and bill for their time. It makes them better business people." Reinforce the need to strike a healthy balance. Some practitioners report firms' work/life balance programs aren't being fully used. Even if promising staff members aren't using flexible schedules, it is important for firm leaders to fully support those initiatives. (See "The Work/Life Balance Sheet So Far," JofA, Aug.06, page 45.) One step toward achieving work/life balance is to shift the workload The term workload can refer to a number of different yet related entities. An amount of labor While a precise definition of a workload is elusive, a commonly accepted definition is the hypothetical relationship between a group or individual human operator and task demands. out of busy season as much as possible. "That's one way to make more money and keep people happier," says Morgan. His firm has focused on year-round engagements related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act See SOX. , such as internal audit outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. . Find out whether they are satisfied. Morgan's firm used employee surveys to determine staff satisfaction--and reaped a surprise dividend. "When we learned that about 98.5% of our staff said they'd join the firm again if they had the chance, we used that information in our promotional materials. It's a way to tell people this is a great place to work and it has helped us attract good talent." The firm also makes an effort to recognize staff efforts. "You never forget how you felt when you were a staff accountant and your weekend was mined because you had to finish an assignment, but you'll remember if someone thanks you for doing it or recognizes you for a job well done," he says. Include staff in the hiring process. "We won't hire candidates if the staff members don't like them," says Sessions. "They are the people who will have to work with them." When recruiting new staff or interns  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . , Sessions' firm involves younger firm members to obtain their perspective and to demonstrate confidence in them. Treat staff as well as the people you're trying to hire. Many practices roll out the red carpet for potential recruits, but often it ends there. At Sessions' firm the partners provide numerous social events for the people already on staff, as well as outings to baseball games Noun 1. baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; "there was a baseball game on every empty lot"; "there was a desire for National League and other events to show the firm's appreciation. "We want to constantly show them that we are glad they're part of the team," she says. Be generous. At Schoenfeld's firm, long-term employees might receive a company credit card or partial payment of their car lease. "If they take the CPA exam, we loan them the money," he says. "If they pass the test and stay with us for a year afterward af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. Adv. 1. afterward - happening at a time subsequent to a reference time; "he apologized subsequently"; "he's going to the store but he'll be back here , we forgive the loan." Long-standing employees also have their professional dues and CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) Communications equipment that resides on the customer's premises. CPE - Customer Premises Equipment paid. The firm gives new employees vacation based on one day for every full month they work. The practice also allows up to two weeks' comp time. Staff might also get impromptu A Windows query and reporting tool from Cognos with support for a large variety of databases. It is capable of generating cross tabs for spreadsheets such as Excel, Lotus for Windows and Quattro Pro for Windows. bonuses for extraordinary efforts. "People have told us, 'No one else would do this for me,'" he says. Make work fun. Games and competitions are one way to motivate and reward employees. "Our firm is very competitive," Sessions says. For example, in one program called Innofix (for "Innovation Fixation fixation: see psychoanalysis. "), people competed to come up with the best firm-improvement ideas in any area, from administration to client service to internal accounting to recruiting. At the end of the contest, six winning teams presented their ideas to the partner group for implementation consideration and they got monetary prizes. "We were letting them know we were interested in their ideas," she says. WELL WORTH THE EFFORT Overall, the results of the "Top Talent Study" are very positive for the profession. Firm leaders may not offer everything their top talent seek, but they seem to be well aware of what's expected. That's good news, because the stakes are high. "The worst thing you can have is turnover," says Schoenfeld. "There is extensive training to be done each time someone is hired and it can affect the work product. It's worth it to do all you can to prevent it." Interest in the Profession More than 400,000 students have responded to the AICPA Start Here, Go Places campaign. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * To find out what promising young accounting professionals want from employers, the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) conducted a new "Top Talent Study." CPA firm partners asked their most highly valued nonpartner employees about their hopes for growth opportunities, job benefits and firm culture, and how those factors influenced their decision to join or stay with a firm. For comparison PCPS had partners rate the same issues. * The survey found that talented staff members are a complicated group concerned with balancing their careers and their personal lives: Their top reasons for joining a firm are career growth opportunities, paid personal/vacation time and salary. * The partners who are hiring and working with this group of young people seem to understand they are a multifaceted generation. The two groups appear to be on the same wave length about many career issues but partners and young staff order their priorities differently. * There are some disconnects: 76% of the young CPAs said they were interested in being groomed for a senior position. Ironically i·ron·ic also i·ron·i·cal adj. 1. Characterized by or constituting irony. 2. Given to the use of irony. See Synonyms at sarcastic. 3. , another recent PCPS study found that the vast majority of the CPA firms surveyed did not have a leadership development program, a career professional program or a partner-in-training program. * The most valuable young staff members prize financial incentives such as good pay and generous benefits, a clear career path, an inspiring workplace, an opportunity to use their talents, shared information about the firm, a balanced schedule, respect for their opinions and recognition of their efforts. Those factors are persuasive in keeping the best talent. AICPA RESOURCES DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. * Work/Life: Striking a Balance, a free DVD from the Work/Life and Women's Initiative Executive Committee, e-mail educat@aicpa.org. JofA articles * "Staffing Update: Issues, Trends, Initiatives," Sep.05, page 87. * "Nothing Succeeds Like Succession," Jul.05, page 63. * "Outrageous Employee Benefits," May05, page 32. Publications * Management of an Accounting Practice Handbook
This article is about reference works. For the subnotebook computer, see .
