Will your firm succeed or fail this busy season? Build for success or be doomed to disappointment? As your firm and your service teams ramp up for busy season, have you given them everything they need to be successful in the coming months? Are they prepared to give your clients an unparalleled level of service compared to your competition? Or is it business as usual (in other words, same as last year)?
This is a critical question partners and firm leaders need to be asking themselves, and honestly evaluating. And it probably wouldn't hurt to get feedback from other levels within the firm as well, to see if their perceptions are congruent or if there's a disconnect.
If you can answer yes to the first question above, great! The guidelines presented below should already be in your rearview mirror and will serve as a good reminder for next year. If the answer is no, it's worth your time to read through the guidelines presented and determine if any "last minute" actions can be taken to better prepare for what's ahead.
With staff morale at some of the lowest levels I've seen in years (it's tough to keep on doing more and more with less and less), combined with client expectations and fee pressures putting a bind on time capacity, every firm should be making sure they're properly preparing their service teams and putting them in the best positions to succeed.
The following five guidelines are great January reminders for CPA firms. And a point of emphasis I'd like to convey is that the term "service teams" refers to all staff, including partners and administrative staff.
1) "Refresh" your processes. I strongly recommend every firm at least update or, as I call it, "refresh" their processes each year. Incorporating key Lean Six Sigma principles and concepts into your firm's processes must be part of any new or updated process implementation.
Each year, CPA firms are innovating their processes and ideas with breakthrough lean strategies, integrating and utilizing their technology better, and putting a greater focus on client value. We love when our clients are at the leading edge of process improvement! It's important to keep in mind that you're setting up processes that work for the vast majority of clients. If you only evaluate processes and procedures on a selective client basis, you're not really setting yourself up for the opportunities available in gaining efficiency and effectiveness firm wide.
This is where many firms and different methodologies fail to deliver. They become so ingrained in the details of one engagement; they lose sight of the big picture and opportunities to leverage breakthrough lean strategies across all clients.
2) Document your processes. This really should come as the precursor to any refresher or process rollout meetings you have. It's one thing to say what the process is, it's another to have visuals and references for your service teams to use and refer to during the heart of busy season and beyond. I like using both a visual value stream map, as well as a process document that is broken down into phases that describe what should be happening at each phase. These documents also serve as great training tools for your new team members during the year.
3) Process Rollout or "Refresher" Sessions. Make time for rollout sessions or schedule "refresher" sessions to present your processes for the coming year. Don't take for granted that your service teams will execute a well-formulated plan and process that may have been created and implemented in a prior year. Plus, you want to be sure you get all of the new team members on board to fully understand their roles, expectations and accountabilities in the process. When you assume this will just be accomplished through osmosis, you're setting yourself up for setbacks. Invest some time and get your people together for firm-wide or office-wide process refresher meetings. You'll regret it later if you don't. And please include everyone.
4) Ask for and achieve buy-in. The refresher sessions or new process rollout sessions serve as great opportunities to make sure your teams understand and are committed to consistently following the firm's processes. The partner group (and manager group), especially, should fully buy-in to the processes and their roles. I usually recommend a separate session for just these groups when we're initially rolling out a new process or updating an existing process, prior to introducing or refreshing to the entire firm. Whether they want to believe it or not, the firm is looking at leadership to lead by example. If timeliness and efficiency is demanded of others, it must be practiced at the leadership level as well.
A well-planned and orchestrated process rollout or refresher should be able to garner feedback from partners. For example, a partner in a firm I recently worked with stated, "That session was the most well thought out and executed plan of a process we've ever had. All of our questions were addressed completely, and I feel better than I ever have about our processes rolling into the new year. In the past we gave lip service to understanding and buying into the process, this year I can confidently say you have our buy in. I don't see us slipping back into old ways."
5) Measure and Make Visible Your Process Success Metrics. Decide what metrics you should be tracking to properly measure your process success. Many firms are beginning to use a hybrid of metrics, which include traditional metrics like realization paired with more dynamic new lean metrics such as cycle time (turnaround time), throughput capacity, and client value metrics. Make sure all of your service team members understand what these metrics are and make the results visible to keep your teams on track and working towards what is best for your clients and firm. Celebrate successes. Leaders - don't forget to say thank you to your service teams. Those two words go a long way.
Where does your firm stand with regard to accomplishing these guidelines? Hopefully they have already been completed. If not, identify where you may have fallen short and develop a short-term and long-term action plan to be on better footing down the road. If you haven't embraced the lean concepts and methodology for developing, documenting, implementing and achieving world-class buy in to your processes, what are you waiting for? Your people deserve to have good processes. And let's not forget, your clients deserve and expect it as well. They want superior service and additional value added. If you don't care enough, they can find other firms who do.
