{"id":591,"date":"2007-02-01t11:30:29","date_gmt":"2007-02-01t16:30:29","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-10-01t09:17:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01t13:17:41","slug":"staffing-issues-demand-new-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2007\/02\/01\/staffing-issues-demand-new-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"staffing issues demand new solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

labor shortage pushes cpas to look for innovative ideas. <\/i><\/p>\n

what are you doing about it? join the study. get the answers.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

by rick telberg<\/b>
\nfor the finance executive<\/i><\/p>\n

recruiting good workers and properly managing staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201d two of the most pressing issues facing the accounting profession \u00e2\u20ac\u201d will take new levels of creative thinking to resolve.<\/p>\n

our conversations with cpas in public practice, business and industry and the government and not-for-profit sectors, find that staffing and staff-related issues are the problems that they would most like to resolve with the snap of a finger.
\nwithout a stable employee base, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the learning curve goes on forever,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and people never settle in their jobs long enough to deliver new solutions and creativity to organizations, laments a senior executive in business and industry. one head of a small public practice says she would most like to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cut down on administrative time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in order to free staff to perform higher level functions. they were responding to the dec. 18 column, \u00e2\u20ac\u01532006\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big lesson: get creative.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153hire the best and compensate above average so we spend less time on details and more time on big-picture ideas,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the snap-of-the-finger solution that the head of one public practice cpa and technology services firm offered.<\/p>\n

jared blauer, accounting services manager with ogden, utah-based flying j, a nationwide oil company and operator of truck service facilities, says he would most like to find ways of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153providing good medical insurance benefits to all employees at a reasonable cost.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

another manager in business and industry says he would most like to change his company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to promote from within. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it seems that our company always looks outside the walls for new talent, leaving inside talent frustrated and looking for another job,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p>\n

from the government sector, james kane of the inspector general\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office at the california department of health services in oakland, calif., says the issue he would most like to instantly resolve is how to get middle managers to accept new and innovative procedures for auditing. he notes that middle managers often get locked into a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153comfort level\u00e2\u20ac\u009d about using established procedures, which get exacerbated by governments\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153generally status quo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d attitude about audits.<\/p>\n

for dan clayton, a cpa in the tucson, ariz., office of cha healthcare auditors, the biggest problem \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is breaking the old foundation of finance as the basis for internal audit, and replacing it with objective-based operational audit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as clayton noted in our \u00e2\u20ac\u0153trend lines\u00e2\u20ac\u009d report on dec. 18, 2006, the sarbanes-oxley accounting reform law, as demanding as it is, is still built on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153an old financial statement-based foundation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when internal and external audit requirements are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153well beyond that limited foundation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

while sox remains problematic throughout the profession, personnel issues are far more problematic and critical. in our study, some seven in 10 cpas identified retaining good people as the issue most in need of new creative thinking, while keeping up with technology \u00e2\u20ac\u201d long the biggest thorn in our side \u00e2\u20ac\u201d was cited by only about half.<\/p>\n

tom hood, president of the maryland association of cpas, notes the sometimes overlooked importance of treating staff and with dignity. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153i plan to seize the opportunity to make our workplace a place where we value each other and every one of our team members and hope they play it forward,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p>\n

however, that approach takes a great deal of communications and, as a senior executive with a nonprofit organization told us, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the harder we try to be better communicators, the worse it seems to get.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

but that shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep you from trying something different. nothing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more important.<\/p>\n

now it’s your turn:<\/b> what’s your office doing to foster innovation? join the survey and see the results.<\/a><\/p>\n

[first published by the aicpa]<\/i><\/p>\n