training? cpe? they’re not the same

the three types of training needed and 21 best practices for providing it.

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm staff: managing your #1 asset

“training is everything. the peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with an education.” – mark twain

more: six tips for setting compensation | staff crave advancement and challenge | what leadership looks and feels at cpa firms | eleven things that good mentors do | give the recognition your staff needs | the importance of great bosses | how remote work is impacting accounting firms | make work flexibility work for everyone | why staff leave cpa firms … and how to stop them | how to solve the big disconnect in talent management | what relevance means for staffing in accounting | how accounting staffing has changed
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we cringe when cpas use “training” and “cpe” synonymously.

• cpe coursework is often reactive, taken to maintain a cpa license. it may or may not educate. it may or may not be the type of education an individual needs. many cpas look upon cpe as a nuisance that is necessary to comply with professional regulations. the smaller the firm and the older the cpa, the more likely this is the case.
• training is primarily proactive, undertaken voluntarily to expand a person’s knowledge, performance and capabilities. the training aligns with what the person needs to do the job and provide value to the firm and its clients.

ideally, the training identified as needed also qualifies as cpe.

examples of high-impact training:

1. participating in outside leadership development programs
2. attending a regularly scheduled roundtable group with other practitioners
3. learning how to use a new software product
4. attending a practice management conference
5. attending a conference that teaches business valuations, estate planning or some other useful specialty
6. becoming an expert in a niche by reading articles and books and attending conferences in that niche area

three types of training

there are three types of training that all cpa firm personnel need:

1. technical. tax updates, new professional pronouncements, specialty training and the like. traditionally, this is the training area that cpa firms focus on the most, to the unwise exclusion of the other two types below.
2. soft skills. everyone would agree that skills such as leadership, networking, business development, writing, supervising people and delegation are critical. the vast majority of firms provide little training in soft skills. one can make a strong case for soft skills training being more important than technical.
3. technology. today, cpa firm personnel literally can’t function unless their computers and software are working properly. the changes that take place from year to year are mind-boggling. unfortunately, many firms’ default training technique for technology is still “learn it yourself.” this is a big mistake. a firm’s training regimen should include schooling in technology.

brad self, a career hr professional in the cpa industry and an experienced specialist in talent management, was interviewed by dan hood, editor-in-chief of accounting today:

“coming into public accounting, it amazed me that it’s such a relationship business and that’s what grows the business. yet the focus has been so much on the technical aspects of tax and assurance, and there’s very little work on the ‘soft skills’ of developing relationships. as a result, we often find that relational skills are sometimes not fully developed.”

says hood: “with its culture firmly in mind and a clear idea of the soft skills and behaviors it wants to see in staff, cpa firms have developed behavioral interview processes and questionnaires that allow the firm to hire exactly the type of people it is looking for and bring them into the firm through a unique, thorough onboarding process.”

university or curriculum-based training

curriculum-based programs are among the most important changes that cpa firms have adopted in decades. the old-school approach to training was something like this:

• passive, not needs-based.
• personnel see an outside seminar, request permission and go.
• for training needed by a large block of personnel, usually in a technical area, the firm would bring in an expert to teach a session at the firm for a half or whole day. one of the more common examples has been the annual tax update.
• some firms would send their younger staff to multiday training seminars with a general focus: training for first-year staff, second-year, third-year, etc. often titled level 1, 2, 3, etc. these sessions were offered mostly by the aicpa or state cpa societies.
• and the worst: firms purchase training videos or recorded webinars and assemble certain groups of staff to view them during a “working lunch.” the firm brings in the pizza, personnel bring their phones and the stale environment induces a coma-like siesta. we strongly discourage the use of training videos or recorded webinars except in rare circumstances.

unfortunately, many firms still adhere to this regimen. but progressive firms have adopted a whole new way of training, termed curriculum-based programs, which are modeled after universities and colleges: predetermined arrays of courses in several fields of study, each providing options for personnel to meet their individual interests and learning needs. the curriculum is the basis for a multiyear period of study, not just for the current year.

characteristics of the curriculum:

• the firm offers introductory, intermediate and advanced courses.
• there are different curricula for different services areas such as audit and tax and various areas of specialization, such as construction, estate planning and health care (similar to college majors).
• the educators develop training objectives, prepare a curriculum for each course, develop lesson plans and teach the courses.
• as much as possible, all of the above features of the curriculum are customized to the firm itself and the ways the firm works.

many accounting firms have patterned their training after universities. in fact, it is now quite common to see firms refer to their training as the “brown and smith university.” not only does it make their training more organized and effective, but it is a valued recruiting tool.

four training formats

1. classroom or conference with live presenters
2. on-the-job training
3. personal reading, usually after hours
4. remote courses, zoom calls, webinars, etc.

all four are important and have roles in the individual training plan for each person in the firm. it’s worth repeating that remote training has its place but often has minimal impact.

many firms find that on-the-job training has the highest impact and is the best way to learn. ojt is most effective when done at the client’s site.

