technology
Tech training takes off
At Bellevue, Wash.-based Clark Nuber, for
example, IT training begins on an employee’s
first day, and continues throughout their ca-
reer with the firm. The firm realizes that it
may only have a handful of people at a time
in any given training session, so in addition to
using tech-savvy partners to assist, IT training
is conducted using a “buddy system,” accord-
ing to chief information officer Peter Henley.
“Everyone, even coming in, is always at a dif-
ferent level, so if you don’t know something,
it’s very likely someone next to you does, so
everyone gets a buddy [during training and
after],” he said. “We feel we get a lot of effi-
ciency without allocating a large amount of
hours to training.”
Henley also explained that Clark Nuber is
considering offering its staff a menu of tech-
training services complete with an attached
self-assessment test, so everyone can deter-
mine and select what they need to to learn.
“The pro on this is that we will use people
at the highest efficiencies to help train, but
the downside is not everyone is always up to
the speed they think they are,” said Henley.
“We are very serious about the right kind of
training. I hear stories how other firms will
offer training, but then a senior manager
will pull them out [of the session] to get work
done. Our people do see the value of training,
so they will never do that.”
Clark Nuber conducts its training at its
own facility, but will also send staff to state
CPA society-run classes, and Henley and his
staff will offer suggestions from a calendar
of classes to attend. In addition, the firm is
considering using webinars for specific tech
training or internal CPE on tech subjects.
throughout a staffer’s life at the firm. The
training sessions for what it considers “Level
1-4” are conducted over a selected four-to-
five-day period over the course of the first
two years. After that, the firm works with a
training coordinator to determine the best
way to approach a training initiative — which
usually centers around large-scale rollouts.
“When we moved to [Microsoft] Office
BY seth fineBerg
Whether it’s learning about the latest upgrade to Office 2010,
new tax software, or the growing use of cloud and mobile appli-
cations, information technology training is taking on more of a
critical role at CPA firms throughout the country.
Training methods vary from firm to firm, but have become critical to competitiveness
Smith+Brown, with nearly 400 staff and 11
offices, many of its partners and IT staff get
involved in training. The firm assigns what
it calls an “office champion” to head up IT
training efforts, usually a partner with exceptional technology skills and knowledge.
“We are a very tech-centric firm; from Day
One you get a laptop and a BlackBerry and
are taught how to use everything that’s relevant to your job,” said WSB partner James
Bourke. “If we do an acquisition, we give all
of the incoming staff all of our technology
and we have a few days’ worth of sessions
on tax, workflow, document management …
everything we’re on.”
Bourke also said that “lunch-and-learn”
sessions are common when a new technology is deployed throughout the firm. The office will have multiple sessions over several
days and the staff picks a session to attend,
usually via video link.
‘The downside is not
everyone is always up to the
speed they think they are.’
is looking to do more with online courses as
well, particularly with audit and attest and tax
software training.
ALTERNATIVE METHODS
IT training can take up a significant portion of
a CPA’s time. Some firms look to Web-based
and CD training to maximize their staff’s
time, but that doesn’t always work, and more
time has to be spent.
“We just had all of our technicians do training for our upgrade to Windows 7; that was a
three-day class. We don’t have a big conference room, so we couldn’t do all of our staff at
once; we had to pick specific weeks for each
CONTINUOUS LEARNING INITIATIVES
At firms such as Salina, Kan.-based Kennedy
and Coe, training is overseen by an IT partner,
but can also include a training coordinator
and even outside specialists, where needed.
IT training is conducted at all levels
2010, we did training on the differences from
the old system. We mostly use webinars for
these larger efforts, since we have eight of-
fices,” revealed the firm’s IT partner, Greg
Davis. “We also just rolled out an effort to get
our people using LinkedIn. We did a lunch-
and-learn on how to get set up and use it for
business development.”
Davis said that while he and his staff are
confident in their current training methods,
there are challenges. “The toughest part with
tech training is that people going in have all
different levels of knowledge. We need to
have some mechanism to know who is at
what level; we don’t want to go over or under
anyone’s head,” he said. “As we get more spe-
cialized in different areas, we struggle with
providing a generic training program that
applies to everyone in our firm, particularly
with different verticals. We have invested a lot
of time and money in our training programs
— many firms don’t even have one person
and we have a few dedicated to training.”
In addition, Kennedy and Coe will send
its staff to vendor-sponsored conferences to
get up to speed on the products it uses, such
as last month’s CCH user confab. Overall, it
technician, and it’s more expensive,” reported
Amelia Regalado, IT director at Coral Gables,
Fla.-based Goldstein Schechter Koch. “We
have also purchased CD training so the staff
can do some on their time, and that gives us
more flexibility. We have had groups go out
and do, say, an Adobe or Word class, then we
will take a dozen or so of the most knowledge-
able people and then they retrain our staff.”
The firm also engages in video conferenc-
ing, which Regalado said is very efficient
since it has a staff of 130 and two offices that
are 30 miles apart. Recently, the firm con-
ducted video training on audit and trial bal-
ance software Case Ware, as well as Thomson
Reuters’ NetClient CS portals.
OFFICE CHAMPION
At a firm like Princeton, N.J.-based Withum-
IN-HOUSE TRAINERS
Some firms, particularly larger ones, will
have professional trainers on staff who are
not CPAs or technologists, but educators who
can organize training programs on any topic,
including I T.
Los Angeles-based SingerLewak has had a
professional training team on staff since 2002.
The three-person team will organize a variety
of training sessions whenever there is a major
technology change or strategy.
Karyn Gallen, a former high school English teacher who has consulted with large
businesses on tech training, heads up SingerLewak’s Training Department as director
of professional development and training.
She said that with a staff of 250 throughout six
offices, there is a fair amount of coordination
required, and explained that training sessions
are conducted throughout the year.
“In professional services, they are a sharp
group, but they want what they want when
they want it and it’s hard to accept change,”
said Gallen. “The goal of my team is to make
sure deadlines are met; client commitments
are first and foremost. Everyone needs to be
on board and on schedule. We’re serious
about communication, and make sure everyone is up to speed.” AT
