Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/309054
May 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 17 FROM THE TRENCHES best to teach to the student's learning method, and in most situations you h a v e a m i x o f l e a r n i n g s t y l e s . Accountants tend to be more kines- thetic than the majority of the popu- lation. Consider how your frm ofers training, and work on creating con- tent that addresses each team mem- ber's learning style. W ho is doing innovative work for accounting frms? Te good news is t h at a nu mber of prov ider s h ave content that can be helpful. Boomer C o n s u l t i n g h a s t h e i r L e a r n i n g A d v a n t a g e ( w w w . b o o m e r . com/?t ra i n i ng lea r n i ng ) a nd CPE courses are available through your state CPA societ y. Custom on-site CPE courses are ofered through K 2 E n t e r p r i s e s ( w w w . k 2 e . c o m / training/on-site-training ) in addition to other worthy technology training prov iders. It is ou r bel ief t hat t he money spent on good training comes back within 60 days, and continues to pay of forever. A n appropriate training strateg y for IT technical staf is another con- cern. One of the more expensive and neg lec ted a rea s of t ra i n i ng i s for upgrading your IT team's sk ill set. Today, having expertise in Microsof S e r v e r 2 01 2 , M i c r o s o f t A c t i v e Directory, Microsof SQL, V Mware, Citrix, Storage A rea Network main- tenance, frewall and w ireless con- f ig u rat ion a s wel l a s appropr i ate s w it c h s e t up k now le d ge s uc h a s trunking and segmentation would be m i n i ma l i n f rast r uc t u re sk i l l sets. Hav i ng appl icat ion k nowledge i n M icrosof t Of f ice, Adobe Acrobat, SQL R epor t i ng Ser v ices, Mobi le Device Management, PCI, and your specifc applications would be a def- nite bonus. Sources for one-on-one i n-hou se t ra i n i ng i nc lude N MGI ( w w w.nmgi.com/services/business- it- con s u lt i ng ) a nd for c l a s sroom training we suggest Global K nowl- edge ( w w w.globalknowledge.com ). Interacting with other technicians promotes the correct way to complete tasks, not the " book " or "test" way. O n l i ne or se l f- s t ud y c ou r se s a re m in ima l ly ef fective for appl icable knowledge in IT. For IT technicians, w e p r e f e r t h a t t h e y o b t a i n a n d maintain certifcations, but this does not guarantee that they can complete their tasks knowledgeably. Te same applies for IT contractors. Unfortu- n at e l y, u n le s s you h av e go o d I T ex per tise yourself, you w ill not be able to discern the skill level of your internal or external IT teams. A nd of course, it could almost go without saying that appropriate client service skills, phone etiquete, cross selling knowledge, security practices and general business ex pertise are needed by most people in a profes- sional organization. Don't overlook training opportunities for these skills as well. Be consistent Make a management commitment to fund training on a consistent basis. Build a plan, teach frm-centric con- tent and record the content on video o r w i t h t e c h n i c a l p r o d u c t s l i k e Camtasia to build a knowledge base l ibr a r y, te s t for c omplet ion , a nd rev ise you r pla n at least a n nua l ly. Most f i r ms repor t t hat t hey don't notice the results from training ini- tially although changes are tak ing place in the organization. With con- si stent at tent ion to t ra i n i ng , t he culture and productivity changes in subtle ways for the good. Event u a l l y, you r ent i re te a m's expertise level rises…a rising tide lifs all boats. You will fnd yourself with new opportunities because your entire team's sk ills are better and work is geting completed more quickly and more accurately with less efort. And isn't that a great outcome? "ONE OF THE MORE EXPENSIVE AND NEGLECTED AREAS OF TRAINING IS FOR UPGRADING YOUR IT TEAM'S SKILL SET." cpa_16-17_Johnston.indd 17 5/7/14 4:05 PM