• show how the work is done.
• give a client assignment using the training.
• monitor progress. provide feedback throughout the project as work is completed.
• provide overall feedback when the assignment is completed.
• the employee moves onto the next assignment. and so on.

we strongly suggest that training time be built into the time budget of every client project. otherwise, pressure to stay within the time budget will tempt supervisors to cut the training short.

curriculum-based training program

the x’s in the boxes are examples.

	partners	mgrs	seniors	staff
technical
auditing standard 284	x	x	x
tax update	x	x	x	x
passive losses	x	x
level 1 geared technical				x
level 2 geared technical			x
ethics intro				x
ethics advanced	x	x	x
soft skills
leadership develop, intro			x
leadership develop, adv	x	x
teamwork	x	x	x	x
supervision & delegation	x	x	x
practice development, intro			x	x
practice development, adv	x	x
project management	x	x
performance feedback	x	x	x
presentation skills	x	x	x
how to be a great mentor	x	x
networking skills		x	x	x
technology
tax/audit prep software		x	x	x
quickbooks, intro				x
quickbooks, advanced		x	x
document storage software,  thomson gofileroom, cch engagement sharefile, dropbox, etc.	x	x	x	x
microsoft office				x
tax/gaap research			x
social media	x	x	x
videoconferencing: zoom, ms teams, google meet, etc.	x	x	x	x
time and billing software		x	x	x

21 training best practices

1. on-the-job training is the most effective form of learning for cpa firm staff, especially young people. it starts with the supervisor reviewing the engagement with the team before the job begins, clarifying expectations and giving specific instructions.
2. when a client project is completed, the supervisor should evaluate the performance of all team members. the client routing sheet needs space for a sign-off that this was done.
3. mandatory reading for all supervisors is “the one minute manager” by blanchard and johnson. it’s one of the best books ever written on how to manage people.
4. work should be reviewed in a timely manner.
5. train how to supervise and delegate early. seniors should be introduced to these concepts so that they don’t fall into the habit of doing everything themselves.
6. new employee orientation or onboarding should not be seen as a process taking a few hours on the person’s first day. instead, it should be spread out over weeks or months and arguably should begin before the employee starts at the firm.
7. adopt a university or curriculum-based approach to training. be sure to include soft skill and technology training.
8. when the firm convenes staff meetings, every meeting should have a training agenda item, even if it takes only five minutes.
9. one-shot, outside seminars need follow-up to be effective. example: the firm wants staff to learn about tax section abc and sends them to an outside seminar on the subject.

here are three great ways to help staff get the most from outside training courses:

• • the staff person should meet with a supervisor, mentor or both for debriefing that helps them fully understand how to use what they learned on client projects. convert the classroom knowledge to practical experience.
  • the firm should assign work to the staff person in the area the seminar focused on. if you don’t use it, you lose it.
  • after attending an outside training seminar, staff should be required to present the highlights in a staff meeting or develop a training on it for team members who didn’t attend the seminar. there is no better way to learn something than by teaching it.

10. use performance reviews (continuous job evaluations, not annual performance appraisals) and mentoring sessions to identify areas of future training for each staff person.
11. develop financial rewards for effective trainers.
12. classes should focus on internal, not external training. minimize using training videos without live instructors. emphasize hands-on small group sessions.
13. build training time into client budgets. you don’t want a culture in which people avoid training younger staff because it will cause them to go over budget.
14. develop written procedure documents for how your firm does basic assignments such as audits and compilations, 1040s and consulting services.
15. hold lunch and learns, informal, small group sessions, often led by partners, on business-thinking subjects.
16. perform and review as much work in the field as possible.
17. schedule staff for jobs that they are qualified to perform and that they need to develop certain skills for advancement. give them assignments that stretch their abilities.
18. assign work audits and tax return projects to the staff.
19. if your firm has niches, provide training in each niche, as appropriate.
20. smaller groups are preferable for internal training.
21. depending on the size of the firm, consider hiring a training coordinator. add a learning and development department once your firm deems it appropriate.

training: an eye-opening best practice at porte brown

we recently led a group of managing partners in a discussion of best practices. porte brown, a $35 million firm in chicago, shared a practice with the group that was a real eye-opener.

bruce jones, recently retired, was as innovative a managing partner as we have ever seen. he said: “the first wednesday of every month (except in the tax season), the entire firm shuts down for a mandatory half-day or all-day training session.”

because porte brown is a client of ours, we were already familiar with their fervent commitment to consistent and efficient processes. it’s a hallmark of their excellent track record of growth and profitability. but we didn’t know about the monthly training day practice. here’s how it works:

all personnel attend the training day. the meeting starts with an update of administrative issues and current marketing events and a review of all new clients for the month and how they were obtained. next, department heads give an update on current department issues. this includes an it segment where new software, it tips and new hardware are discussed.

“after excusing the admin staff, we dive into presentations on general practitioner knowledge, most of which are tax-related,” jones said.

firm personnel lead the group in a tax session, followed by an accounting session. toward the end of the day they break into separate practice-group meetings such as manufacturing, construction and not-for-profit.

it’s very unusual to find innovative cpa firm practices. porte brown’s dedication to efficient processes and mandatory monthly training sessions truly differentiates them from most other cpa firms.

posted on november 7, 2024