The State Of The Onion

Every Wednesday my staff and I get together for what has affectionately become know, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as the ‘State Of The Onion Address’.

We call it that because we tend to peel off layers one by one on the projects that we are working on to get the true state of play on each project out in the open.

In that meeting we discuss projects on the go, what stage they are at, if anyone has found a great candidate but has no position suitable for them, if anyone needs any help with anything they are working on, if anyone needs anything to make their jobs easier, better or more enjoyable and so on.

It is a very useful, productive and even enjoyable experience where I, as President, keep in touch with what is going on at the grass-roots level of my business, which clients have more pressing needs than others, where the urgency is and so on.

I got to thinking how much we all get from these meetings and how they could be applied to a public accounting firm and what benefits there might be in firms holding such meetings.

The truth is, that bigger firms often hold these type of get-togethers by team, where the Team leader (sometimes a Senior Manager if not a Partner) plays a similar role in managing the work in progress within the firm, gets updates on developments, maybe discussed anticipated problems and potential ways of handling them and generally gets a good feel of where the firm is at.

But smaller firms could reap huge gains from doing likewise. The trouble is that too few actually bother.

Take my own firm as an example – there’s only five of us in total, including a data-input intern. But we all take part in these sessions and all benefit a great deal from them.

So why doesn’t a small accounting firm take the time to do likewise?

Mostly it comes down to time.

Now, many practitioners are still under the false impression that the only thing we have to sell is our time, so they don’t ‘waste it’ by holding internal meetings.

That is wrong on two counts:

1. Clients buy results from us, not our time. As public accountants, we sell results!
2. This should be seen as time INVESTED, not wasted.

Just imagine how an open communication system such as this would benefit the smaller firm:

1. Partners who be far better informed of what stage each client’s project is at
2. Potential problems and/or delays can be anticipated early and even prevented
3. Future billings can be more realistically assessed
4. Some of this feedback on progress could be documented and forwarded to the clients themselves!
5. Software problems (or should I call them challenges?) are identified and remedied
6. Projects due to be started soon can be discussed and resources allocated to them
7. Staffing levels can be assessed and people allocated to suitable projects
8. Responsibility for action can be allocated and followed up in the next meeting

This would help the firm run more efficiently, as when staff are made responsible (or accountable) and there will be follow up at the next meeting, individuals seem to become more committed to taking action to resolve issues rather than simply carrying them forward to the next session.

Clients are rarely kept informed of progress when their financial statements are being prepared. They, in many cases, drop off their accounting records, and they wait. And they wait, and they wait.

Then, one day, they get a phone call out of the blue from their accountant or a member of staff, saying something like ‘We need ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ to be able to complete the year end. When could you get that to us?’

This comes as something of a surprise to them, as they may have dropped their records off three months earlier and were expecting the call to be more along the lines of ‘We’re ready for you now, when can you come in?’

Holding regular ‘State Of The Union/Onion’ meetings and providing feedback to clients on matters that may cause delays, or additional information required would show your clients that you are really ‘on the ball’ and any delays in completing their assignment would be bounced back as their responsibility.

All in all they make for a stronger team spirit within the office, create opportunities for ideas to be exchanged, and natural leaders emerge over time.

It also helps to keep your ‘to do list’ to a minimum, as you are motivated to follow up and take action to resolve items on your list before the next meeting so you are seen as a person of action!

Give it a try. I guarantee you’ll love the results.

MFA Group 2006