the value of firm procedures manuals

where does the most potential benefit lie?

by roman h. kepczyk

every firm has accountants who are 10 percent, 20 percent or even 50 percent more productive in their departments than other personnel because they have simply “figured it out.”

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unfortunately, when these people leave the firm, their unique knowledge of specific processes and shortcuts goes with them. it is the responsibility of firms to capture these individuals’ best practices so that that specific knowledge can be shared and accessed by all firm members both now and in the future. this can be accomplished by making a concerted effort to develop a best practices manual within each department.

the first phase of the process is to lay out the production processes from start to finish on a flowchart, beginning with the first contact with the client through the billing of the service. too many procedures manuals only deal with the specific application that is being utilized. the scope of the document needs to be expanded to identify and include every step in the firm’s workflow, including equipment and personnel.

the first step in developing a manual is for departmental personnel to accurately evaluate how well the firm performs each service activity and rating them by those:

• done well and standardized
• done well by some people but not standardized throughout
• tasks that consistently cause problems and engagement overruns

the next step is to determine the processes where the firm would gain the most benefit from standardizing a specific process and identifying the individual who is best suited to set up and implement standards for that application. the firm would then allocate hours to that person (application champion) on a weekly basis to work on identifying, documenting and educating firm members on best practices.

as these people are usually the most effective (and requested) on their jobs, we suggest their time be limited to four hours per week on the project. some firms have found that the most effective way to create standards is to break the effort into two focused two-hour sessions each week for the specific purpose of documenting a best practice and educating staff on using it.

during times when billable work slows down, the hours can be expanded and updated training scheduled. in this way, work gets done with minimal impact on each individual’s week and the firm makes continual progress on capturing best practices.

recommended action: develop detailed departmental procedure manuals, update annually and provide ongoing training.

posted on january 27, 2021