There was once a time when holding team members accountable and keeping them loyal to only one company was the norm. Today, accounting firm owners are struggling to uphold and implement team accountability, especially with the job-hopping trend among younger workers and the rise of newer business models across multiple industries.
Holding team members accountable has proven to be more challenging than ever, so you’ll need some help figuring out the right accountability technique that fits the dynamics of your team. Fortunately, you can still implement and build long-term accountability within your team with these timely and up-to-date strategies for your organisation.
Accountability in Accounting: Top Tips to Keep Your Team Accountable to Your Firm
Given the drastic shift in industry trends and practices today, most accounting firm owners would find it ideal to keep their workers committed and have their team members held accountable at the same time. Below are some helpful tips for implementing more accountability among your current team members.
1. Keeping Team Accountability by Sticking to their Job Description
For some organisations, putting ad hoc tasks on the plates of their employees is the norm. While it depends on how team members respond to the type of management in their accounting practices, it’s still a good general rule to prevent scope creep and stick to the duties and responsibilities agreed upon in the employee contract.
Delegating tasks that are within their job description is an excellent way to promote a culture of accountability in the workplace. It keeps your team accountable by emphasising how invaluable their duties and responsibilities are to the company. This also highlights the fact that they are taking part in a collective effort – that their responsibilities aren’t only useful to their department, but to the entire business as well.
Additionally, avoiding scope creep also prevents employee burnout, reduces turnover rate, slashes hiring and rehiring costs for your accounting firm, and enhances the overall performance of your employees.
2. Building Team Accountability with Corporate Responsibility
Just like what accounting titans like PwC have demonstrated, a collective responsibility for solving social issues keeps your team held accountable to their actions and character. As corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are protocolised especially among Fortune 500 companies by institutions like B Lab and the UN, your accounting practice can also follow suit.
The concept of corporate responsibility is part of keeping your employees devoted. This is because they are aware of their involvement in a movement that’s bigger than their job description, their silos, or their workplace. CSR initiatives present current issues and concerns in the modern world, offer feasible solutions, encourage employee accountability among team members, and instill hope and optimism in them that they are taking part in transforming society for good.
With sincere and promising initiatives, the whole CSR movement can be an effective strategy to promote a culture of accountability among your team members. You can start by crafting a relevant, socially conscious vision statement.
3. Maintaining Team Member Accountability through Attainable Reward Policies
Accountants are dedicated and passionate professionals. From taxation to auditing, each team member is required to be detail-oriented, quick to catch errors, and well-versed in global accounting standards. For all that hard work, maintaining commitment to their work lives can be a bit challenging since accountants also have their personal lives to deal with.
This is where recognising and appreciating their efforts comes in; but more importantly, giving them achievable awards as part of a bigger strategy to foster commitment among your employees. The reason behind this? A study on job satisfaction among accountants suggests that reward policies that are perceived to be unattainable negatively impact the satisfaction level of accounting employees.
For maintaining commitment to your accounting firm, employees should be given achievable rules to receive their rewards, be it certificates and trophies for their exceptional performance, or bonuses/additional pay. After all, a just and fair rewards system not only increase the satisfaction level of accountants – it’s also instrumental to holding team members accountable by instilling in them a sense of responsibility to protect the string of efforts they’ve exerted to earn themselves a reward.
6 Tips for Holding Your Team Accountable
1. Clear Job Description
2. Corporate Responsibility Initiatives
3. Attainable Reward Policies
4. Team Building Activities
5. Key Performance Indicators
6. Clear Rules and Regulations
4. Demonstrating Accountability with Team Building Activities
If you want to promote productivity and cohesion while also encouraging accountability, you can facilitate team building activities that foster a sense of shared responsibility and trust among your team members. By collaborating in problem-solving challenges or group projects, building accountability becomes easier as your employees learn to rely on each other’s strengths and support one another in achieving common goals.
In line with your team being held accountable to their actions and overall character, it’s also crucial to conduct debriefing sessions following your team activities to allow your team members to reflect on their contributions and areas for improvement, leading to a greater sense of personal accountability. You can also incorporate team building activities into your employees’ regular work routine to solidify that culture of accountability that you’re establishing in your business.
To enhance the effectiveness of teamwork, you can also get into a coaching program for accounting firms
5. Promoting Accountability through Clearly Set KPIs
Accounting firm owners can promote positive accountability through clearly set key performance indicators (KPIs). These indicators keep your team accountable because they provide a transparent framework for assessing both individual and team performance. Your accounting team also gets a clear understanding of your firm’s expectations and goals so that they can align their efforts with the overall objectives of your accounting practice.
This promotes positive accountability because your employees take ownership of their responsibilities and strive to meet or exceed set targets. Regular monitoring and reviewing KPIs allows for timely feedback and course correction if necessary, resulting in improved efficiency and productivity. Lastly, an effective communication of KPIs also helps promote a culture of accountability not only within the team but also within the business, so that your team achieves shared goals.
Read More: 8 Accounting Lead Generation Ideas for CPA Firms (That Actually Work)
6. Implementing a Culture of Accountability with Rules and Regulations
We don’t mean to scare anyone away, but repeated offenses and performances that fall short of your established KPIs have real-life consequences. Implementing a culture of accountability is done through issuing strict warnings to those who have repeatedly made offenses, either to the system or to other team members.
As an accounting firm owner, encouraging a culture of accountability means making your employees adhere to organisational guidelines. This entails communicating expectations and consequences for failure to meet those expectations. Be it issues with meeting deadlines or mistakes in accounting tasks, employees need to realise that there are consequences that come with failing to double check or with carelessness.
By setting clear boundaries and holding your team accountable for its actions, you can foster a culture of accountability and professionalism within the team. When implementing strict warnings, it’s crucial to be consistent, fair, and transparent in your approach. This can help prevent misunderstandings and promote trust among team members.
When accounting firm owners enforce a culture of accountability, they implement team responsibility, drive performance improvement, reinforce the importance of personal accountability, and contribute to team success in achieving the goals of your accounting practice.
Can Business Models Like Outsourcing Keep Your Team Accountable to Your Firm?
Contrary to what most may think, outsourcing actually promotes a culture of accountability to your accounting firm. But first, you should establish clear guidelines, expectations, and performance metrics for your outsourced accounting employees from the outset. This includes setting specific KPIs for your employees to hit, investing in time tracking software for beating deadlines, and partnering with a trusted provider of outsourced accounting services for upholding high standards and ensuring quality outputs.
Outsourced accounting also requires regular coordination through accounting CRM software and advanced social media strategies. Aside from keeping your team accountable, you’re also able to address any issues promptly and monitor progress effectively. Additionally, when you implement regular performance reviews and evaluations, tracking employee performance against setting targets and encouraging accountability within the outsourced team is easier.
In turn, you maximise efficiency and productivity in your day-to-day operations with timely and industry-relevant accountability strategies. When you promote a culture of accountability within your business, you yield high performing teams that align their own vision with your company goals, stay committed to what’s expected of them to do, and set your accounting business up for overall success.
Top Outsourced Accounting Services with TOA Global
TOA Global is your partner when it comes to outsourced accounting services. We provide top-quality training for accountants, equipping our talent pool with hard and soft skills to set your business up for success in every way possible. With a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities within the accounting industry, we offer tailored solutions that align with your company goals and objectives, and especially its long-term success.
Go beyond industry trends and set your accounting practice apart from your competitors. Book a chat with us for a free, no-obligation strategy call today.
