Case Study: In-House Training

The competition for top-notch talent is fierce in the world of CPA firms right now. To help in hiring and retaining employees and to keep our workers at peak performance, our firm, the Manhattan-based accounting firm of Citrin Cooperman, has devised a number of training and employee retention programs. These have been developed with the input of our staff and are designed to teach our workers the variety of skills they need to succeed, both at the firm and in their professional lives.

Citrin Cooperman has had some sort of continuing professional education programs for the firm’s accountants and other professionals for many years. But in 2005, the top management decided the firm needed to expand its scope in this area. Our industry was more competitive than ever, and we realized we had to fully invest in employees to reap rewards in the future and ensure that the firm not only survived, but thrived.

Thus was born Citrin Cooperman University (affectionately known in the halls as “CCU”). While the firm’s professionals already received many hours of technical training above and beyond what was required to maintain their professional designation, the firm leadership saw the opportunity to develop staff in new ways.

CCU focuses on the “soft skills” that lead to well-rounded professionals. That includes coursework on networking and marketing, business writing and consulting, rainmaking and effective presentation skills. Employees are encouraged to “think outside the box” when it comes to seeking better ways to provide client service. The courses are taught offsite in a collegial setting, where blue jeans are the rule. Every professional in the firm must attend the four-day training, and support staff are also invited to take relevant courses.

By popular demand, many of the technical courses are given by partners and other professionals in the firm who make their practice areas come alive for young staff — many of whom have never worked with a forensic accountant or understood what an internal controls project entails.

Some seminars are conducted by outside experts. The twice-yearly CCU program strives to train the staff to develop the skills necessary to be good, well-rounded consultants and business advisors to our clients.

The firm has also retained a professional business coach whose services have been offered to all professional employees as well as partners in the firm. The coach helps employees with skills such as new business development or networking. The firm subsidizes half the cost of coaching services for these staff members. The objective is to aid anyone who wants to develop business skills that will help them achieve their career goals (such as becoming a partner or expanding and improving their practice).

Sabbatical Program
Shortly after starting up CCU, the firm took another leap of faith and started a sabbatical program. The sabbatical offers professionals a four-week oasis of paid time off after working for the firm full-time for at least six years. The sabbatical can be taken for any reason the employee chooses, whether it’s to study at the Sorbonne or lie on a Hawaiian beach. This is in addition to the employee’s accrued vacation time.

The firm recognizes that CPAs work long, hard hours and can get burnt out. This four-week interlude was designed to help them refresh and recharge their batteries.

The only requirement? All those taking a sabbatical must submit two 1,000-word essays upon their return. One should focus on where the professional sees his or her career going in the next few years, and the other must offer advice on how the firm can improve.

We see this program (which has already been taken by a number of our staff to rave reviews) as an important recruiting and retention tool. But there is also an educational component in encouraging employees to contemplate their career path and redefine their career objectives. Additionally, the essays provide the firm with critical feedback on how to both improve the work environment and retain our best and brightest.

Employee Mentoring Program
Once an employee starts work at Citrin Cooperman, he or she is assigned a mentor to help guide and train him or her from day one. The mentor serves as a critical helpmate and guide to new hires, helping them acclimate to the Citrin Cooperman culture, offering advice and counsel on how to succeed at the firm and in their careers, and generally acting as a sounding board for any issues that may come up.

The firm is currently upgrading its mentoring program to better incorporate input from both the professional and administrative staff. Along with a consultant, a task force made up of staff and partners from every level of the firm is forging new processes and benchmarks to help mentors and their mentees measure goals and track each individual’s progress. It is worth noting that a foundation for this new incarnation of the program will be the training of the mentors themselves. We feel that our mentors cannot effectively give guidance for growth without knowing how to best communicate with their mentees.

Employee Incentive Program
Many of our professionals love the idea of networking and business development, but just haven’t had the training to get out and practice what they’re learning in CCU and through sessions with the firm’s business coach.