Overworked and Understaffed

[Jiggers]

I am a one-person office and have built up a pretty good size client list. However, this time of year is supposed to be more relaxed, taking time to recover from tax season.

But, it is not. I have several fiscal year corporations that have various due dates and have been working on them as usual.

For some reason, I have been snowed under with excessive amounts of work from my current clients that is out of the ordinary. One client hasn't filed his 2003 return and has finally got his stuff together and the IRS is pressuring him for the return. It is a very large return with numerous rental properties, a schedule c, an F, and very large royalty income. One of the fiscal year corporations is applying for a low interest SBA loan and there is a request for a large amount of paper work. Another fiscal year corporation with one shareholder has had that shareholder die unexpectedly and there will be a large inheritance return involved. I picked up a monthly bookkeeping client from a long time tax client who needs assistance with his ranch and is very large. And on and on and on.

I have attempted to hire help, but in this small community there is no one available. I have started "firing" clients, including turning them over to a "friendly" competitor, in an attempt to reduce my work load to take care of the clients that I kept.

But, the work keeps growing.

I don't mind the normal ordinary day-in, day-out, work for the few monthly clients I have, but it is all this extra work that is pushing my limits.

What do you do? I even raised my rates to an extremely high rate, trying to weed out clients, but that doesn't work.

[OldJack]

Years ago I was in your situation (but now I am retired). The thing that worked for me was to hire a dumb blond that wanted to learn. I trained her to input data into the software and she was able to do most of the monthly clients time consuming work leaving me to do that "extra" work that paid a much higher hourly rate. The low rate paid her resulted in a good profit on her work and a great profit from my extra work. Also, having that blond answer the phone and greet clients gave my office a great professional appearance in the community. Its time you took the chance and let your practice grow.

[JoshinNC]

Well,

According to the President there are millions of folks just on the other side of the border who "want to do the work that Americans don't want to do". So, if you have too much work call El Presidente' and ask him to send over some of his nieces and nephews to help you out.

OK, now that I'm off my soap box, try a service like accounttemps. Even in a rural area they have got to have someone looking for work who is qualified. Best part is, they're temporary, so you can fire them at any time.

Good luck!

[veritas]

Dumb Blond!

Wow Old Jack I have to say you don't hold back much do ya!

I understand ther are a few accountants in India looking for something to do.

[Acownt4it]

Dumb Blonde?

Old Jack,
How about a dumb brunnette or redhead male to assist the Smart Blonde Woman CPA?

Jiggers,
I too am in the same situation. My problem has been with my hiring choices. I hired a bookkeeper/office assistant. They say they can do certain functions (I did not test their skills) and lo and behold, they didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Now, I am currently interviewing for a position I listed as and Accountant. Had a lot of good responses from students that just graduated to CPA's.

Does anyone test their employees? If so, would you be willing to share this test?

Good Luck in your search

[Armando Beaujolais]

"Overworked and Understaffed"

I'd say of all the problems you can have with a practice, you picked the best one.

[Gretel]

Just thinking outloud. I find it hard to even think about testing myself.

Would it be an option to have candidates go through an temp agency? They have a pretty good testing system. Then, later on, you could hire that person permanently. At least, as far as skills go, you are covered.

Another story is practical experience. It's one thing to be able to give good answers, another to actually do it. You can't test on that but call previous employers. Some graduates discover that they don't even like the practical part of accounting.

[Acownt4it]

Very True

I thought the same thing and went the temp agency route. She worked through the temp agency for 4 months, then I put her on my payroll in Jan. What happened next was.....

My assistant left a couple weeks ago (she moved to California), started work for me in Sept. 05. Giving myself plenty of training time and her plenty of time to feel good about her job before tax season. All this time I kept telling her that tax season was a different animal, blah, blah, blah. The second week of Feb. this year she comes into my office and tells me she can't handle the pressure and stress!! You could have hit me with a Mac Truck and I wouldn't have been any less crushed.

