with more cpas working from home than ever before, what’s the secret to success?
by rick telberg
on management
from the aicpa career insider
do you take work home with you? if so, you’re not alone. about half of all cpas work at home in a home office or full time in a small office. marketers call it the soho trend – for small-office, home-office. accountants see it either as freeing, burdensome, or, sometimes, both. still, working at home, remotely, or in a small office is a growing reality for the profession. and it poses all sorts of new challenges and strategies to work successfully for both employer and employee, practitioner and client.
going soho? how do cpas do it?
download the executive preview here. sohopreview.pdf
there seem to be countless opinions about both the benefits and conflicts of working from home.
positives, based on our feedback from the people who are actually doing it:
“convenience”
“flex-time is invaluable”
“it helps to control costs”
“it alleviates some of the office pressure and allows you to get more done”
“this field is ideally suited to working from home, merely logging on to your computer at work”
“i get more done at home-fewer interruptions”
“best decision i ever made, after starting my own firm”
negatives
“little exposure to management”
“more difficult when it comes to communication, building alliances, trust and camaraderie”
“you do not grow your interpersonal skills”
“my firm feels that too much efficiency will be lost”
“i prefer to work at the office and leave it there. the pleasure of spending quality time with my wife, two children and our two dogs keeps me grounded and contributes to my success at work.”
ongoing research at bay street group llc indicates that 8 in 10 cpas expect the work-from-home trend to be more prevalent in the years to come.
with the trend seemingly headed toward more opportunity for some at-home work, we asked, “what advice would colleagues give about working at home?”
“keeping current with all your responsibilities is essential.”
“set up a good home office.”
“keep work and home separate.”
“it is important to spend time with family when at home and not working.”
“don’t mix business with pleasure or family affairs.”
“make your work hours known to others.”
“it’s harder to maintain that professional attitude and ambiance from home, but necessary if you are going to be professional.”
“discipline is key.”
“i would encourage more employers to offer this option, particularly to women who have much to offer the accounting field but need to balance work with home.”
“you need to stay focused.”
“talk to your manager but have ready reasons for why it makes business sense for you to do so.”
“be sure to maintain your professional contacts; go out to lunch with colleagues and attend professional meetings/conferences to maintain contact.”
3 responses to “tips and traps for going soho”
jennifer d. crawford, cpa
beginning in january of this year, i took the soho to new levels… moved it to europe! still servicing all my us clients easily from here. it’s been an adjustment, but i bet i’m one of the first sole proprietors to try an overseas operation. the impetus was essentially a decision to incorporate my business into my personal life & travel/vacation habits, not vice versa. it was the greatest move i’ve ever made. my key clients (publicly traded corps, high net worth gang, etc) think it’s “cool” and support me by flaunting their high-tech abilities (providing all documents in pdf format, or for lesser-sophisticates – they fax me & it forwards to a pdf file in my email).
i have an international cell phone which clients call, & for long discussions we switch to my land line. not much in the way of incremental expense at all, other than a bigger cell phone bill.
anyway, thought you might like to hear about the newest of new trends!
good article, by the way!
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judie zedeck, cpa
rick,
maybe next time you do such a survey, you should consider first asking what equipment, software, etc., is already in place before asking for the wish list. i already have most of the items on the wish list and feel that most home offices also have these items.
i have both laptop and desk computers. when i use my laptop for taxes and accounting, i attach a regular computer keyboard to it so that i can have access to the number key pad and a full size keyboard with the spacing i am used to using.
since i am on my way towards retiring (yeah) and am doing a lot more traveling, i take my laptop and full sized keyboard with me always. i guess it’s just personal preference. i hate to admit it, but i used a typewriter (before electric ones), carbon paper (my young friends don’t know what that is) and a hand crank adding machine. i also remember taking the cpa exam when calculators were not allowed. i must be getting to be older than dirt!!!! obviously tax season is really over for about 10 weeks and this is more fun anyway!
best,
judie zedeck, cpa
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brian a. mahoney, cpa, crfa
i compare the soho situation with my old practice of coming in very early and leaving at 5:00 or 5:30 to catch my van pool ride back to my home on cape cod. when i came up for a promotion, several of the leading partners of the firm (who usually arrived between 9:00 and 9:20) were reluctant to promote me because i was, “…never there after 6 pm.” thankfully, my mentor, who was another early-arriver, gave me his full support. the point i am trying to make here is – out of sight, out of mind. soho may be great for sole-practitioners, but has serious deficiencies for other professionals.
brian a. mahoney, cpa, crfa
starpoint solutions
boston, ma
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