Evaluating the Performance Evaluation

Source: The CPA Journal

In light of the importance of employee retention to CPA firms, the authors of this article conducted a survey of employees at local and regional firms, primarily in the Midwest, to gain an understanding of the performance evaluation process. Here are some of the highlights:

• 62.2 percent of respondents said that evaluations were required at the end of every engagement; of the remaining respondents, nearly 59 percent were evaluated on engagements that met a minimum hour requirement (ranging from 20 to 80 hours) only.
• Nearly 82 percent of respondents felt that a self-assessment was valuable, but only 15.6 percent completed one for every engagement, and 35.6 percent completed one for some engagements.
• Almost 20 percent of respondents said they received the most benefit from open-ended responses as opposed to from a rating scale.
• Although 62.2 percent of respondents were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their firms' evaluation processes, 71.1 percent saw room for improvement. Suggested improvements included increased consistency (through standardization and evaluator training), more open-ended questions, more timely feedback, and evaluations better tailored to the individual.

For the complete article, read “Improving Performance Evaluations in Public Accounting.”

From The CPA Journal, A Publication of the New York State Society of CPAs, September 2012, http://www.cpajournal.com.