“With the current economic downturn and increased job insecurity, employees will look to leaders to show them the way; therefore, managers must find a way to keep employees motivated and fully engaged,” writes Elizabeth McCrea Theodore in Training magazine.
Keeping employees engaged can be accomplished with public training or in-house training. In the public accounting industry, the last decade has shown a push toward in-house training, largely because employers realized they could better control consistency and specificity.
“When I first started in the CPE business in the ’80s, very few firms offered training in house — almost all training was done off site,” says Barbara Marino, senior director of in-house CPE and business development for Thomson Reuters. “Now, as much as 75 percent of live practitioner training is done in house. That’s a pretty big change.”
The popularity of in-house training for tax and accounting practitioners is illustrated by the recent requirement that firms implement risk assessment standards. “Hundreds of firms have asked us if an instructor can come into their place of business to help implement the standards and adopt risk-based |
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auditing,” Marino says. “Clients say that real-world training has helped them integrate what they need in terms of their processes.”
While outside training provides opportunities for networking, social interaction and even a peek into what other firms are doing, in-house training offers numerous benefits to firms and practitioners.
Customized Classes: Training can be customized to meet the specific needs of your staff, and the tools and practices of your firm can be integrated into the training. This gives firms greater opportunity to shape the curriculum, Marino says.
Targeted Training: To remain relevant, training can be geared toward the specific services your firm provides. You also can avoid covering areas where your staff is not actively involved with clients. “In-house training tends to be more engaging, real-world applicable and business-driven,” Marino explains.
Cost Reduction: In addition to direct costs such as transportation, lodging and meals, in-house training mitigates the number of billable hours lost due to employees being on the road to attend off-site training sessions. |
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Robert J. Ranweiler, CPA, and Andrew R. Biebl, CPA, are partners practicing in New Ulm, Minn. They are members of the AICPA and the Minnesota Society of CPAs, where both are past presidents. They are co-authors of the PPC Biebl-Ranweiler Portfolio Series and have spoken at numerous seminars and conferences throughout the country. Each is a past recipient of the AICPA’s Outstanding Discussion Leader Award and the Outstanding Discussion Leader Award for Minnesota.
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Message Consistency: With in-house training, you can be sure that the entire staff will receive the same message at the same time, allowing everyone to get on the same page. In-house training eliminates the possibility that employees will be exposed to disparate training from numerous trainers, Marino explains.
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