Accounting
Art of Accounting: How to end the self-created pipeline problem
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I quit two jobs I liked because of poor raises. I resolved that when I had my own practice, I would not let this happen to my staff. And it never did because I paid the right salaries (and usually on the higher level). Of course there were exceptions. There are always exceptions. But as a rule, I never lost staff because of inadequate salary or a poor raise.
I do not think I was so imaginative, innovative or even too bright. I was using my early experiences as the role model to keep staff that wanted to stay and who I also wanted to stay. As things worked out, I pretty much made the right decisions when I quit since each future firm gave me added experience and opportunities, and the appropriate salaries.
I feel disgusted when I read interviews and articles about the pipeline “problem” when one of the causes cited is the low salaries being paid to entry-level and experienced staff who could earn much more in positions outside the profession.
I, along with my partners, came up with rationales for our higher salaries. I think these are just plain common sense. It was certainly good business for us, and here are some of the things we did and the reasons. This shares my pre-Withum experiences, but from what I hear from colleagues, everything we did is still valid. However, very few firms duplicate it, just as very few duplicated it 45 years ago when I started writing and speaking about this. This is not new stuff.
- For starters, we were a small practice and primarily hired people out of school. Generally, we weren’t competing with the larger firms that had higher starting salaries, so we paid a little lower than “market” to get staff on board. We had a great training program and our staff advanced quite rapidly. What we did was recognize the value they acquired and gave them a raise after six months and every six months thereafter for about two to two and a half years until their steep learning curve leveled off somewhat, and then moved them to an annual raise. We, in effect, paid them what they were worth at the end of every six-month period.
- Many colleagues pointed out to us that we were paying staff for what we taught them at our expense, and they thought we were foolish. The fallacy in this is that our staff owned what we taught them and if they left, we lost what they knew, the relationships they established with clients and the level they were performing at for us at that time. We did what we needed to do to keep them, and since money was a key issue we paid them what they were then worth in the market.
- The result for us was a much lower turnover and greater longevity with us and with our clients. This cut our time recruiting and onboarding and training new staff. Instead, we had added time to bring our staff along to perform at higher levels … and for which we gladly paid them. Our colleagues got mired in a cycle of ongoing staff replacement recruiting and onboarding that we completely avoided. And this accelerated our growth.
- Our accelerated growth also led us to innovate more and provide added services to clients, increasing client satisfaction and our income. Clients also appreciated that we did not have a revolving door of new staff.
- We actually had a revolving door, but it was for controlled growth for staff and more efficient client servicing, without disruption to clients. We realized staff could not grow if they remained on the same clients indefinitely. What we did was have someone who worked on a client start after two years to train a newbie for a year and then step back and become their supervisor. The newbie worked another year by themselves, and then they were ready to train the next newbie on that client. The clients saw continuity and because of our systems there was never a break in the services or deliverables. Depending on the dynamics, occasionally the supervisor remained on that client as the manager and performed many of the services a partner would have performed.
- We trained staff well in the technical areas and also on our systems, methods and culture. Further, because of our systemized approach to training, a one-year staff person was able to train an entry-level person, just as a two-year person was able to train the one-year person, and this worked all the way up the experience ladder. Our managers were trained by us and started their careers with us.
- I recall reading a cartoon showing two older partners talking to each other. One said, “Why should we spend effort training staff who will then leave?” The other said, “Suppose we do not train them and they stay!”
- We trained to have staff perform at the highest level they were capable of as long as they worked for us. If we only got an extra year out of them, it was well worth the effort and expense, but we usually got more than that extra year.
- Another thing we did was pay for overtime hours in the next paycheck. They worked extra, they were paid for it! If we weren’t able to generate added revenue from their added work, we did not deserve to remain in business. Our staff never complained about working overtime, and I was told that some spouses encouraged it because of the added payment.
- As for overtime, we only asked staff to work extra if there was work that needed to be done. This certainly was during the couple or three weeks before March and April 15, but not usually during other periods except if there were special circumstances.
There is a lot more, but the shallow reason that the pipeline is drying up because of low or inadequate salary could easily be remedied. We have it within our power to change this. When will you start?