Now mind you, I am barely into my REALLY busy time. We have a few individual returns coming in, but I am working on the 20+ business returns. She was just answering phones, making appointments and doing the monthly bookkeeping work she had been doing up to this point. No tax work involved. I asked her if there was something I didn't tell her or explain to her and she said no, she just didn't understand how busy it would get. So, my assistant worked under 30 hours per week, while I worked 15 hours per day.

So, needless to say, her quitting and moving to CA was a blessing and a burden because now I do not have a replacement for her prior to her leaving. But this also shows that the inexperienced, even though you explain and tell them, may still freak out at tax season.

That is my story.....back to work.

[John of PA]

Your problem is your success.

Other than hiring Jainen, I can't think of anything that would work here. Your problem is that your successful. You have a good service, people like it and are willing to pay for it. I too am a sole pratitioner and gave up long ago on finding a good worker to grow my practice. It seems if you get someone really good, they go out on thier own in a few years (like we did). Being in the same situation as your self (really busy and trying to explain to my wife why tax season hasn't totally ended); I'am just rolling up my sleeves and keeping it moving the best I can. At the same time I contiunie my life long quest to master the art of "saying No". Don't take on more into your backlog that you can handle. It's OK for the airlines to overbook, but not for us professionals. I still have trouble turning away work, even though I know darn well I'am not going to get to it unitl several weeks down the road. So the answer does not lie in the color of one's hair, or thier country of origin; but perhaps it comes down to the answer being good old fashion hard work, and being as efficient as possible. May the wind be at your back as you work thorugh this backlog.

[Acownt4it]

So True

I couldn't have said it better.
Another reason why this board is so valuable to all of the sole practitioners like myself. Who else would listen to our whining about our successful careers?
Enjoy your weekend.

[John of PA]

Thank You

Thank You Acownt4it.

[Black Bart]

As trendy accountants,

we here at BB--LLC strive heroically to maintain a professional appearance while aspiring to be on the cutting edge of political correctness. As a matter of policy we hire only smart blondes. All applicants are required to have double digit IQs and demonstrate both mathematical and manual proficiency (must be able to add, subtract, make coffee). We make it a point to avoid sexist queries such as "Can you type?" (we just assume they can't).

I had one working for me in my younger days--quite charming if I do say so (she would have raised Lazarus from the dead). I interviewed and tested. Overall; responses were quite satisfactory--fun to talk to/ wasn't depressed or depressing/ smoked the same brand of cigarettes I did. Although she did overdo it a bit with regard to flattery, I chose to overlook that shortcoming and promptly hired her.

Things went swimmingly at first--my male client base quickly made a pencil-straight uptick and she was turning out reams of 1040As in no time. Alas, her soaring productivity rate was flawed by a 50% error rate (no computers back then). Although I, a compassionate conservative, was willing to overlook such shortcomings as trivial concerns, my wife felt that, in addition to other things, she was a bit too..hmm..(how to PCly put this?), umm, well..uh..she was a big "flirt." You can guess the rest.

And...suddenly...my employment agency adventure was over! It's been Kathy Bates look-a-likes ever since.

[Black Bart]

How about a dumb brunnette or redhead male to assist the Smart Blonde Woman CPA?

Does anyone test their employees? If so, would you be willing to share this test?

Interview format and responses to expected responses:

Q. When are you available?
Tuesday 2-5 PM, Thursday 1-3 PM, and an occasional Saturday morning? I see.

Q. Prior office experience? Any ten-key?
No, it's not a game of poker

Q. Can you handle double-entry?
Yes, we have both a front door and a back door.

Q. Experience with taxes?
Okay, you've paid personal property taxes in the past.

Q. What kind of pay do you expect?
You don't expect as much as I'm making? Good.

[Acownt4it]

Lol

I am going to use those questions in with my next interviewee.
It is always good to start a Monday morning with a chuckle. Thanks

[Unregistered]

As a matter of policy we hire only smart blondes. All applicants are required to have double digit IQs

The question is: Which two digits?