Work Smarter, Not Harder

Source: CPA Practice Management Forum

The following includes excerpts from an article by Dave McCarthy, reprinted with permission from CCH Incorporated.

At our firm [Ohio's Rea & Associates], we decided to implement Lean Six Sigma, a unique, team-based problem-solving approach that comes from the manufacturing world. At first, our firm leadership was wary, but they agreed to try it — and they saw that it worked extremely well.

“Lean” is all about improving efficiency, while “Six Sigma” is all about decreasing errors and improving the client experience for both internal and external clients. The process starts with a thorough measurement and analysis of all the current steps in a business process, identifies where efficiencies are being lost, and applies lean techniques to improve those processes.

Lean Six Sigma helps firms manage the workflow in such a way that staff members can  accomplish more work in less time. We are not talking about making staff members work faster. It is just the opposite. By speeding up the process we slow down the frantic work pace. By implementing Lean Six Sigma processes during the 2009 tax season, our own firm realized an annualized time savings of 100 hours per staff member. By completing and delivering work more quickly, we also increased our cash receipts by 10 percent during the 2009 tax season.

Here are two examples of how we increased efficiency in our tax-preparation process:

• By developing checklists, we avoided collecting insufficient or incorrect information, which, in turn, avoided the need to interrupt the project to contact the client for additional information.
• One of our partners spent 15 minutes a day telling people where to put files. By having a clearly identified place for each return that needed specific action, he gained more than one hour each week.

Small inefficiencies may seem insignificant, but when added together they can become a major drain on profitability. At a time when everyone is trying to do more with less, firms that operate as efficiently as possible will have a definite advantage.

For the complete article, click here.

From CPA Practice Management Forum, CCH Incorporated, 800-449-8114, August 2009, p. 17, “Working Toward a Great Payoff: Using Efficiency to Improve Profitability.”