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Aprio, a Top 25 Firm based in Atlanta, has acquired JMS Advisory Group, a firm that specializes in unclaimed property compliance and escheat process development, also based in Atlanta
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Aprio ranked No. 24 on Accounting Today’s just released
JMS was founded in 2006 and helps clients mitigate risk and capitalize on opportunities through managed unclaimed property compliance. The team includes attorneys, CPAs, CFEs and others.
JMS has a wide range of clients, including enterprise companies, financial institutions, credit unions, insurance companies, hospitality and health care organizations.
“As Aprio continues its rapid growth, we are committed to expanding our services to meet the evolving needs of our clients,” said Aprio CEO Richard Kopelman in a statement Tuesday. “The addition of JMS gives us the opportunity to continue strengthening our position as a future-focused advisory firm. JMS’s focus on escheat management and asset recovery not only enhances our current capabilities but also allows us to deliver even more impactful solutions to help businesses navigate complex compliance challenges.”
JMS president and CEO James Santivanez is joining Aprio as a partner and provides guidance to clients on unclaimed property and state and local tax issues.
“We created JMS to make an impact nationally in the unclaimed property consulting industry, and I’m proud of our nearly 20-year history of helping clients mitigate risk and capitalize on opportunities resulting from accurate and properly managed unclaimed property compliance,” Santivanez said in a statement. “Joining with Aprio takes us to the next level, allowing us to build upon our success while providing even greater value to our clients. This is an exciting next step in our journey.”
JMS founder and director Sherridan Santivanez is also joining Aprio as a partner. He specializes in representing clients before state enforcement authorities and managing complex audits and voluntary disclosures for some of the world’s largest companies. She provides strategic guidance on audit preparation and navigates interactions with state and third-party auditors.
Aprio received a
The American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy are asking for comments on their proposal for an additional pathway to CPA licensure through
The AICPA and NASBA proposed the
The UAA changes would:
- Enable states to adopt a third licensure pathway that requires earning a baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration, completing two years of professional experience as defined by Board rule, and passing the Uniform CPA Examination;
- Shift to an “individual-based” mobility model, which allows CPAs to practice in other states with just one license; and
- Add safe harbor language to ensure CPAs who meet existing licensure requirements preserve practice privileges.
The proposals come as several states are already moving forward with their own changes, including
The updates reflect feedback gathered during a late 2024 exposure draft period and forward-looking solutions being advanced by state CPA societies and boards of accountancy to increase flexibility for licensure candidates while maintaining the integrity of the CPA license.
The AICPA and NASBA are asking for comments on the proposed changes by May 3, 2025. They can be submitted through this
The UAA offers state legislatures and boards of accountancy a national model they can adopt in full or in part to meet the licensure needs of each jurisdiction.
The proposal would maintain the current two pathways to CPA licensure:
- Earning a post baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration, completing one year of professional experience as defined by Board rule, and passing the CPA exam; and,
- Earning a baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration, plus an additional 30 semester credit hours , completing one year of professional experience as defined by Board rule, and passing the CPA exam.
Small business employment held steady last month, according to payroll company Paychex, while wage growth continued below 3%
The
“Our employment data continues to show moderate job growth and wage growth below three percent,” said Paychex president and CEO John Gibson in a statement Tuesday. “The consistent long-term trend we’re seeing is a small business labor market that is resilient and stable with little job movement among workers. At the same time, small business owners are optimistic about future business conditions despite uncertainty about how to adapt to a rapidly evolving legislative and regulatory landscape.”
The Midwest remained the top region in the country for the ninth consecutive month with a jobs index level of 100.54. Seven of the 20 states analyzed gained more than one percentage point in February, led by Texas (up 2.11 percentage points).
Phoenix (101.92) increased its rate of small business job growth for the fourth month in a row in February to rank first among the largest U.S. metros.
Construction (3.29%) regained its top spot among industries in terms of hourly earnings growth in February, followed closely by “other services” (3.27%) and manufacturing (3.21%).
The pace of job growth in manufacturing gained 2.39 percentage points to 99.52 in February, the industry’s biggest one-month increase since April 2021.
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