Staff Retention in the Sarbanes-Oxley Environment
Source: Insight, The Magazine of the
The stress induced by Sarbanes-Oxley requirements is accelerating burnout among accounting firm staff members. They are leaving for positions requiring less time and promising less pressure.
Partners and others who have been in the accounting profession a long time expect a return to something more normal. Younger people, however, don’t have a frame of reference for anything but what they are experiencing, so they don’t believe it. It is difficult to convince them that things will get better.
Management must recognize the problems and help people prioritize their work. Burnout not only causes turnover, it also causes errors. Suggestions include reworking the audit to be more of an ongoing process and less episodic, and more frequent rotation of personnel.
Mentoring can be a powerful antidote. Unfortunately, people are too busy to have mentoring sessions. But mentors can help their charges work more efficiently and improve their quality of life simply by helping them avoid the mistakes made by the mentors.
For young people, quality of life may be more important than money. Fifteen years ago that may not have been the case. At Plante & Moran,
From Insight, The Magazine of the
http://www.insight-mag.com/insight/05/05-06/col-6-pt-1-HireLearning.asp