NEVER PROCRASTINATE YOUR STAFFING NEEDS

As accountants, we have the capability to do most of the things for our practice ourselves as we aim to utilize our own time to the greatest extent possible. It works well and maximizes profitability when we have a handful of clients. As our practice grows, we often find ourselves stretching our working hours just to get that extra bit of work finished. We want to spend more time in gaining new clients, but end up doing a lot of grunt work which can be otherwise delegated. This limits our own capacity to take up more work and also inhibits the growth of our firm.

Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) survey lists staffing as the top concern for accounting firms of all sizes year after year. This means, over the years, accounting firms have been chronically marred by shortage of accounting staff. The real troubles start surfacing with the onset of tax season when more and more work starts piling up and there are very limited people to work at it. Probably no accounting professional would ever want to see himself stranded by tax season staffing.

Even though accounting firms have the understanding of this, I see many firms procrastinating their decision for hiring seasonal offshore staff before the tax season till the very end. Sadly, as the tax season approaches, they resort to making hasty decisions, which most of the time proves to be baneful. People hire interns, freelancers, overpriced part-time staff and sometimes have to make expensive hires just to see off the tax season. 

Hiring interns for tax season: With interns the major limitation is their expertise. Fresh out of college or still an undergraduate individual still needs to be trained. Would you rather spend your time finishing the work before deadlines or training someone afresh. In addition to that, their commitment is also under scanner (at least most of the time). You can’t guarantee whether the intern is going to stay with you for long after completing the training. What if they leave as soon as the training is done?

Freelancers for tax season: Hiring a freelancer is probably easy and everyone will have a clean and excellent track record to display. But they are freelancers afterall, not your staff. You can’t basically tell them when to work and how to work. One, you can’t control the quality of work with freelancers, second, your data is potentially at risk.

Part-time hire for tax season: Lack of face time and less invested in your company are what part-timers yield to you. It’s natural for part-time workers to work fewer hours, but workload differences can still cause resentment. Part-time workers don’t work the full workday, so they may have to clock out before they see a project through to completion, or waste time playing catch up when they clock in.

The best way to avoid this is to plan. It may seem like a vicious cycle, but remember, the more you prepare now, the less headaches and gray hairs you'll accumulate come April. As the trusted offshore staffing partner of 500+ CPAs and accounting firms, I see many firms procrastinating their decision for seasonal staff before the tax season. But when tax season is in full swing, they are left scrambling for working hours and resources.

Do not attempt to excel in a position you dislike regardless of technical knowledge. Instead, be proactive today, contact us. Entigrity can help you hire tax preparer, tax associate, audit associate, tax manager at 75% less employee cost. Start screening resumes, scheduling interviews and freeze your seasonal/temp tax help before you get buried in work.