Training in the modern tax practice.

• Author: Trenholm, Stephen P.
• Position: Tax Practice Management

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Training in the 21st-century public accounting firm is very different than it was 30 years ago, when many of the baby boomers who are now in management positions within the firms began their careers. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, much of the training that staff received was on-the-job training or "baptism by fire" Continuing education, at least for small and medium-sized firms, was obtained from either outside seminars given by the state CPA society or the AICPA, graduate degree programs, or self-study training programs. National firms generally had their own specialized training programs. The landscape of the profession has changed greatly over the past generation, and the concept of "training" and the implementation of training programs has also changed to meet current needs.

Training Methods

Professional staff training can take many different forms, depending on the size of the firm and any specialties the practice may have. For example, if the firm is small and deals almost exclusively with high-wealth individuals, the training of staff and partners would concentrate on topics dedicated to serving high-wealth individuals. Most small to medium-sized firms have a general practice, and staff and partners must be proficient in both taxation and accounting and auditing issues.

Generally firms with fewer than 100 staff members do not have completely dedicated departments where all levels of staff work exclusively in either taxation or accounting and auditing. In these cases, it is especially important that the more experienced staff mentor the younger staff and provide them with the proper training. Ideally, each member of the firm below the position of manager should have a mentor and a training and continuing education plan, including ethics, which is now a requirement in many states.

Each professional staff person in the firm, including partners, should have a continuing professional education (CPE) goal sheet as well as a tracking mechanism to record all applicable CPE and indicate how it applies to the goals of that staff person. When developing a training program and a CPE goal sheet for staff who have not yet completed the entire Uniform CPA Exam, it is important to remember that they must be well rounded in all aspects of the profession in order to pass the exam. Their CPE goal sheets should support, rather than distract from, their CPA exam preparation.

There are various types of in-house training methods. Formal training programs can focus on specific topics. Some firms...