* Promoting Your Talent, a guidebook for women in accounting (# 872566JA). For more information or to make a purchase, go to www.cpa2biz.com or call the AICPA at 888-777-7077. Web sites * For more information on how to help aspiring as·pire intr.v. as·pired, as·pir·ing, as·pires 1. To have a great ambition or ultimate goal; desire strongly: aspired to stardom. 2. CPAs learn more about the accounting profession and available career opportunities, go to www.startheregoplaces.com. * For more information about small firm staffing issues, go to the PCPS Firm Practice Center, http://pcps.aicpa.org. * For more information about guidance for staffing and training-needs analysis, go to www.cpa2biz.com/CAT. * For more information about careers and work/life opportunities, go to www.aicpa.org/worklife. * For more information about online workplace flexibility for CPA firms and corporations e-mail educat@aicpa.org or order FlexWise on www.cpa2biz.com. Anita Dennis is a JofA contributing editor A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. and freelance business writer.
Exhibit 1
Top 10 Reasons to Join a Firm
TOP TALENT PARTNERS
1 Career growth opportunities 80% Salary 93%
2 Paid personal/vacation time 79% Medical benefits 83%
3 Salary 78% Paid personal/vacation time 79%
4 Respect for company mission 73% Career growth opportunities 75%
statement
5 Interesting, challenging 71% Paid overtime 69%
projects
6 Medical benefits 70% Interesting, challenging 64%
projects
7 Comfortable office 69% Firm reputation or prestige 63%
atmosphere
8 Open-door/accessible 68% Respect for company mission 62%
management style statement
9 Retirement savings plan 67% Flexible work schedule 56%
10 Flexible work schedule; 65% Access to the latest, 54%
paid overtime (tie) cutting edge technology;
firm culture; comfortable
office atmosphere (tie)
Source: 2006 PCPS "Top Talent Study," a poll of 646 staff members and
645 firm partners.
Exhibit 2
What Firms Offer
THESE ARE PERSUASIVE, PARTNERS SAY
1 Open-door/accessible management style 96%
2 Frequent client contact 96%
3 Paid personal/vacation time 96%
4 Comfortable office atmosphere 95%
5 Medical benefits 92%
6 Interesting, challenging projects 90%
7 Paid sick days 90%
8 Retirement savings plan 89%
9 Respect for work/life balance issues 88%
10 Training/professional development 87%
Source: 2006 PCPS "Top Talent Study," a poll of 646 staff members and
645 firm partners.
Exhibit 3
Top 10 Reasons to Stay With a Firm
TOP TALENT PARTNERS 91%
1 Respect for company 93% Salary
mission statement 90%
2 Career growth opportunities 92% Career growth
opportunities 88%
3 Salary 89% Respect for company
mission statement 86%
4 A Open-door/accessible 89% Interesting, challenging
management style projects
84%
5 Interesting, challenging 88% A Medical benefits
projects 81%
6 Flexible work schedule 88% Flexible work schedule
80%
7 A Paid personal/vacation time 86% A Paid personal/vacation
time 78%
8 Comfortable office atmosphere 83% A Firm culture
74%
9 A Equity incentives 79% A Comfortable office
atmosphere
10 A Retirement savings plan; 78% A Firm reputation or 71%
training/professional prestige; open-door/
development accessible management
opportunities (tie) style (tie)
Source: 2006 PCPS "Top Talent Study," a poll of 646 staff members and
645 firm partners.
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