How a Small Firm Deals with Staff Shortages

Source: Small Firm Solutions

Christine Lauber, a sole practitioner who manages an eight-person firm in South Bend, Indiana, has developed a strategy to deal with the staffing problem plaguing all firms:

• Invest in technology   
  • Technology allows data to be submitted by clients, not by the firm’s personnel. Lauber no longer accepts client information in shoeboxes. Clients need the firm’s knowledge more than its labor. Clients need to be educated about the efficacy of this.
• Use paraprofessionals
  • Many community colleges offer two-year accounting degrees. Graduates can be used for many tasks such as preparing tax returns, fixed asset schedules, etc. There is less competition in recruiting these graduates.
• Increase productivity
  • Link compensation growth to enhanced skills. For example, a raise can depend on learning how to prepare a fixed asset schedule or a sub S return. By assigning specific functions to people, as opposed to total client responsibility, clients can be served more efficiently.

From Small Firm Solutions: Winning Strategies for Profitable Firms, AICPA, Vol. 1 Issue 1, summer 2007, p. 3. For the complete article, click here.