Home Is Where the Office Is: CPAs in Small and Midsize Firms Say Telecommuting Is Changing the Boundaries of the Office

Besides protecting staff and data by dispersing workforces geographically, CPA firms that use work-from-home arrangements say there are clear operational benefits: They save money because there's less absenteeism, they increase production and they keep high-quality employees longer. CPAs who no longer spend two to four hours daily on a commute--as they do in many parts of the United States--say they can direct time and energy to the job that would have gone into travel. Here's how some CPA firms use technology to extend firms' borders in ways that benefit the organization as well as the individual. NOT JUST AN EMPLOYEE PERK Although telecommuting, or teleworking, had been a stagnating trend before September 11, financial services employers have been reconsidering what it has to offer, said a Wall Street Journal article last fall. It gives employers several advantages: access to expertise that's unavailable nearby, the ability to work across time zones via e-mail at any hour--an asset for working with businesses overseas or long-distance outsourcing (see "Overnight to India," JofA, Jun.00, page 57)--and it serves as de facto business-interruption insurance. Firms can carry on unaffected by highway or rail disruption, weather disasters or civil disturbances, and staff can keep going on a project through holidays and long weekends if necessary. From a teleworking CPA's perspective, doing the job from home is attractive for many reasons. A quiet home office has fewer distractions. During a demanding season or project, a CPA can sidestep after-hours issues of building access, working in a deserted office complex, being on the road late at night or having a different schedule from a colleague. Someone who has a broken leg, a sick family member or who is having a baby--which might take that person out of the workforce--can get around it by telecommuting. Some CPAs perform most of their work on the road, using technology to communicate with the central office from client locations as well as from a home office. TAKE TIME TO ACCLIMATE Most managers fear losing control and have concerns about how to keep track of what a CPA actually accomplishes off-site. Allaying such anxieties starts with having a clear worker-eligibility policy, performance standards and a well-planned program. For example, Deloitte & Touche, which has won awards for workplace sensitivity to women's issues, permits staff members to telecommute only after they've been with the firm at least two years and have gotten outstanding performance reviews. Because both employers and employees need time to know each other, it's unwise to offer telecommuting as a recruitment incentive for entry-level CPAs, says Ikon Lague, CPA and managing partner of Kenney, Dennen and Lague, a three-partner, 20-person firm in Andover, Massachusetts. "Early career CPAs need the mentoring, training and indoctrination into a firm's culture that an office setting gives them," he says. But "whatever their individual schedules, all firm staff should come together at least once a week. To see each other less weakens the connectivity that makes a firm strong and prosperous," says Lague. TOOLS AND TERMS By now most CPAs are familiar with the basic tools: a computer, appropriate software, a desk in a quiet area, a printer, fax, scanner, designated connections, such as DSL or cable, and a phone. They can make do with less--a portable computer, Internet connection and phone--and handle outputting and distribution at the office or though a neighborhood facility. Call-forwarding, voice mail, mobile phones and e-mail make location irrelevant in many instances, too. Besides hardware, there are potential issues about labor law, liability, software use, workflow and coordination that may affect remote-office workers. A CPA firm starting a teleworking program--see "Resources," page 43, "Getting Started Checklist," page 43, and "Teleworker Costs," page 45--will increase its chance of success if it * Checks relevant state and federal labor laws. …