The public accounting profession is challenged by Gen Z demands for a lighter workload, particularly during tax season; and some enterprising tax firms are using multiple strategies to ease the burden
Exhausting tax seasons are one deterrent to choosing a career in the tax, audit & accounting field, as young people are clear that they won’t dedicate their lives only to work.
A national survey on the chronic labor shortage in accounting shows that 72% of students said they believe a more manageable workload would be a “very effective” strategy to grow the pipeline of new accountants. Greater flexibility in work arrangements was cited by 77%.
Forward-thinking firms are turning around accounting’s bad reputation by easing the grind.
“We really want to find opportunities to retain the great employees we have. We also think it’s a selling point for recruiting,” says Jessica Freiburg, managing partner at Sassetti, a 50-person, 100-year-old tax & accounting firm in Oak Brook, Ill. “If we can come out and say, ‘Hey, we never ask for more than X hours’ — I think that really can be a driver.”
The path to 50 at Sassetti
Freiburg has initiated what she calls The Path to 50, a firmwide program designed to limit hours worked during tax season. The firm is in the middle of a five-year effort to get there, with maximum hours dropping from 65 a few years ago to 58 this year. She also offers alternative schedules for those who want to work no more than 40 hours.
Many firms offer free lunches, pizza, ice cream breaks, or chair massages to help ease the stress, but that’s not enough, consultants say. “We can’t sustain the profession doing it the way that I did it,” says Gary Thomson, founder of Thomson Consulting and former partner at a Top 20 tax firm. “I didn’t know I had a choice, so I worked 80 to 90 hours a week. Young people have too many options now.”
A 50-, 45- or 40-hour-a-week goal may seem impossible considering the intense labor shortage, last-minute tax law changes, and delays in receiving required tax documents, but it is achievable.
Tax firm leaders need to consider these ways to hit their hour-reduction targets:
Find your ideal clients and cull the rest — Freiburg has become more selective about the clients the firm takes on, as well as the clients it’s already serving. Ideal clients are ones that appreciate firm guidance, offer more challenging work, and hit revenue targets. Sassetti also conducts a yearly reassessment of the workload and refers less profitable clients to firms that are more suited to take on such work.
Some firms only accept clients that are agreeable to tax extensions and the bulk of their work being done outside tax season, Thomson explains. This way, work weeks can drop from 55 hours to 45 to 40 over time.
Price right and encourage timely responses — Freiburg implements surge pricing — charging an extra fee to clients that provide tax documents late in the season. She also trains clients to provide their information sooner so the tax team can slowly increase their hours to 45 in January rather than all at once later.
Leverage technology and outsourcing — The Sassetti tax team meets weekly during busy season to share efficiency tips. And, automation has sped up processes and improved data gathering, for example. Art Kuesel, founder of Keusel Consulting, says he estimates that 50% to 70% of firms are using some form of outsourcing, either within the United States or offshore. Sassetti has been outsourcing, with a 48-hour return time, for 10 years, Freiburg notes.
Hold clients to a schedule and meet capacity — Kuesel compares CPAs to physicians. Patients don’t expect their physician to work weekends; instead, they wait for the next available appointment. Reject the bigger is better mentality, he says, and if you’re aiming to create a 40-hour firm, don’t schedule more appointments than staff can reasonably handle. CPAs should consider the model of doctors who offer concierge service. A limited number of patients are charged more to receive quicker, more comprehensive care.
Count the hours and shift them — Thomson advises firm leaders to calculate the number of hours worked in the busy season to determine how many hours need to be taken away from staff. For example, if you want no staffer to work more than 45 hours and no partner to work more than 50, figure out how many hours are needed to be made up through interns, outsourcing, or moving advisory work to lighter times of year. “There’s a very tactical way to move the needle,” he says.
Starting over
Think about building a firm from scratch, Kuesel suggests. If you could, would you set a 40-hour week all year, or 50 during tax season and 30 afterward, or another arrangement? “If you’re promising a 40-hour work week, and you stick to it, you’re going to have a strong pipeline of talent because it’s a rarity in public accounting today to be able to offer that kind of arrangement for your team,” he says, adding that upstart firms are upending traditional rules to provide better experiences for clients and staff.
“If you’re truly 100% resistant, take caution because someone is engineering this in your backyard. Maybe you don’t see it yet, maybe it’s not impacting you yet, but something like this is coming,” Kuesel advises. “Be on the lookout because I don’t think sustainability is particularly high in the way we’re currently running our firms.”
You can find out more about the talent challenges facing tax, audit & accounting firms here
