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Memorandum
Date:

November 3, 2014

To:

To All West Region Assurance Partners and Employees

From:

Gary Kramer and West Region Location Assurance Leaders

CC:

Byron Whittlinger

Subject:

Reminders on Professional Responsibilities

~Career Advisors to Discuss with Advisees~

As we close out the calendar year and approac h our busiest time of the year, we wanted to share a few
reminders on our collective professional responsibilities to the practice and each ot her.
Chargeability
Meeting chargeability goals is imperative to our collective success in the practice of public accounting
for many reasons. By meeting or exceeding our charge hour goals we ensure the following:

We maximize our productivity levels related to generating revenues for the firm. (The primary
source of revenue to the firm is billable charge hours.)
We can accomplish our objective of providing a high level of client servic e at profitability levels
that will allow us to reward our employees with compens ation that is aligned wit h market
conditions and level of performance.
Our professionals are getting the experienc e they need for career development and success
within the profession.
We are able to adequately assess our resourc e needs or constraints. For example, if there are
professionals not rec ording all of their chargeable time while working on client engagements, it
creates the appearance that we have adequate capacity to grow with the current res ources that
we have. Therefore, our line of business leaders may make improper decisions related to our
practice if the data they are using to manage the business is not accurate.

Daily Time Entry

We have noticed an issue with time keeping practices among certain of our professionals, particularly
daily time entry. Not rec ording time daily can have several adverse consequences on our business
such as:

Our revenues are misstated at any given point in time when part ners and firm finance personnel
are analyzing the revenue generated by our engagements. This also advers ely impacts the
profitability of our operations as we generat e revenues primarily from selling our partners and
employees time.
We cant bill timely (i.e. to ensure a successful practice we must stay on top of our billing
arrangements with our clients and ensure we are billing often and receiving collections timely). In
addition, if time is not entered on a daily basis, we may final bill certain folders or negotiate
change orders on incomplete data whic h has resulted in lost revenues and profitability for the
firm. (Charge time posted after a final billing most oft en needs to be written off.)

To All West Region Assurance and Tax Partners and Employ ees
Professional Responsibilities
November 3, 2014
Page 2

We realize lower profitability levels which have a direct correlation on partner and employee
compens ation

In response to this concern, the West Region will be monitoring those few habitual offenders who do
not input their time daily. These individuals will have to be held accountable for these practices in the
form of lower performance ratings which will ultimately impact employee compensation. (We will also
ensure that career advis ors, when meeting wit h their advisees, discuss the importance of daily time
entry and will be responsible for communic ating with any of their advisees who have been identified
as habitual offenders.)
Scheduling Vacations During Busy Season
The firm emphasizes the importance and benefits of work-life balance to our employees and
encourages them to take time off work to spend with their families and friends. The public accounting
profession and serving our clients needs can be very demanding at times and therefore its important
that our employees allow themselves sufficient time to relax and re-c harge. With that said, the
business of public accounting is for the most part a seasonal business. The majority of the firms
revenues are concentrated during our traditional busy season which generally runs from mid January
through the end of April. (Noncommercial industries [e.g. government, NFPs] have different busy
seasons.) During this time frame the firm expects that our employees will be committed to serving our
clients needs and meeting their deadlines. This commitment to our clients during this time frame
generally requires a substantial amount of hours that often involve week ends as well. Given the
seasonality of our business, the expectation is that our employees should take paid time off outside of
their busy season. This not only ensures better client service but it is also equitable and fair for all of
our team members, balancing our workloads during our busiest times.
Expectation for Working Weekends During Busy Season
Due to the seasonality of our business and the significant demands on our resources during our
traditional busy season, the firm ex pects all client servers to make themselves available during
week ends to serve our clients needs (e.g. working Saturdays). This does not necessarily mean that
all client servers will work each weekend during busy season, but our expectation is that each
professional will coordinate well in advance of a given weekend with their manager or partner on their
current engagement to ensure they are available to help out with any tasks or assignments that need
to be complet ed.
Take a Weekend Off During Busy Season
The demands and stress of busy season can be significant at times as we work to meet or exceed
our clients expectations on a daily basis. We generate the majority of our revenues and profitability
during this time frame and the level of effort expended by our client service teams is significant and
greatly appreciated. In recognition of our employees efforts to provide a high level of service to our
clients during busy season, we will be providing each client service professional with the option to
take a weekend off during busy season. If an employee elects to exercise this option, he or she is
expected to coordinate with his or her direct supervisor with sufficient advance notice to ensure our
commitments to meeting client deadlines are not compromised. We hope having a weekend off to
look forward to and to enjoy with family and friends will help make the busy season a bit more
tolerable.
Adhering to thes e professional responsibilities will position us for a successful busy season as
a team. Thank you for all you do to mak e the West Region of McGladrey successful. We
welcome any comments or questions you may have.

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